MARK SCHUMANN
In a television interview today, Iowa Congressman Rod Blum insisted he represents only the interests of the residents living in the district from which he was elected. In fact, at a town hall Blum is holding today he is only allowing residents of the First District of Iowa to participate. When asked if he would accept political contributions from outside his district, Blum got up and walked away from the interview.
Watching the Blun interview, I could not help but think of Vero Beach City Councilman Lange Sykes, who received 90% (ninety percent) of his campaign contributions from Indian River Shores residents. Laura Moss raise 70% (seventy percent) of her campaign money from the Shores. Along with Harry Howle, Moss and Sykes were elected with additional and significant support from Florida Power and Light.
Given the unprecedented flood of outside money into Vero Beach’s most recent municipal election, the important question the people of Vero Beach should be asking is whether Howle, Moss and Sykes can be expected to represent the people of Vero Beach, or the interests of the state’s largest investor owned utility and the residents of Indian River Shores.
Watch Blum Interview
Indian River Guardian 
Why would I want to spend a great deal of money on a candidate if I wasn’t reasonably sure that candidate would fight tooth and nail for whatever I wanted? Why would FPL give contributions to a candidate who likely wouldn’t vote the way it wanted him to? Oh, that’s right – FPL did not financially assist the incumbent in that election but did put out dollars for FPL-friendly candidates.