Mark Schumann

A dirty trick not soon to be forgotten

COMMENTARY

“Given the hypocrisy of its message, The Committee to Change Vero Electric’s mailer may well be the new low water mark in local politics.”

MARK SCHUMANN

Scott Stradley
Scott Stradley
Weick
Weick
Dan Stump
Dan Stump

Just as Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate, Alison Lundergan Grimes, refused to admit to having voted for President Obama, I wonder if Indian River Shores Vice Mayor Gerry Weick, Vero Beach Utilities Commission chairman Scott Stradley and Finance Commission member Dan Stump will own up to having voted for Gov. Rick Scott. Or, did they?

It might seem self-evident that these three Republicans would support the Republican nominee for governor, except for the matter of one political post card paid for by The Committee to Change Vero Electric, an electioneering communications organization in which Weick, Stradley and Stump were involved.  Stump served as chairman of the ECO. Stradley was the group’s treasurer, Weick a contributor.

The mailer, which featured a photoshopped image of Vero Beach Vice Mayor Jay Kramer and Gov. Rick Scott, attacked Kramer for his loyalty to the Republican Party. Ironically, Weick, Stradley and Stump all took the same loyalty oath Kramer took, for all are members of the Indian River County Republican Executive Committee. That inconvenient fact did not keep The Committee to Change Vero Electric from targeting local democrats with a partisan attack on Kramer.

Given the hypocrisy of its message, The Committee to Change Vero Electric’s mailer may well be the new low water mark in local politics.

The Committee to Change Vero Electric, a political committee registered with the City Clerk's office, paid for a mailer sent to Democrats attacking Vice Mayor for his loyalty to fellow Republican. In Florida, municipal election are, by law, to be nonpartisan.
The Committee to Change Vero Electric, a political committee registered with the City Clerk’s office, paid for a mailer sent to Democrats attacking Vice Mayor for his loyalty to fellow Republican. In Florida, municipal election are, by law, to be nonpartisan.

3 comments

  1. I just figured they were trying to take the heat off Howle for indicating his partisanship in a nonpartisan race. So, they put Jay Kramer in a photo-shopped picture with Gov. Scott to show Jay’s partisan loyalties… Of course, as you said, this is a no-no—because the oath they signed included not putting another Republican into a bad light. It is as though getting rid of Jay was more important to them than their party. Or, their party may have approved this in order to get FPL and anything else done (regardless of the cost to us City folks). So, when does this movie come out?

  2. Let’s hope this new council doesn’t kick the can down the road…get rid of both chairman and assign people who are loyal to THIS city…while they are at it…get rid of Turner from the FMPA assignment she volunteered for and did nothing.

  3. Just more proof that stupid people THINK they’re smarter than smart people.

    When it’s this blatant, it’s not an insult to laugh in their faces.

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