COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

In a week when 32963 finally managed to print a balanced and unbiased story on Vero Beach city government, the Press Journal’s Colleen Wixon wrote an “analysis” story insinuating the drive to reduce electric rates is recent, impetuous and politically motivated.  It is as if the island weekly and the Press Journal are passing off the pro-FPL propaganda baton.

Wixon must not have been reading Vero Beach city government news before she was assigned to cover city hall some months ago.  If Wixon had been following the news of her community, she would know that the council has been working for more than a year to re-negotiate the city’s wholesale power agreement with the Orlando Utilities Commission. But, what’s the rush to save some $750,000 a month?

Wixon’s analysis is off, and her facts are wrong.  Anyone who attended or watched last Tuesday’s city council meeting, and who was paying attention, would know the council is no longer trying to conclude a revised agreement with the OUC by October 1, as her story inaccurately reports.

As is so often the case with the Press Journal’s coverage of the proposed electric sale, Wixon’s story is unbalanced, for it does not explore the reasons why some, mostly FPL allies, oppose a revised agreement with the OUC that will reduce electric rates.  Lower rates for Vero Electric means a narrower rate differential between Vero Electric and FPL.

By quoting three challengers to Mayor Richard Winger and Councilwoman Amelia Graves, Wixon turned her “analysis” into free political advertising for candidates likely to be supported by FPL, the company that employs the wife of Press Journal publisher, Bob Brunjes.

As an aside, reading the Press Journal’s story on how local governments are “jacking up” property tax rates, I was left curious to see a graph of how much the newspaper has jacked up its circulation and advertising rates, including the cost of obituaries. Any such graph would likely reveal a corresponding decline in circulation and readership.