Candidate: Bea Gardner

Bea Gardner has announced her candidacy for Indian River County Commissioner, Dist. 3. Bea says she is the “people’s candidate” running as a small government conservative. She has been active in the Republican Party for a good many years so it stands to reason that good conservative values are part of her makeup. Bea Gardner served as president of the Republican Club of Indian River County for four years and she currently serves as a committee woman for the Republican Executive Committee. During her years of involvement in the Republican Party Bea has taken a leadership role in many fundraising events such as the Lincoln Day Dinner and the Republican BBQ. Bea says she has been working for as long as she can remember. It all started when she worked her brother’s paper route at times because he was at baseball practice. Bea has had a very successful career in Interior Design, as well as many other successful business ventures. Bea says, “Interior Design was my vocation and my avocation”. When she moved to Vero Beach she opened Encore Furniture in the Pocahontas Building in the heart of Vero’s Historic Downtown district. Encore Furniture was an upscale used furniture store and Bea could usually be found in the back room doing custom painting and faux finishes on “old” furniture for resale. Her recycling of used furniture made Bea “green” before it was fashionable to be “green”. Gardner was a Recruiter with the Vortechs Group, an IT Recruiting Company, for a few years after closing Encore Furniture, placing the best and the brightest in the technology arena. As you can see, the business world is not foreign to her and she feels her varied background will serve the community well as your next County Commissioner, Dist. 3. Bea Gardner is well known in the community for many of her past endeavors such as being the creator of the Downtown Friday event which was started as a fundraiser for the Downtown Vero Beach Association - now known as the Main Street Organization. She also was a founding member of Keep Indian River Beautiful and while serving on the K.I.R.B. board Bea chaired the first County Wide Clean-up called The County Sweep. Bea served on the Board of the Taxpayers Association of Indian River County for many years and was the editor of the Taxpayers Newsletter. Bea also presided over the Rule of Five Investment Club and she says the experience gained from the Rule of Five Investment Club and The Taxpayers Association will come in handy when it’s time for her to sharpen her pencil during budget reviews. Bea is a Competent Communicator with Toastmasters International and has won numerous speech competitions among local and area Toastmasters groups. Bea served for 16 years on the Vero Beach Parks and Recreation Commission. In fact, Bea was a member of the Commission when it was combined as a City/County Recreation Commission. For the past two years she has been involved and active with her blog called Bea-isms and a Radio Show by the same name. Recently, she set Bea-isms aside because she says she needed to give her full attention to her campaign. Bea says the most fulfilling work from beginning to the present has been being a mother to two fine young men, her sons Bill and Glen. She resides with her best friend and loving husband, architect, Steve Blum. Bea says this seat has been underserved for a good many years and when elected she will be there for you. . She says her work ethic will serve the community well and would ask for your vote on August 14 so that she may do so. Bea Gardner Candidate 4480 25th Lane Vero Beach, FL 32966 bea@beagardner.com