Well, at least Bob McPartlan was a consistent ‘NO’ vote along with the Democrats and the Indian River County Taxpayers Association, who held their Commissioner Forum on Friday. Furthermore, Brooks Robinson, Deryl Loar and Marc Jaffe publicly stated for the first time that they will not be voting for Amendment 3. Candidates were asked by moderator Lance Lunceford how they would cast their ballot on November 3rd.
Write-in candidate Nicole Paradiso literally said she had not decided. Only Jennifer Pippin has been a consistent ‘Yes’ on Amendment 3. Brooks Robinson has been straddling the fence on the issue, saying residents deserve tax relief but then adding, Amendment 3 is not the best way.
Now, Robinson is dead set against it, along with the Democrat candidate in his district, Robbie Hardingham. Many Democrats abandoned Hardingham when they publicly declared support for McPartlan and switched parties to vote for him in the August 18 primary.
Deryl Loar sacrificed his conservative credentials as well. He is up against the Democrat Marc Jaffe, who is finding his footing as a candidate on the stump. However, the most affable politician in the forum, Loar chose to go after Pippin’s remarks concerning her statement that the newly proposed 2026-27 budget of $614 million is $96.9 million less than the current year’s $711 million amended budget. She shared how the county budget has been cut without reducing core services.
In local politics—the 2026 version—Republican candidates have shunned loyalty to their “conservative principles” for propagating alleged government doom if Amendment 3 should pass. Loar is not running against Pippin, who is also being attacked by a RINO super-PAC, Florida Trust, with mailers and text messages. Pippin is trying to win the District 2 seat, and Loar is trying to hold District 4 representation to continue adding to his more than 36 years of government work.
The dark money world produced a dark money campaign featuring a mailer and text messages about Pippin’s bankruptcy in 2010. Her family sold her home which she purchased in 2007 as a full time working young mother at the age of 22. The 2008 housing crash and subsequent Great Recession left Pippin and many other working Florida families financially upside down. Pippin has addressed this time of her life on Facebook and at the Let’s Talk Vero candidate forum where she was asked about it.
McPartlan, who is running on his own “institutional knowledge,” was just endorsed to be committed to the institution of government by 20-year institutionalized commissioner Joe Flescher, who is retiring from District 2. In a promotional video with McPartlan set in Riverside Park, Flescher is telling voters, “McPartlan will be ready to hit the ground running on day one.”
The two lifelong government-employed individuals then take the liberty of walking across a little bridge toward Indian River Dr. and illegally plant a Bob McPartlan campaign sign in the park. Yes, it is staged, but voters can see the analogy.
Pippin shared most recently with Vero News about a concern in District 2 that has been raised, which is the Gifford Neighborhood Plan. The plan was first voted in place in 2002, and was modified in 2014. It is 2026, and it is still largely incomplete despite the county’s record-breaking revenues in the last 5 years. Pippin said that “somebody needs to be held accountable … whether it’s the entire board of county commissioners or the person who was the District 2 commissioner…”
That would be 5-term commissioner, Joe Flescher, who has served since 2006.
McPartlan cost Sebastian enormous legal fees when, in 2019, he and the City Council tried to ram through the Graves property annexation without proper procedures. The Pelican Island Audubon Society won in court after it was shown the annexation was not properly noticed for the public. McPartlan was ousted that year when citizen newcomer Charles Mauti defeated him over the annexation issue.
Instead of adhering to the court’s opinion, the Sebastian City Council spent more legal fees and lost their appeal in 2020. According to media reports, residents even complained during the public hearings in 2019; the Graves people received unlimited time before the council, while they received only 3 minutes. Against citizen outcry, the McPartlan city council approved the faulty annexation.
McPartlan’s electoral career looked over, but for the following recall election in 2020, when residents recalled Damien Gilliams, Pamela Parris and Mauti. The recall was implemented because the council members held a secret meeting, in violation of Sunshine Law, where they fired the city manager, clerk, and attorney and removed Mayor Ed Dodd. McPartlan survived the special election for those at-large seats held on September 15, 2020.
McPartlan has never seen a tax hike he hasn’t liked. He did vote against the trash collection implementation, but has since voted to increase non-valorem trash collection fees on Sebastian residents.
McPartlan has sat on the Children’s Services advisory Council (CSAC) for over a decade. CSAC makes recommendations to fund nonprofit non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a transfer of taxpayer funds for social work. Many NGO employees serve on the committee and McPartlan has continually sought increased funding. He even promoted the proposed tax referendum to make CSAC its own separate trust. If it was passed the referendum would have created an ad valorem taxing district to additionally tax residents. The CSAC proposal was shot down by local city councils.
Yes, McPartlan does have plenty of institutional knowledge. Do Indian River County residents want him to hit the ground running with it?
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