Utility giant gives $55,000 to help Shores leaders control Vero Beach city council election

COMMENTARY

“Make no mistake about it. This is decision time. Voters who believe in Vero Beach, who are prepared to sell Vero Electric’s Shores customers but are not willing to subsidize the sale, and who don’t want their local government controlled buy wealthy, self-centered Shores leaders need to pay attention to what is happening to their community. Only three of the six candidates have pledged to support a power sale, in full or in part, while at the same time standing up for the interests of the people of Vero Beach and the remaining customers of Vero Electric. Those candidates are Sharon Gorry, Randy Old and Tony Young. They deserve your support.”

MARK SCHUMANN

Florida Power & Light vice president of external affairs, Amy Brunjes, once argued against holding a referendum on the sale of Vero Electric. “This is not a decision you want to leave to ‘Joe Sixpack,'” Brunjes said. Now she and her bosses are betting that a majority of Vero Beach voters are hopelessly apathetic and gullible enough to fall for a pack of lies spread by a political action committee to which the utility giant has contributed $55,000.

In this City Council election, a slate of three candidates supported by Indian River Shores and FPL, (Laura Moss, Lange Sykes and Norman Wells), are running against three candidates pledged to protect the interests of Vero Beach, (Sharon Gorry, Randy Old and Tony Young). Like “the Shores three,”

Gorry, Old and Young are willing to sell Vero Electric’s Shores customers to FPL, just not at a $17 million discount.

Combined with another $60,000 given by Shores residents to “Flip the Switch,” FPL’s contributions have armed the PAC with enough money to swamp Vero Beach in a flood of slick mailers promoting the election of Moss, Sykes and Wells, all of whom have pledged to support FPL’s proposal to buy Vero Electric’s Shores customer base for $30 million.  The price may seem fair, until you consider that a team of five independent utility experts has concluded it will take $47 million, not $17 million, to partition and downsize Vero Electric without the move leading to higher electric rates for the remaining customers.

In addition to joining with FPL to raise more than $100,000 to fund “Flip the Switch,” Shores residents have contributed nearly $50,000 more to the individual campaign accounts of Moss, Sykes and Wells.  In contrast, Gorry, Old and Young have, together, raised approximately $56,000, leaving the “Shores team” with a nearly three-to-one advantage in financial resources.

What FPL, Shores leaders and their three candidates, (Moss, Sykes and Wells), do not have on their side is truth. Outlandish claims about how $30 million might to used to bolster pensions, or put money in everyones pocket, or perhaps even settle the national debt, are totally disconnected from reality. You’d have to drink a six pack of beer to be thinking poorly enough to buy all the lies “Flip the Switch” is cranking out.

Make no mistake about it. This is decision time. Voters who believe in Vero Beach, who are prepared to sell Vero Electric’s Shores customers but are not willing to subsidize the sale, and who don’t want their local government controlled buy wealthy, self-centered Shores leaders need to pay attention to what is happening to their community. Only three of the six candidates have pledged to support a power sale, in full or in part, while at the same time standing up for the interests of the people of Vero Beach and the remaining customers of Vero Electric. Those candidates are Sharon Gorry, Randy old and Tony Young. They deserve your support.

Below is a list of contributors to the Shores-FPL sponsored political action committee seeking to buy control of Vero Beach’s City Council.