Tallahassee Reports has confirmed through sources that on Friday, February 12, 2016, Mayor Andrew Gillum, with his Chief of Staff Dustin Daniels, flew to Tampa on a private plane owned by Southport Financial Services for a political meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to give Mayor Andrew Gillum a venue to tell “his story” to well connected politico’s. The meeting was held at the Capital Grille in Tampa where Alex Sink and Charlie Crist attended.
Southport Financial Services is a multi-family housing developer based in Tampa, Florida and has built or acquired a substantial number of market rental housing projects and developed over 90 Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties.
The group has ties to Tallahassee.
On August 28, 2013 the City Commission, with Andrew Gillum, voted 4-0 (Commissioner Scott Maddox absent) t0 authorize use of $150,000 allocated by the City Commission to support affordable housing tax credit applications to include $37,500 for developers, which included Southport Financial.
TR confirmed through FAA records that Southport Financial does own an interest in a private airplane.
Also on the plane was Adam Corey, who at the time was a registered lobbyist with the City of Tallahassee and was doing business with the City of Tallahassee through a signed contract involving the Edison restaurant.
Corey’s business, Cascades Holdings, was listed in the two federal subpoenas recently delivered to city hall.
Sources say that the trip was facilitated by Corey and Peter Leach, who is a principle with Southport Financial Services and is active in Democratic political circles.
A search of publicly available donor records show that Leach has donated $21,000 to mostly Democratic candidates since 2014. The two exceptions are a pair of $1,000 donations to former Republican state Senator Frank Artiles and Republican state Senator Jack Latvala.
Mr. Leach has not returned TR’s phone calls.
Questions about the travel arrangement?
There are several questions that remained unanswered.
Was any city business being conducted on the trip? If yes, what laws or rules regulate the potential conflicts of the travel arrangement and any meeting that took place? If no, was Dustin Daniels, a city employee, being paid with public monies to attend a political meeting?
Who paid for the flight? Did Mayor Andrew Gillum and Dustin Daniels write personal checks to cover the travel expenses of a political trip?
There are laws addressing public officials accepting gifts from lobbyists and entities doing business with government. Which rules apply and is there any documentation that explains how the expenses were handled in this case?
TR has submitted information requests in an attempt to get answers to some of these questions.
Gillum, Daniels, & Corey Flew to Tampa on Developer’s Private Plane for Political Meeting added by Staff on
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Ooh! They flew on a private plane. So what, we can take care of the small fish after we impeach that Cheeto in the White House.
Trump Hotel in D.C., Mar a Lago, any of his golf courses. These are all unethical conflicts of interest, folks.
The difference, which you seemingly are unwilling to conceded – is people pay fair market prices for their golf, hotel stays at Trump properties. You also continue to play sleight of hand with the issues here – when Steve decides to have a national story, have at it…there’s plenty of meat on the bone regarding President Trump – both good and bad. But, try your best to comment here regarding the stories actually posted here. I surmise the reason you will not is because all of this is indefensible. We have corrupt people in high places of local government and its operation.
Hi Preston, glad to see I upset you yet again. Here’s some food for thought.
Merely stating that I made an indefensible comment may be sufficient for your listeners and those of Rush but not for me. I’m not going to give you my best shot more or less because you’re not worthy of it. Your overall reputation is one of an obnoxious, ignorant bully who shouts people down rather than engages in thoughtful discourse.
And another thing, Preston, you miss my point yet again. I’m not trying to deflect from the goal of unmasking local corruption but attempting to show the hypocrisy of those who, like yourself, want to pick and choose who to denounce based on partisan lines.
What bothers you about my comments has nothing to do with national vs. local politics, but the fact that you take offense. I’m sure if I posted something slamming Obama, you would abstain from remarking.
I certainly don’t see you rebuking those who deviate from a story’s main point when they start labelling liberals as retards, morons, etc.
Bruce you really are a piece of work. You should be more careful with your name calling – less words have ended up costing more than they are worth. You are the one who gets riled up…lol.
I have to chuckle because the Preston Scott I know is anything but a bully. He is informative, a good citizen, a funny and caring person. He really cares about this community and how folks are used like personal bank accounts by the local “powers that be”. A lot of us care and we are looking a the facts but I can’t say I recognize any caring or factual findings in your postings.
You do, however, use the typical talking points provided to folks who cannot think for themselves – facts never offered. With the amount of name calling you use on a regular basis, I would bet my money you are the bully.
Bruce continues his trolling: Posting off-topic comments on subjects having little or nothing to do with TR stories. As said before, Bruce, there are many, many sites devoted to the subjects you wish to post here. Please return to the Puffington Post or Buzzfeed or the any of the MSM’s sites, where you can commiserate with like minds. If you’re posting here, try to stick with the local Tallahassee story and subject, and offer as solid defense or comment as you are able.
Is this income?
Maybe they’re referring to it as “lettuce,” or “cabbage,” or some other nick-name for money.
Cheese!
And Andy sure is having a hard time stackin’ it.
Mayor Gillum campaign refunds donations from Barbara Jacobs over the $3,000 limit. Jacobs is the COO of The Edison in Los Angeles. She also donated $10K to Gillum’s Forward Florida PAC.
Gillum, Andrew D. (DEM)(GOV) 03/01/2017 2,500.00 CHE JACOBS BARBARA 2635 4TH STREET SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 RETIRED
Gillum, Andrew D. (DEM)(GOV) 04/25/2017 500.00 CHE JACOBS BARBARA 2635 4TH STREET SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 EVENTS PRODUCTION
Gillum, Andrew D. (DEM)(GOV) 05/28/2017 500.00 CHE JACOBS BARBARA 2635 4TH STREET SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 HOSPITALITY MANAGEME
Gillum, Andrew D. (DEM)(GOV) 05/14/2017 328.70 CHE JACOBS BARBARA 2635 4TH STREET SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 HOSPITALITY MANAGEME
Gillum, Andrew D. (DEM)(GOV) 07/11/2017 -828.70 REF JACOBS BARBARA 2635 4TH STREET SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 HOSPITALITY MANAGEME
——————————————————————————
Total: 3,000.00
Does Daniels have to fill out a time sheet as a city employee? If so, this may shine a light on whether it was official city business or not.
Only the peon workers have to account for their time. The rest are elites and of course can do what they want.
Again, if I did this in my job, I would have been fired. Great investigative reporting, Steve! Let’s see if the Tallahassee Democrap, WCTV or any of the other local media outlets cover this story. I won’t hold my breath.
We all better buy some rubber boots, it only gets deeper and deeper. I hope that in the future the good people of Tallahassee (who vote) show an ability to think for themselves rather than be deceived by appearances, which has now happened for many moons.
Don’t forget about the plane rides to New York City & Las Vegas that Andy took with “Mike Miller!”
Those are documented with audio & video!!!
Time to go to the Florida Ethics Commission and Statewide Prosecutor.
I have lost faith in the local ethics commission and other good ole boys.