COMMENTARY

“If two members of the Vero Beach City Council corresponded by email about City business, Larry Reisman and Lisa Zahner would be on the attack, and the story would dominate the front pages of the island weekly and the Press Journal for weeks on end.”

MARK SCHUMANN

In its recent report on the Florida Municipal Power Agency board’s decision to spend and additional $100,000 on a public relations and lobbying effort, the pro-sale, pro-FLP island weekly failed to make any connection between the FMPA’s stepped up lobbying effort and persistant attacks on the agency by the Indian River County Commission.

Where is a report from the island weekly on how much money the Indian River County Commission squandered in its failed effort to seek Florida Public Service Commission approval to force a breakup of Vero Electric? And, where is the island weekly’s reporting on how much the Indian River County Commission is spending on lobbyists and a Tallahassee-based public relations “specialist” who was hired to carry out a statewide campaign against the FMPA?

Along with the “Scripps/FPL” Press Journal, the island weekly remains silent about email correspondence between members of the Indian River Shores Town Council that is in clear violation of the Florida Sunshine Law. If two members of the Vero Beach City Council corresponded by email about City business, Larry Reisman and Lisa Zahner would be on the attack, and the story would dominate the front pages of the island weekly and the Press Journal for weeks on end.

Given that we are just two months into the new year, it is impossible to know whether the island weekly or the Press Journal will win the “Misinformer of the Year Award.” Both “news” organizations are clearly in the running for the prestigious, coveted prize.