Gardner's Committees

Wheeler: Why would anyone want to institute a new utilities committee when: 1.      Dr. Stephen Faherty, the most knowledgeable member of the sunsetted county utility committee told the Commission that none was necessary because all committee members had such great access to all commissioners.
2.      Anyone who can say that committee members do not add to the cost of government is clueless as to how the government works. The “volunteer committees” do not take the minutes. They do not prepare the agendas. They do not draft or present the staff reports. They do not notice the meetings. They do not provide the rooms or equipment necessary for the meetings. The BC was able to reduce its number of personal committees from five to three because of the sunsetting of thirteen committees. The savings here was over $100,000 a year.
3.      The way to cut government is to cut bureaucracy, not to add to it.
  Perhaps Bea will not be a puppet for a special interest group. If she establishes a few boards as she wishes, she will be a puppet for a number of special interest groups. A final question: “Why would any Commissioner want a bunch of committees to do her thinking for her?”

Wilson: Gary Wheeler points out that Bea Gardner's plan to reinstall a utilities Committee will add more government and increase costs. So why does Bea want a commission? Remember Bea Gardner fought against the referendum to allow the sale of Vero Electric to go forward. She now says she is for a sale. Really? You know "I was for it before I was against it". She and others  used the Utilities Commission to try to undermine the efforts to move towards a sale. Remember the Washington "Golden Rule". If you want to kill something send it to a Committee. This is Bea's way of killing progress towards getting the thousands of Indian River County customers who pay more than 20% more for their electric bills out of Vero Electric and into FPL.For this reason and many more, Tim Zorc is leading in the Republican primary but some politicos are trying to convince Republicans to support Gardner because she will be much easier for the Democrat (now turned Republican) to defeat. Bad strategy.

Following the Sebastian parade, campaigns have hit high gear. Here are the other campaigns to watch.

Loar vs. McMullenThe Sheriffs race is the big fight. The next campaign reports due out next Friday will show just how big this race is. This race could collect and spend as much as $500,000 and that is just for the primary. Think of what it would be if there were a general election and all of the contributors to the losers had to make their “apology” donations.

Harpring vs. SwanHarpring is working hard. I would not be surprised to see her win but the race is still up in the air. I have no quarrel with Leslie Swan but some of her recent “public service” announcements that sound more like publicly paid campaign radio spots are directly from the Kay Clem play book. Kay Clem lip gloss anyone? They are on sale.

Jordan vs. LowtherAgain an interesting race shaping up. Mr. Wheeler and I will be discussing this race in detail in the weeks to come.

Solari vs. Thomas vs. HeadySolari is the odds on favorite. Bob has a core conservative value and is eloquent when supporting a position. Bob has a knack for being able to sum up a position in 5 minutes that takes me an hour.  There may be an issue that would challenge Bob’s reelection but neither of his opponents have seized on the matter to make the challenge. They haven’t asked and I’m not going to tell them what it is. If it is not the issue in this election, I guarantee you it will be in the next. It is unlikely that Peter O’Bryan will run for a third term but if he did this looming issue would be likely to unseat him.Don’t feel too sorry for Mr. Heady or Mr. Thomas. The rules are always written for politicians. You see they could lose in the August 14^th primary election and turn around and run for the Vero Beach City Council two weeks later. Filing for City Council is the first week in September. No other race except Commission 3 and 5 have this circumstance. I’m fairly sure both opponents are aware of this redo opportunity. Little trivia, the first person to do this was….wait for it… Bob Solari. He lost to Sandra Bowden, used his name ID and organization for a successful Council campaign, sat on the Council for two years and ran for the County Commission and won.

School Board vs. everybodyNo challengers for the School Board. Why? It doesn’t matter. Like other institutions  staff has taken over most if not all duties. School Board members have become largely ceremonial.  It’s not worth the cost to run for a position that cannot result in improvements.

Posey vs. GillmorTechnically this is not a primary. Posey is a heavy favorite but Mr. Gillmor was the best Mayor Sebastian ever had.



Next week: Should Joe Baird Be Fired? Let us know what you think.