Commissioner McVoy’s month-long “retreat” prior to a crucial vote in Lake Worth. He then promised to “call in”, but never did.

We don’t need any more “empty chairs” on our City Commission in this City:

Tomorrow give Comm. McVoy another long “retreat”. He needs one. The editor at the Post called McVoy an ineffective “gadfly”. It’s time for new ideas from someone like Mr. Omari Hardy, candidate for District 2, who won’t be “taking off” from his job on the Commission. 

Don’t believe McVoy took a month off from the City Commission leading up to a crucial vote? He did. The video is below. You can hear McVoy’s words for yourself.

McVoy promised to “call in” for budget meetings during his “retreat”. He never did. Instead he planned and cavorted to defeat the City’s bond vote in August of 2014. All the while in July of 2014 he was “off”. But Mayor Pam Triolo didn’t take off. And neither did Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell or Commissioner Andy Amoroso.

City Manager Michael Bornstein didn’t take off either and neither did the City staff. But, due to McVoy and his loosely formed coalition of special interests, he was victorious and defeated that bond vote in 2014. By just 25 votes.

For those of you “on the fence” whether to vote next Tuesday for Commissioner McVoy, PhD, maybe what he did in August of 2014 will convince you otherwise, and vote for somebody else to represent District 2 in Lake Worth. Let’s digress briefly and review what the editor at The Palm Beach Post wrote in the recent endorsement of Mr. Omari Hardy, a challenger in District 2:

“[McVoy] has been a commission gadfly, frequently skeptical of the panel’s majority and often on the losing end of 3-2 votes.” And later, “It’s healthy to have opposing views on a decision-making body, but McVoy has become so predictably contrary that he has lost effectiveness. That’s the argument that his chief opponent, Hardy, is making — and it’s a good one.” [emphasis added]

Remember, McVoy never came up with an alternative plan to fix the roads in 2014. And all the while since the August 2014 bond vote was defeated he never took the time to come up with one. He could have—he has a PhD from Cornell—but he didn’t.

When the 2016 Neighborhood Road Bond plan was suggested to be put on the ballot again in early 2016, McVoy again quickly came out in opposition. And again, never even tried to come up with a plan of his own, any alternative at all to the City’s plan. Here’s another quote from the Post endorsement for Omari Hardy to represent District 2:

“McVoy opposed last year’s $40 million bond issue to fix city infrastructure. It won with 69 percent of the vote, putting the commissioner [McVoy] far from the city mainstream.”

McVoy didn’t take a ‘retreat’ in 2016. Instead he spent his time actively and publicly trying to defeat another bond referendum to fix our roads. And he tried doing that by saying that volunteers on an oversight committee, the Finance Advisory Board, could not be trusted. And he leaked an email to the Facebook site called, ironically, “Positively Lake Worth”, information that was later altered to confuse and mislead the public. And those are just two examples of what he did. There are many others.

If you’re planning on voting tomorrow, consider giving Commissioner McVoy another “retreat”, but this time for much longer. After listening and hearing to what Omari Hardy has to say, don’t think he has any plans to “take off” any time soon. Hardy has bigger plans and ideas. Something lacking from McVoy for a very long time now.

Enjoy the video of McVoy from July 2014 announcing his “retreat” which really wasn’t a retreat at all. That claim was just subterfuge. Do you want a commissioner who decides to take a month off and promises to “call in” but doesn’t even do that? Isn’t that another broken promise to the residents and voters in this City?


*For those of you wondering about, “. . . [O]ften on the losing end of 3-2 votes.” Commissioner Ryan Maier was the other “no” vote on many items early on, aligning with McVoy many times. About 1 year into Maier’s 2-year term he began to distance himself from McVoy but it was too late. The damage had been done. Maier dropped out of his race and is not seeking re-election.