JENNIFER KRAMER

So, I’m not very outspoken about politics because it tends to bring up the not-so-nice parts of people because as humans we’re naturally opinionated. However, this article outraged me. My father has been in the newspapers since I was in middle school and normally I turn a blind eye. I don’t care what party affiliation you are with because I respect your opinions but how dare you question my fathers honor, morals and call him a dirty politician. My father is the opposite. We have never ever sent anything like those negative mailers you get bringing other people down. My father is a firm believer in telling people about your accomplishments without tearing others down. If I grow up to be half as honorable as he is I would be lucky. When the Pulse shooting happened he went and spoke at the memorial service we held, he treats every person he meets with respect, and he never ever tears anyone down. I have witnessed all the years he has been in politics and I can see he cares so much about this community.

To the person that wrote this editorial- I’m sorry you misunderstand my father’s character so much. I wouldn’t have cared if you only spoke of his political actions because we’re all entitled to an opinion. But the minute you question my father’s morals, honor, and label him dirty that’s when you become the thing that my father is not- dishonorable, immoral, and a dirty journalist.

Editor’s note:  Recently, Vero Beach Mayor Jay Kramer, along with Vice Mayor Randy Old and Councilman Richard Winger, declined to accept Florida Power & Light’s offer to buy Vero Electric’s Indian River Shores customers and related infrastructure for $30 million. To the lay public, FPL’s offer may seem reasonable, even “generous,” to quote Shores’ Mayor Brian Barefoot.  However, a team of five utility experts hired by the City concluded partitioning Vero Electric for anything less than $47 million would leave the remaining customers, as well as the City’s taxpayers, at risk of paying higher rates. 

The Council’s decision to decline FPL’s $30 million offer, while letting it be known the City would consider an offer at $47 million, was not unanimous. Council members Pilar Turner and Harry Howle, relying on estimates prepared by the Shores’ representative to the Utilities Commission, supported selling at $30 million. In a campaign email sent out Friday, Old indicated he believed such a move would be a violation of the fiduciary responsibility each Council member has to represent the best interests of the people of Vero Beach. Winger made the same point during the most recent Council meeting. 

Apparently seething over not getting their way, the editors at the island weekly, Vero Beach 32963, published an editorial singularly blaming Kramer for the Council’s 3-2 vote. (Vero Beach 32963’s publisher lives in Indian River Shores, and many of the newspapers strongest champions are Shores’ residents. Further, the island weekly regularly solicits undisclosed contributions, many of which may well come from Shores residents.)

Not content to challenge Kramer’s rationale for siding with Old and Winger, the island weekly attacked the mayor’s character, casting him as duplicitous and deceitful, and accusing him of “dirty tricks.” Moved to speak out on her father’s behalf, Jennifer Kramer posted on her Facebook page the above open letter to the editors of Vero Beach 32963.