COMMENTARY

“It certainly would not have set back the cause of transparency for the island weekly to have reported the political contributions made by the Realtors Association of Indian River County. Vero Beach 32963, of course, is heavily supported by real estate brokers. In fact, the “John’s Island Weekly” was at one time, and may still be, at least partially owned by a major barrier island real estate broker.”

MARK SCHUMANN

Since its launch in late 2008, the island weekly has relentlessly assaulted the City of Vero Beach and its employees. Understandably, then, the publisher and editors of Vero Beach 32963 appear not too pleased with the outcome of the last two Vero Beach city council elections.

Gone is the four-person council majority hell bent on handing Vero Electric over to Florida Power & Light on terms dictated by the utility giant.  Now history is the council majority willing to follow the advice of the island weekly and local pro-sale fundamentalist fanatics who seem willing to bankrupt the City of Vero Beach, all for the sake of greatly exaggerated savings on electric rates.

In their latest “Insight Editorial” the editors of the island weekly attacked the Indian River Neighborhood Association for supporting candidates who share the organization’s long-standing focus on managed growth, quality development and preserving the unique quality of life in Vero Beach and Indian River County. Specifically, the island weekly took exception to the IRNA’s decision to place a full page in the October issue of InsideVero, followed by three full page ads in our November issue.

Because the November issue of InsideVero was direct mailed to nearly every residential address within the city limits, our special election edition gave all interested candidates an effective means of delivering their message to voters on the eve of the election. In contrast, two thirds of the island weekly’s circulation is distributed outside the city limits. That inconvenient truth does not keep the island newspaper’s editors and reporters from spending what appears to be the majority of their time trashing the City of Vero Beach and its employees.

Perhaps most disingenuous about the island weekly’s attack on the IRNA was the way the “newspaper” glossed over the fact that, together, two other electioneering communications organizations, The Alliance for Better Florida Communities and the Committee to Change Vero Electric spent twice as much as the IRNA, and they did so making patently false claims.

In its “insightful” editorial, the island weekly made no mention of the fact that Florida Power & Light contributed $9,000 of the $18,100 collected by the Alliance and spent mailing out giant post cards claiming Vero Beach residents would save 30 percent on their power bills as customers of FPL. Based on current rates, the savings will be closer to 15 percent. Other contributors to the Alliance’s misleading advertising campaign included the George E. Warren Corporation and The Hill Group, along with half a dozen citrus companies.The paper also failed to report Indian River Shores Vice Mayor Gerry Weick’s contributions to the Committee to Change Vero Electric.

When it comes to asserting who may have been trying to “buy” Vero Beach’s municipal election, the island weekly could have done its readers a service by acknowledging that candidates Harry Howle, III, Pilar Turner and Charlie Wilson all received more than half their campaign money from special interests and individual donors outside the city. Wilson accepted more than 80 percent of his campaign cash from outside interests, all of them seeking to influence the outcome of Vero Beach’s municipal election. Indian River County Commissioner Wesley Davis, for example, contributed $500 to Wilson’s campaign.

In the interest of transparency, the island weekly might also have reported three last-minute $1000 contributions to Howle, Turner and Wilson made by a Stuart real estate developer. Certainly, it would not have set back the cause of transparency for the island weekly to have reported the campaign contributions made by the Realtors Association of Indian River County.  Vero Beach 32963, of course, is heavily supported by real estate brokers. In fact, the “John’s Island Weekly” was at one time, and may still be, at least partially owned by a major barrier island real estate broker.

Never ones to let facts get in the way of a smear campaign, the island weekly editors claimed the IRNA’s three pages of advertising in the November edition of InsideVero “underwrote” the issue.  First, the revenue from three pages of advertising does not begin cover the cost of printing, mailing, graphic design, compensation for freelance writers and other costs. Second, we would have published a November issues with or without political advertising, just as we printed an October edition and will be publishing issues in December and beyond.

So committed is the island weekly to building and sustaining public support for the power sale that its reporting has been, at best, unbalanced. In fact, Vero Beach 32963′s stories are so one-sided the “weakly” reads like a print version of cable news. Unwilling to contribute to a constructive conversation about how to move Vero Beach forward, the editors of the island weekly have taken to using their editorial page for ranting, whining and bemoaning the lost opportunity to drive the City of Vero Beach into disincorporation.