In the months before Mitt Romney's resounding victory in Tuesday's Florida presidential primary, Palm Beach County business leaders threw their financial support behind the former Massachusetts governor.
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Palm Beach County business leaders lift Mitt Romney's super PAC
Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post
Mitt Romney, speaking at a recent rally in West Palm Beach, has long-standing relationships with local business leaders William Koch, Marc Leder, Rodger Krouse and others.
By Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 12:15 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012
Posted: 6:41 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012
In the months before Mitt Romney's resounding victory in Tuesday's Florida presidential primary, Palm Beach County business leaders threw their financial support behind the former Massachusetts governor.
Fully $1.5 million – nearly 5 percent – of the $30.2 million raised by a pro-Romney “super” political action committee in 2011 came from Palm Beach County donors, according to financial disclosures released last week.
No other super PAC garnered more than $5,000 from Palm Beach County contributors, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis of campaign finance filings.
Super PACs are a controversial new force in presidential politics. A candidate can accept no more than $2,500 per donor for an election, but super PACs are separate from candidates and can raise limitless sums from individuals, corporations and labor unions, and they can spend unlimited amounts to defend or attack a candidate.
Palm Beach billionaire William Koch is the biggest local supporter of the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future. His Oxbow Carbon of West Palm Beach donated $750,000, and Koch himself wrote a check for $250,000, making him responsible for $1 million of the $1.5 million given to the Romney super PAC by Palm Beach County donors.
“We believe Mitt Romney is more supportive of business and industry than Barack Obama, and certainly our industry,” Oxbow spokesman Brad Goldstein said.
Oxbow is a privately held energy company. Its operations include coal mines.
Longtime ties to Romney
Romney is hardly the only Republican to criticize Obama for what conservatives consider an anti-capitalism bent, but Oxbow hasn't contributed to other contenders for this year's GOP nomination.
Goldstein said Oxbow supports Romney because of Koch's long-standing ties to the candidate. Romney and Koch have known each other for decades, and Oxbow's chief financial officer once worked at Bain Capital, the Boston private equity fund co-founded by Romney.
Over the years, Oxbow and Koch have proven omnivorous donors, supporting not just Republicans but also such Democrats as Hillary Clinton and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.
“We're nonpartisan,” Goldstein said. “If you want to put a letter after us, you can't put an R and you can't put a D. You can put a B for business.”
While Koch was the most generous supporter of the pro-Romney PAC in 2011, other wealthy Palm Beach County residents also ponied up. Marc Leder and Rodger Krouse, the co-founders of Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm in Boca Raton, each gave $125,000 to Restore Our Future.
Like Koch, the Sun Capital founders have a long relationship with Romney. The New York Times reported last month that Romney's success at Bain Capital inspired Leder and Krouse to launch their private equity fund. And in 2000, Sun Capital bought Bain Capital's stake in JTech Communications of Boca Raton.
The other Palm Beach County contributors to the Romney super PAC were Darlene Jordan of Palm Beach, who gave $100,000; Peter Sudler of Tequesta, $100,000; and B/E Aerospace, a publicly traded maker of airplane interiors based in Wellington, $50,000.
“I truly believe that he's the only person in the race who can beat Barack Obama in the general election,” Jordan said.
Two other donors to the Romney super PAC have strong ties to Palm Beach County, though they don't list Palm Beach County addresses on campaign finance forms. Real estate developer and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who owns a home in Palm Beach, gave $100,000. Michael Moran, partner at Boca Raton private equity fund Brockway Moran & Partners, contributed $20,000.
The flood of contributions from deep-pocketed donors isn't playing well with good-government advocates.
“We don't know who will win in November, but the latest round of campaign finance reports shows 'we the people' are already running far behind 'we the 1 percent,' ” said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog group.
Hollywood helps Obama
Though the super PAC that supports President Obama hasn't raised money in Palm Beach County, it has received big donations from wealthy liberals and labor groups. Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg contributed $2 million last year to Priorities USA. The Service Employees International Union gave $1 million.
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Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County business leaders lift Mitt Romney's super PAC
TALLAHASSEE — A statewide television ad campaign, glitzy architectural renderings — even the promise of thousands of jobs — couldn't change the political odds this year against the resort casino bill in Tallahassee.
House sponsor Erik Fresen, R-Miami, abruptly pulled the bill from consideration on Friday, when it was clear that the House committee hearing it for the first time wasn't going to deliver the votes for passage. Proponents will have to wait until 2013 to try again.
“To be disappointed would (mean) that I had expectations of incredible victory on this bill,'' he said after conceding “it's dead for the year.”
The not-unexpected defeat of the plan to build three $2 billion mega casinos in Miami-Dade and Broward “was not about policy,'' said Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, a Fort Lauderdale Republican and Senate sponsor of the bill. “It was about politics.”
Politics came in the form of intense pressure from powerful industry groups like the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, who opposed the arrival of out-of-state casino companies and the damage they claimed it would cause Florida's tourism industry.
It came from local business owners, the Seminole Tribe and South Florida's racetrack-casino operators who feared they couldn't compete with the hotels, restaurants, casinos and convention centers subsidized with the mega resort's casino cash.
And it came from community leaders, like Miami businessman Norman Braman, who opened his checkbook for the No Casinos effort, and Grace Solares, a neighborhood activist in Miami who appeared before the House subcommittee Friday and condemned the proposal as an “insidious disease.”
“Do not wash your hands like Pontius Pilate did,'' Solares told the House Business and Consumer Affairs and subcommittee. “Do your duty. Stop it now.”
But the biggest blow, Bogdanoff said, was the lost opportunity to use the bill as a way to tighten Florida's porous gambling regulations and reduce what she considers the proliferation of predatory gambling.
The House bill would have created a State Gaming Control Board, shut down slot-machine look-alikes at Internet Cafes, revoke dormant pari-mutuel permits and buy back the permits of low-performing horse and dog tracks.
“It's sad that the House would shut it down in the first committee and not let the debate continue,'' she said.
Dan Adkins, head of Mardi Gras Casino and Racetrack in Hollywood, Fla., said the pari-mutuels would have supported the bill if racetrack-casinos were given the same Las Vegas games as the resort casinos. The defeat, he said, now “levels the playing field and gives us an opportunity to regroup and try to bring this issue back in the right manner next year.''
Jessica Hoppe, general counsel for Genting's Resorts World Miami, which has already invested nearly $1 billion in real estate for a prospective casino, said the company would “regroup” and keep fighting.
“We obviously know this is an issue for Florida that does not end today,'' she said.
Genting has explored bypassing the Legislature and conducting a statewide petition drive to bring a referendum on the ballot in 2014 that would allow Miami-Dade and Broward counties to approve resort casinos. According to the Florida Division of Elections, they have not yet officially formed the required political committee to collect signatures to start the long process.
“Bring it on,'' said Dan Gelber, consultant for No Casinos and a former state senator from Miami Beach. “Let them come in with huge amounts of money. People will have the good sense to know this is a sucker's bet.”
With the demise of the resort casino bill, legislators are turning their attention to the expansion of gambling in smaller measures across the state and raising questions about what impact they will have on the state's revenue-sharing agreement with the Seminole Tribe.
Under the tribal compact, the tribe has the exclusive right to operate slot machines outside of Miami-Dade and Broward or it can without payments to the state. This year, the tribe is set to pay $233 million.
In the last six months, a barrel racing track has opened in Gadsden County and voters have approved installing slot machines. More than 1,000 Internet cafes are in operation throughout the state, operating slot-machine like games under a loophole in state law. State regulators have issued a summer jai alai permit under another loophole in the law that could open the door to another slot machine permit in Miami-Dade. And a bill to revoke the requirement that dog tracks with poker rooms no longer have to race dogs was broadened to include a provision that allows counties to ask voters for permission to operate slot machines at local horse and dog tracks.
Pinellas County became the latest county to consider a referendum, following a request by Derby Lane dog track. It will discuss a resolution on the issue at its County Commission meeting on Tuesday. Voters in Gadsden and Washington counties have already approved referendums allowing slot machines to be operated at their horse and dog tracks, and Palm Beach, Brevard and Lee counties have announced referendums are underway as well.
“I have been saying for months, if nothing happens within the next five years, we will become the No. 1 gambling state in the nation,'' Bogdanoff said. “And it's not the kind of gambling we want.”
Times staff writer David DeCamp contributed to this report.
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Plan for mega-casinos dies in Florida House
HOLLYWOOD, FL–(Marketwire -02/03/12)- The Lojeta Group, the successful development firm behind the highly-anticipated Margaritaville Resort on Hollywood Beach, Florida, has announced its newest luxury condo project called Positano Beach. Located on the famed Hollywood Beach Broadwalk and styled after the community of Positano, Italy, Positano Beach joins the Villas of Positano to create an exclusive boutique Mediterranean-style community fronting the Atlantic Ocean.
“Due to the overwhelming success of the Villas of Positano, we are thrilled to move forward with our second project,” said Lon Tabatchnick, president of the Lojeta Group. “As buyers of the Villas have experienced, some backyard views are better than others.”
The Villas of Positano's sold-out sales success has driven significant pre-sale inquiries for Positano Beach. Similar to the first property, the Lojeta Group has seen interest from people looking to relocate from suburban neighborhoods in South Florida and from those living in the Northeast U.S. looking for a first or second home in the Sunshine State.
Directly adjoining the Villas of Positano, Positano Beach is designed for 15 spacious, well-appointed residences starting at 3,200 square feet. Positano Beach residences feature imported marble and granite accents, balconies with breathtaking views of the sand and surf, and state-of-the-art home management systems. Residents will have access to full-service amenities shared with its sister property, including full-time concierge and valet service and the pool and fitness facility. Other plans include two single family homes, the completion of a marina and a second elevated deck with private cabanas overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, exceptional dining, entertainment and shopping options are easily accessible by car or a short beach stroll.
“It is a great honor to be part of the next phase of Positano,” said Bobby Auerbach, the sales agent behind the sellout of the Villas of Positano. “The Lojeta Group already has a phenomenal success story behind the Positano brand. I am excited to have the privilege to capitalize on that and deliver continued success.”
The Positano Beach sales office is located in The Villas of Positano at 3501 North Ocean Drive, Hollywood Florida. Please call 954-547-3600 for more information or visit www.villaofpostiano.com.
About Lojeta Group and Millennium Homes
The Lojeta Group is diverse, very successful and highly respected family owned real estate development firm. Focused on developing and investing in high quality large-scale opportunities, the Lojeta Group has completed 20,000 homes, 10,000 rental apartments and 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space since its inception in 1985. In addition to residential real estate, the firm is also developing Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida. For more information, please visit www.lojeta.com.
For more than 50 years, Millennium Homes has been building communities nationwide to the highest standard of quality and design. Builders of communities that bring people together Millennium has completed over 100 communities nationwide. For more information, please visit www.millenniumhomes.com
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Lojeta Group Launches Second Positano Brand Luxury Condo Project on Hollywood Beach, Florida
A third of Florida's senior Social Security recipients survive on only their monthly government checks, according to an analysis by AARP.
“I shop at thrift shops; I just got two blouses for $2 a piece,” said one 86-year-old retired television writer.
Nationwide, only 25 percent of retirees 65 and older depend solely on Social Security, the senior advocacy group said.
Advanced age has a lot to do with it.
Florida has nearly 800,000 residents 80 and older, second only to California's 1 million. But Florida's total population is half of California's. Florida alone has 3,492 centenarians receiving Social Security, nearly 7 percent of the nation's total.
“Folks have spent down their assets,” said Jeff Johnson, AARP interim director in Florida.
Floridians 80 and older are about three times as likely to depend on Social Security exclusively than retirees 67 and younger, according to U.S. Census Bureaudata analyzed by Hector Ortiz of the nonprofit National Council of Aging.
In Hollywood, Sue Badger, 86, carefully budgets her $1,051 Social Security check so it will last the entire month.
Years ago, she moved from a pool house to a smaller two-bedroom condo to cut expenses. But Badger said she had to take out a reverse mortgage on her condo in a 55+ community to pay doctor's bills, make repairs in her apartment and buy a car to replace her old one.
Still, she says she lives comfortably. Friends and family treat her with gifts. She found a private insurance company that pays for the medical care that Medicare doesn't. Her condo association allowed her to pay $100 a month to pay off a $600 special assessment, in addition to her monthly $200 maintenance fees.
Badger is one of the fortunate seniors living only on Social Security.
Thousands called 211 in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast in the last fiscal year for financial help or advice, said Patrice Schroeder, community relations specialist and public information officer for 211 in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
About 200 had to be helped by the agency's Elder Crisis Outreach program to avoid foreclosure, or they were moved to less expensive housing, said Schroeder. Others got into desperate situations over house repairs or condo special assessments they couldn't afford, said Schroeder.
One Palm Beach County woman in her 80s “had no running water for six months in her house,” Schroeder said. “She couldn't afford to get her plumbing fixed” until social workers found an agency that could pay for the $2,000 work.
A 70-year-old Greenacres man, who needs to use an oxygen tank, faced having his electricity cut off for nonpayment until social workers intervened.
Many other elderly residents are struggling with unexpected bills — spiraling home insurance premiums, higher property taxes and condo association fees, said Jan Bergemann, an activist who runs Cyber Citizens for Justice.
His group is trying to set up a foundation to help some elderly people stay in their condos when they don't have the money to pay special assessments.
Unexpected expenses have convinced many recent retirees to bypass Florida in favor of Arizona or the Carolinas, Bergemann said.
One retiree who just moved to South Carolina reported that his home insurance premium was cut in half, Bergemann said.
Many no longer consider Florida a haven for retirees. Kiplinger magazine doesn't include Florida in its latest report on 10 tax-friendly states for retirees. The magazine complained that sales and real estate taxes can be expensive in the Sunshine State.
Circumstances can play havoc with Florida's oldest seniors who don't have the savings to cover unexpected emergencies.
Fabienne “Faye” Adam has not lived in her condo in the Ventor “B” building of Century Village in Deerfield Beach since a fire in July 2005 forced her and owners of eight other units out. Along the way there have been lawsuits, hearings, a bankrupt insurance company, Hurricane Wilma and updated building codes — but no completed renovation.
So Adam, who will turn 81 in a couple of weeks, has to pay her mortgage plus rent an apartment while she waits for the work to be done in her condo.
Both units are costing her more than her $991 Social Security check and a $100-a-month pension, Adam said.
For now, she is dipping into the insurance settlement for her condo's contents to pay her living expenses until she can move back.
“I don't want to ask my children for help,'' Adam said.
dgehrke@tribune.com, 954-356-4404 or Twitter @donnagehrke
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Third of Florida's seniors have only Social Security to depend on
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Morris Southeast
Group/CORFAC International Principal Ken Morris, SIOR, announced
today his firm has signed the Broward County Aviation
Department to a five-year lease at Airport Commerce Park in
Dania Beach, FL.
Morris, Koreena Rivers and Lois Paskow, RPA
represented the landlord, ACP Partners, LLC in the
23,778-square-foot transaction. The property is located at
4101 Ravenswood Road. Airport Commerce Park is on the west
side of Interstate 95 and less than four miles from the Ft.
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Dania Beach,
which is south of Ft. Lauderdale and north of Hollywood.
The Broward
County Aviation Department (BCAD) will use the property for
administrative offices and plans to move in during the first
half of 2012 and after the property owner completes
significant tenant improvements to the building. The office
building is a single-story campus style property that will
allow easy and quick transit from the car into the office for
both BCAD personnel and the various contractors associated
with the aviation department.
The BCAD move is a major consolidation after years of
occupying multiple office locations including some within the
airport terminal, as well as portable offices. The new
location will also make it convenient for BCAD staff to
observe and manage oversight of a runway expansion project
that is scheduled to begin at the airport soon.
Airport Commerce Center is comprised of four buildings
totaling approximately 60,000 square feet. The BCAD lease
brings the park to almost full occupancy, according to
Morris.
Morris Southeast Group/CORFAC International specializes in
owner and tenant representation, corporate services and
investment sales in the office, industrial and retail sectors
throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
Morris
Southeast Group is an affiliate of CORFAC
International. For Miami Tenant Representation, South
Florida Commercial Property, Ft. Lauderdale Commercial Real
Estate Broker, contact Ken Morris, president of Morris
Southeast Group/CORFAC International at (954) 474-1776 or
visit
www.morrissegroup.com.
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Morris Southeast Group/CORFAC International Has Signed the Broward County Aviation Department to a Five-Year Lease at …
New condominiums flooded the market from 2005 to 2009 in Miami and Fort Lauderdale . An in depth analysis by Related ISG reveals over 89% of the 42,509 condos built are now sold. Miami, FL (PRWEB) January 25, 2012 “ The downtown Miami Brickell corridor was by far the most developed piece of real estate in Florida during the great real estate boom that occurred from 2005 to 2009,” said Kevin Dickenson [1] with Prudential Florida Realty
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Miami and Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Condominium Market Report 2011
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