“Will there be an FPL-funded 11th hour advertising blitz supporting Laura Moss and Harry Howle, two candidates who have pledged to sell the City’s Indian River Shores customers to FPL?”
MARK SCHUMANN
During the last two election cycles, Florida Power & Light made nearly $40,000 in campaign contributions to electioneering communications organizations supporting Tracy Carroll, Pilar Turner, Harry Howle and Charlie Wilson. Based on campaign finance reports through Sept. 30, the state’s largest utility giant has yet enter the fray in the current city council election, and least not with generous financial contributions.
Last year, FPL gave $9,000 to The Alliance for Better Florida Communities, an ECO supporting Turner, Howle and Wilson. The Alliance for Better Florida Communities has yet to report any contributions year-to-date.
In 2013, FPL gave $28,000 to Citizens for a Better Future, ECO run by Glenn Heran to support Tracy Carroll’s re-election bid.
The previous spring, FPL contributed $97,000 to help fund Citizens for a Brighter Future, a political action committee also run by Heran, which successfully pushed for voter approval of a purchase and sale agreement between the City and FPL.
Given FPL’s track record of seeking to influence the outcome of previous Vero Beach election, that no FPL contributions have yet to be reported raises at least a few questions.
Will there be an FPL-funded 11th hour advertising blitz supporting Laura Moss and Harry Howle, two candidates who have pledged to sell the City’s Indian River Shores customers to FPL?
Has FPL’s failure to help win re-election for Tracy Carroll in 2013, or election for Harry Howle in 2014, led the company’s political strategists to conclude such visible involvement in local elections can backfire?
Or, could it be FPL’s top executives believe their proposed purchase of Vero Electric is really dead and there is no use investing more money trying to control the Vero Beach City Council?.
Two more campaign contribution reports are due before election day, one on Oct. 23, and another on Oct. 30.
See also: FPL enters City Council election fray with $9,000 contribution to local PAC
Indian River Guardian 
No one should be lulled into a false sense that FPL will not drop thousands of dollars into this campaign. They will ultimately drop thousands in an attempt to influence another election.