Last week of the crazy season

Wilson: As I write this, more than 12,000 people will have already voted. After Saturday you could murder your opponent and still get elected in Tuesday’s primary because more than half of the votes would already be in and counted.

Gotta hand it to Bea Gardner for one thing, after running the nastiest campaign I have seen and being the all-around Queen of Mean for the last two years someone in her campaign has a sense of humor. Her significant other was holding a sign at the early voting location in the library. A notice had been added to the otherwise drab Bea Gardner sign saying "Endorsed by Danny DeVito". Pretty funny.

After all is said and done we could be looking at the second election in a row that ended up without change. In the last election all incumbents were returned. I cannot rule out at least one upset. Sheriff, Tax Collector and Supervisor of Elections all favor incumbents but an upset in at least one race would not surprise me. Of course one race in the primary has no incumbent. Zorc wins that one hands down.

The missed issue in this race was a candidate who would pledge to fire Joe Baird. The Commission would need at least one more vote in favor of helping Joe retire faster.

What would have happened in the Solari race if a strong candidate had come forward and said" The difference between me and the other candidates is that "I pledge to Fire Joe Baird." My guess, he would have won.

Many are fed up with Joe Baird's behavior "off the field". Whether you like Joe or not, I believe that there are a growing number of professional reasons to move on from the Joe Baird era. Unfortunately, all three candidates in the district 5 Solari, Thomas, Heady race have said that they support Joe Baird. Certainly Bob Solari has to be counted as a Baird supporter. So, the fire Joe Baird crowd will have to wait one more election cycle and the departure of Peter O’Bryan, Joe Baird's most steadfast supporter. But after years of Baird's less than forthright rule the light is at the end of the tunnel. Mark your calendars, November of ‘14 will see Joe's last day.

Dust up at the Economic Development Council this week. A local businessman suggested that we invite other experts to look at helping Indian River County with economic development rather than the Chamber of Commerce. I could have warned Mr. Kite against threatening Penny Chandler’s gravy train of County money. Several years ago I suggested we invite advertising agencies to bid on the advertising project. No other ideas had been even entertained in 20 years. Maybe Mr. Kite will have better luck or maybe we can just start a new Chamber of Commerce that actually represents business interests.

Wheeler: It's possible CW, that someone could win if they murdered their opponent, but highly unlikely.  Many races are very close, as an example, Hitler one by one vote!

Your comments on Bea are interesting, but my take on it is that she thrives on getting attention and as we've seen many times over the years, not to mention in her most recent endeavor (campaign) she will say and do anything fact, truth and humor have very little value to her.

Here's my prediction for the winners in Tues. election.  Carole Jean Jordon, Daryl Loar, Leslie Swan, Bob Solari, Tim Zorc, and I HOPE Vinnie Celano!

We all know that you and Russ Lemmon have a personal problem and dislike for Joe Baird. Unfortunately, unlike CW and Lemmon, Joe Baird is not perfect. Let me say this about Joe Baird, the tax payers of Indian River County have benefited greatly from Joe Baird's management.

Indian River County financially is one of the strongest best managed counties in the state of Florida.  We all know that it's a team effort and Joe is a major member of that team. Russ Lemmon's most recent articles on Joe Baird were inaccurate, biased and unfair.