Spin won’t fix a tarnished image

Ludicrous is beginning to show from behind the façade of silly where our county commission is concerned these days.

Our leadership appears to be very aware that they have a public image problem. But they seem to be at a loss in figuring out why this is so.

It can’t after all have anything to do with manufactured numbers that don’t hold up on review. It can’t after all have anything to do with sinking money into projects that didn’t hold up on first review. It can’t after all have anything to do with continuous attacks on public input through stealth government, placing controversial items on agendas at the last minute, forging ahead with attempts to overturn deals made with the state before the deals are even finalized, working out preliminary deals with developers before the items have their first public vetting. It can’t after all have anything to do with forging ahead with elimination of height restrictions and development density despite the overwhelming disapproval of the public on the issues.

And it can’t after all have anything to do with allowing our administrative staff to lie to the Governor with no repercussions.

Nope, none of that.

Instead, we are told by the commission, it seems that the public simply doesn’t understand the true facts behind these moves. We are just too simple minded to understand the high-level thought processes that go into these things.

So, instead of coming to the conclusion, which we feel they should, that they just might be doing things people disagree with, and maybe accepting that folks think they’re spending money foolishly, and aiding and abetting in the destruction of our precious Florida Keys, they toss out the idea that the commission needs a public relations professional to handle their ideas in a way the public will understand.

Excuse us.

It doesn’t matter how the commission wants to spin the story, 18 hours was never included in the hurricane evacuation process adopted by the county. To say to the Governor that it was, and accept that lie publicly, is fact twisting the likes of which this county hasn’t seen since the claim of weapons of mass destruction under every rock in Iraq.