The Trio, Singing the Same Tune?

Wes Blackman, Loretta Sharpe and Scott Maxwell appear to be running for elected office in tandem. This is how it is shaping up just 19 days before election day. With Mayoral candidate Bill Coakley singing, “Throw the Bums Out,” these three appear to have joined forces to do just that. Reversing the present 3 to 2 vote is paramount in their minds. They truly believe that the present commission is the reason for all our problems and they think they are the ones to change the direction of Lake Worth. They have some sort of an idea that ALL the rest is the same and their sitting on the dais will change things for the better here. What they stand for or how they will accomplish it no one really knows at this point but what they see, they don't like. All we can do is guess by what they have said in the past.

Wes Blackman, running against Vice Mayor Jo-Ann Golden in District 3, is for building high. He is a Planner. He voted against the Lake Osborne Heights neighborhood and voted to increase height and density which was arbitrary to our Comprehensive Plan. He was for the flim flam man at our beach. He is against Florida Hometown Democracy and was against the SuperMajority. He is the one who was adamant that our Casino was a danger to the public and that it should be demolished. He was one of the people behind The Lucerne. When he ran last, Loretta Sharpe contributed to his campaign as did various members of the P&Z, CRA and don’t forget Geoffrey Pugh who owns property on 6th Avenue South and who managed to get a sweet deal from our CRA until it was exposed by Bill Coakley. The commission eventually put a halt to it. I have yet to see any campaign literature. Wes did not attend the first Forum.

Loretta Sharpe, running for Mayor, is for building high. She is a Realtor. Ditto all of the above. She was for George Goyanes instead of Cara Jennings. She supported Wes Blackman in his last run against Jo-Ann Golden. She also supported Dave Vespo, a former commissioner that made a lot of bad and questionable decisions. Loretta says that she has given up on our beach. She was on the P&Z Board and voted for The Lucerne. Loretta’s flier says that she will do a lot of things. I want to know how she will do them. She is fierce and feisty and has gone all out to say just about anything during this campaign. She even got Que excited! Loretta says that she is "building bridges to the future" but we haven’t seen that yet—Loretta did not attend the first forum.

Scott Maxwell, running for Commissioner District 1, is an unknown to me as far as his local politics is concerned. He is in retail management. All I know is that he is a conservative and against illegal immigration having had a radio show against illegal aliens. He says that he wants to bring the City together but yet, I don’t see him hanging with the “other side” meaning the non-developer backed groups. He of the three, has tried to build some bridges. He did invite me to his campaign party at Brogues, the only one of the Trio who has. Retha Lowe has endorsed Scott. Retha was supported by Wes Blackman, many of our P&Z Board and our CRA (those in control of our City), all the Sun companies (the dumping scandal on our landfill), and supported by Loretta Sharpe. Scott will do everything to reinstate Code if he wins.

I am looking forward to the forums sponsored by the Lake Worth Democratic Club tonight as well as the Neighborhood Association Council at the Lake Worth Playhouse. These are the most important forums and hopefully the committees will come up with some significant questions.

In the run-off election in 2006, only 2,574 voters went to the polls. So, less than 3,000 voters could decide on our future. Will you be one of them this year?