Uncover St. Lucie sheriff secrets; Sebastian hospital critical; Florida politics messy

Pearson, DeSantis owe the public full disclosure

Kudos to Adam Neal, executive editor and news director of TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, for his efforts to pressure (legally) the interim St. Lucie County sheriff to release information the public has a right to know.

There is something wrong when even the governor will not answer questions about this mysterious appointment; the obvious conclusion is that he has something to hide.

I find it interesting that while Keith Pearson refuses to respond to public records requests, he was very quick to start sending out solicitation requests for campaign money to ensure his election in November. I have received too many of them, all unsolicited, and none of which will be answered.

Let's have an election for this office that is open to every detail about the candidates and not shrouded in mystery.  The very lives of our citizens might well depend on honesty and prompt reporting, neither of which do we have now.

Dianne Robbins, Port St. Lucie

Posey piece illustrates, from top to bottom, failure of parties, political system

Larry Reisman's recent column on Bill Posey's politically timed resignation (if you rig a sports event, you go to jail; if you rig an election, you retire on a full pension) was excellent. But it highlighted, perhaps inadvertently, a huge problem: the utter failure of both our political parties to offer up qualified candidates and to govern effectively.

At the national level, we'll soon be forced to choose between the two most unpopular candidates in our history, neither of whom should be allowed to return to the White House. But consider too: Congress features, on the one hand, wing nuts like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert and, on the other, Eric Swalwell, Maxine Waters and Ilhan Omar. Two competing clown cars, both going in wrong directions.

And perhaps the most egregious example is Sen. Robert Menendez of my native New Jersey. He's charged with being a crook, and possibly, borderline traitor, but continues to sit unchallenged in the Senate, flaunting his allegedly ill-gotten wealth and equally responsible wife.

And at the local level — no names! ― but Vero Beach's city council and Indian River County's school board include members who clearly have no business holding such responsibilities.

I'm nobody's idea of a revolutionary, but somehow, some way, our two parties need to be power-washed into worrying about governing our country instead of simply getting elected and re-elected. The system, and the two parties that run it, are broken. The national debt clock isn't the only one that's ticking.

Bob Hyde, Vero Beach

Sebastian River solid hospital; sale plans disconcerting

I have to weigh in on the Steward Health Care bankruptcy and the upcoming garage sale of hospitals.

Unfortunately, I have had two recent occasions to visit the emergency room at Sebastian River Medical Center. Both times, the staff members have been phenomenal. I would credit being present to write this to them and the proximity vs. having to be taken 17 miles-plus to Cleveland Clinic or Palm Bay.

When we moved here four years ago, we took Sebastian River for granted in spite of hearing a lot of negatives and rumors, which our experience proved wrong.

Now that it and all the other Steward hospitals are going to be "sold," we are praying for a decent group to take them over. Baptist South has been expanding north, for one.

As for Steward management, read between the lines:

First: The vast majority of their hospitals are located in lower socioeconomic areas: Hialeah, Miami, Lauderdale Lakes. These are used as primary care by the local communities. They all figure it is free health care access and someone else has to pay.

Second: Per the original reports, Medical Properties Trust owns the facilities and Steward only leases the right to run them: What is actually being auctioned? In my experience with one South Florida client, he owned about six nursing homes, but would lease them back to himself under different corporate umbrellas as a "shield" against mistakes and lawsuits. Every time people sued, they has to sue the tenant, and he would just close and re-incorporate to make the legal trouble go away.

It gives one pause to contemplate Steward's hierarchy and whether it has a fiduciary interest in MPT.

Jeff Hamilton, Sebastian

Ridiculous costs, DMV practices cost Floridians cars, jobs, homes

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles requires drivers to purchase products and services, but does not oversee or control what the supplying vendors charge for these services, I was told by a DMV compliance officer May 4, 2023, and in the Lauderdale Lakes office Feb. 2.

Consider the ignition interlock device program and auto insurance. I am keenly aware of these problems because my hard-working relative faces these challenges.

For instance, if, while compliant with the ignition interlock device program, a driver suffers a financial hardship and cannot pay the device recalibration charge, the vendor considers the driver “noncompliant” and notifies the DMV, which suspends the driver’s license. I confirmed this with the DMV compliance officer March 15. The same license suspension practice would apply to someone who cannot afford to purchase auto insurance.

It’s easy to see that loss of a driver’s license and ability to travel to work can lead to job loss. Without a job, one can surely lose a dwelling and end up homeless.

Working Floridians have a difficult enough time making ends meet without having their drivers' licenses suspended for inability to pay high vendor charges. Florida legislators need to truly represent their constituents and end this draconian practice of the DMV.

Eileen Forster, Sebastian

Here's how to solve post office delivery problems

I am writing to express my dismay with the U.S. Postal Service. It seems it cannot deliver mail anymore.

On Feb. 15, I mailed a letter with tracking to the Florida insurance commissioner in Tallahassee. The letter was mailed from 1551 U.S. 1, Vero Beach. The letter arrived in Orlando on Feb. 17, and then it arrived in Jacksonville later that same day. The tracking on Feb. 22 said it was “in transit to the next facility." The letter did not show up on tracking again and was not delivered. I did a mail search. The result is “undeliverable.”

On April 26, I mailed a letter with tracking to the Florida cancer specialist in Fort Myers. This letter was mailed from 1551 U.S. 1, Vero Beach. The letter arrived in Orlando on the same day. The tracking shows on April 30 it was “in transit to the next facility.” The letter did not show up on tracking again and was not delivered. I did a mail search for this letter. The result is “undeliverable.”

I went to the post office I mailed this mail from and complained. Officials said there is nothing that can be done, that it happens all the time.

I want to know what do I have to do to get my mail delivered. Why doesn’t the USPS change the pricing categories to “your mail may not get there” and “your mail will get there” and charge extra to actually deliver our mail?

Forget quickness, I want it to get there.

I think it is easy to solve. If mail worker takes a box of mail to another location and all the mail is not in the box, he or she should be fired and arrested.

Russell Pieper, Fort Pierce

Federal judges lose credibility in decreeing guilt by association

"A group of 13 U.S. federal judges said that they would not hire law students or undergraduates from Columbia University," Reuters reported May 7.

Without looking at individuals accomplishments or their past histories of work with political or social organizations, they have decided that all members of the group are guilty and unfit to serve in the justice system.

Are these judges fit to continue to sit on the bench in judgement of others? They clearly decide on the fate of individuals not on the actions of the individuals, but solely on their classification in groups. The student body at Columbia is made up of many different individuals, many of whom did not participate in the recent protests.

Every judicial ruling from these 13 judges should be reviewed for bias. Deciding a person is worthy to be part of society because of his or her group classification, and another should be banished from society because he or she is in the "wrong" group classification, is a dangerous position for a federal judge.

Unfortunately, these 13 judges have been appointed for life, so there should be an ongoing review of their rulings and sentences in order to protect justice. Many of their decisions could be wise, but there is a propensity to bias shown in the past actions of these individual judges.

Steven R. Schlitt, Vero Beach

Solar great for Florida, but wind turbines would be problem

I read John Kennedy's May 6 story, "DeSantis resists action on climate."

Fixing the problems with climate change are the same for water pollution. We’ve had that problem for more than 50 years, but it won’t get better without preventative measures.

We do lots of cleanup, but there’s always more. We do need the electric mass transit and bike lanes. We also need electric and hybrid vehicles. Solar energy, hydrogen research, but not wind turbines over Florida land or offshore.

The whole state of Florida is covered with bird migration routes. Different routes for different birds. Millions of birds would be killed. Our birds are an important means of pest control and the spreading of seeds. Birds are also important for our economy and tourism.

Florida Power & Light is investing heavily in solar, which is good for our state, and most homes should do that, too, but wind turbines would be destructive. There are many states where wind turbines would be of great importance, but not in Florida.

Diane Goldberg is conservation chair for St. Lucie Audubon and the Conservation Alliance of St Lucie County.

Want your vote to count? Boot Electoral College

Why do we still use the outdated Electoral College system, which makes it possible for five to seven specific states to determine who is the next president? This is known even before campaigning even begins.

That means in 43 to 45 states, including Florida, the outcome is predetermined, where a voter's choice has no impact on the election, makes no difference and has no influence as to who is the winner of the presidency.

If the Electoral College was fairly done, each state would decide its representatives, according to the percentage of votes to each candidate.

To us individual voters, that would be much fairer.

This system of the Electoral College was used in 1700. Today, we have modern technology available and need to make changes. It would be easy enough to take the total of the votes from each state, giving us a fairer democratic system and making every vote in the country count.

As it now stands, this antiquated system seems to be acceptable with both parties for some reason unknown. It appears that only 1 million voters out of about 3 million voters will determine the presidency.

We, the people, are losers, Stop and think if you can name even five politicians who truly care about making the vote of every citizen count.

Charles Davis, Stuart

Would Americans protest if we were brutally attacked, then retaliated?

Let me get this straight. There was a sneak attack on Israel that killed thousands of people, including women and children. The attackers then took hostages.

And now there are protests because Israel is retaliating.

I wonder what the United States would do if there were a sneak attack on us.

What would we do? What did we do?

Were there any protests after Pearl Harbor was attacked and we retaliated?

Ron Grommes, Vero Beach

Don't be selfish; pick best candidates to elect

How do we determine a candidate of our choosing?

Do we rely on “news” from the media or do we take a deeper dive into the candidates’ records of authoring particular bills into legislation?

How did candidates vote on the issue or issues Important to you? How do those votes satisfy what defines us as citizens of America and our values as a free nation?

Too often, we read editorials and letters that are without proof of sources or referenced research from independent studies.

In today's “information age,” there is a plethora of information on public officials and candidates running for public office. One can determine if their candidates' claims and promises live up to their records on what they have accomplished.

So often I witnessed voters erroneously claiming their candidates are for or against important issues without doing due diligence to uncover the truth.

Are we one-issue voters or do we consider the totality of the crisis facing our nation?

How important it remains for us as voters to look beyond what is good for me to the bigger picture of how we retain what we are as a free country and a constitutional republic.

Benjamin Paul Zelno, Vero Beach

Biden has to have lost Jewish support with latest move

The line has been crossed with Joe Biden's withholding ammunition from Israel. No more excuses. No more double talk.

Any Jewish person who votes for Biden in 2024 has to be the enemy of not only every Jew in the world, but every civilized person in the world.

Barry Godofsky, Port St. Lucie

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Republicans, Democrats compete from clown cars; St. Lucie sheriff woe