Photos don't lie even if the Chamber does

The Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce has control of this Billboard

For years, and particularly during the Tom Ramiccio leadership at the Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce, we citizens have had to endure its interference in politics. Even though they have always said they are not engaged in politics, that is farther from the truth.

The Lake Worth Chamber has a new Director. She may wear a dress but she looks and acts exactly the same as Tom Ramiccio. At least Tom didn't come out and tell the City Commission which way to vote. Instead he called SWAT on citizens if he didn't like their politics. Both the same, just a different approach. And no one knows anything at the Chamber, not even Nadine Burns. Can you even imagine Nadine not nothing what's going on?

Many residents as well as businesses have lost all respect for the Chamber. The heavy handed hitting of the BAC PAC and the complicity of the LW Chamber of Commerce have not been well received. The Chambers, all across the country, are losing members and we certainly can understand why.

Because of the bad decision of the Chamber to involve itself with a billboard displaying support for two local candidates at our Cultural Plaza, a citizen wrote a letter to its Board of Directors:

Dear Officers and Board Members of the Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce,

A picture is worth a thousand words. This stand is the city's advertising space which the Chamber uses.

I am a Lake Worth resident and supporter of Commissioner Mulvehill, Lisa Maxwell's opponent. I resent the fact that the Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce, ostensibly a non-political entity, is taking sides in this election. I spoke with Nadine Burns over a week ago and she told me that she had nothing to do with putting up the advertisement, despite the fact that candidate Lisa Maxwell's election card was lying on the Chamber's reception desk in front of me. She told me that I needed to take it up with Beth Johnston.

I spoke with Beth and she said did not know how that sign got there. She did say that she had called up the sign company after the Bling Bar B Cue was over to make them aware that half of the sign was available for them to rent out.

I called the sign company owner, Angelo Trento, and he assured me that Beth had not called him to tell him that she was not using half of the sign, and that he did not even know what was going in until he received a call from the printers to mount the campaign sign. Furthermore, he said that he had informed Ms. Johnston weeks ago that the sign was the the City's/Chamber's to use however they see fit, that it is not available for commercial use.

I have rented their signs myself and that location is not even on their list of available locations. The Chamber has been besmirched by duplicity in partisan politics in the past and I hate to see it going down that same worn path again.

Regretfully Yours,

Patricia Oliphant
110 North Lakeside Avenue
Lake Worth, Florida