Disputes with local governments could create fresh conflicts of interest
Fri Mar 10, 2017 | 1:06am EST
By Joseph Ax and Grant Smith | NEW YORK
The Trump National Golf Club ... is worth more than $50 million and yielded more than $10 million from 2015 to early 2016, according to the financial disclosure form Trump filed last May. But seven months earlier, an attorney for Trump filed a lawsuit against the town of Ossining, New York, seeking lower taxes, claiming the course was worth only $1.4 million.
The lawsuit, which remains pending, has left at least one local official worried that taking a tough negotiating stance against a business owned by the world's most powerful political figure puts her town of 25,000 residents at risk of retribution ...
Ethics experts said disagreements between Trump businesses and local governments create unavoidable conflicts of interest, since the federal government is a key source of funding and other benefits for municipalities and counties ...
At least half a dozen disputes, including the Westchester lawsuit, remained unresolved as the Trump presidency began in late January ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-conflicts-idUSKBN16H0JN
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