Let’s talk about ALL that is disingenuous about this flier from Ed Ciampi.
He never said NO to Costco because it never came up for a vote. And the high-density apartments he’s referencing – Bridgeview (now Indigo of Stuart) – are on a former Kiplinger parcel that never came up for a vote either.
This latest flyer for Ed Ciampi was paid for by Keep Martin Green.
It’s disingenuous and shady AF as if Ciampi sent it himself. I imagine his campaign would still have had some input. I can picture Ciampi saying “I can’t say it but *you* could, Ron. You could say that I didn’t want Costco even tho I did everything to make out work. It’s not illegal what I did. Hopefully everyone forgot by now.”
(FYI, we did not forget.)
Keep Martin Green is the same PAC that used a county development sign in a flyer blaming the City for all of the development ills. The same PAC who said Susan Gibbs Thomas was anti/development as she has taken tens of thousands of dollars from Garcia Family Farms and rural lifestyle applicants. The same PAC who questioned Doug Smith’s opponent’s votes on development as he has approved every development presented for a vote.
With friends like Ron Rose of the Jensen Chamber & Mark Zulaby who chairs Hetherington’s PAC running these campaigns in to ground, who needs… you know what. These commissioners and candidates deserve this level of shitty advertising. It directly reflects how they view themselves – that they are never to blame.
Specific to Costco and Bridgeview… BOTH WERE ANNEXED IN TO THE CITY TO BE DEVELOPED. ED DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO CAST A VOTE.
I wrote about Ed & the whole Costco thing two years ago.
For those who think this is too long, I’ll sum up. Ed was friendly with a Costco exec. He went to meet with them while traveling for Chicago Stainless to propose a land swap with a Kiplinger property. He made no notes to provide to the county. So nobody knows what was “officially” discussed. Like everything else, there’s nothing to see. Just a normal day for a commissioner.