Publisher’s note: The following editorial ran in the Sept. 12 issue of our sister publication, Vero Beach 32963. While it is our general policy not to post editorials from our print edition on VeroNews.com, the fact that this story our reporters broke more than weeks ago has now been published by the daily – with no credit to Vero Beach 32963 — prompted us to reprint it for our online readers.
There would seem to be no limit to former Florida Senate President and current St. Lucie County Property Appraiser Ken Pruitt’s chutzpah.
For months, the Scripps newspaper in St. Lucie county has been calling out Pruitt on almost a daily basis, pointing out he is treating his $125,000-plus a year elected position as a part-time job while taking on lobbying and consulting gigs that earned him almost $450,000 in 2011.
We would have guessed the paper’s effort to shame him into giving up one or another of his current professions might have caused him to lie low. But not Pruitt.
When the Indian River County Commission last month approved $100,000 to hire a lobbyist for one year to represent the county in Tallahassee on electric issues, Pruitt was the first to apply for the job.
In fact, he called while the commission meeting was still in progress.
Pruitt began working the commissioners almost immediately, County Administrator Joe Baird told our reporter Lisa Zahner. While Baird provided the names of four firms being considered – Pruitt’s P5 Group, Southern Strategies, Ballard Partners and Ron Book, who previously worked for the county – he termed Pruitt the front runner. The selection process certainly looked greased.
So Vero Beach 32963 began looking into what positions Pruitt might have taken five years ago when the charges of Vero electric and the rights of the 20,000 customers who live on the south barrier island, in Indian River Shores and elsewhere outside the city limits first became an issue.
While we were attempting to obtain records of a December 2008 legislative delegation meeting, Pruitt withdrew his application on Friday afternoon.
Baird said he is in the process of researching the remaining firms to see if they have any conflicts of interest.
Ron Book appears stretched a little thin with 84 clients that include Florida Power and Light. Commissioners might want a bit more distance between the county’s lobbying efforts and the presumed purchaser of Vero electric.
