http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071205/NEWS/71205021The Associated Press
1:06 pm, December 5, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A government watchdog is questioning the appointment of former Gov. Jeb Bush to the board of an Orlando banking company because a related company benefited from tax breaks pushed by Bush's administration.
Continue to 2nd paragraph While Bush was governor, his office approved tax refunds to CNL Holdings, which is affiliated with CNL Bancshares Inc., the St. Petersburg Times reported Wednesday. The bank appointed Bush to its board last month.
"It smacks of political payback," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Florida Common Cause, a nonpartisan political watchdog group, of Bush's appointment to the board. Wilcox said the former governor, a Republican who left office in January, should have refused the appointment.
The tax rebates were supposed to guarantee that the company wouldn't leave the state and would create jobs in central Florida. They have resulted in $181,875 being returned to the company, the newspaper reported. CNL hasn't since applied for or received any additional tax breaks above that amount, CNL spokesman Mark Tosczak told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
CNL Bancshares is part of a group of companies under the umbrella of CNL Financial Group Inc., a diversified $20 billion-plus company that develops real estate and owns hotels and restaurants.
James Seneff controls several CNL-affiliated companies, including CNL Holdings, which won approval in 2003 for tax breaks as an incentive to expand its headquarters in Orlando.
In exchange for the tax rebates, CNL was expected to create 97 jobs in the first year with average wages of $62,000 a year. The company actually created 151 jobs at that wage, Tosczak said.
The company could have been eligible for additional tax rebates had it continued its expansion and created more jobs, but has since changed its business focus, and hasn't applied for any more tax breaks, Tosczak said.
A Bush spokeswoman told the newspaper that he wouldn't comment and Tosczak said that although Bush is on the bank's board, the company didn't speak for him and couldn't make him available for comment.
The Bush administration also pushed for a toll road that would have benefited another company in which Seneff has an interest.
Bush's staff advocated for the Heartland Parkway, a proposed toll road still under consideration that would go through the citrus growing area of south-central Florida.
Among the groups that want the Heartland Parkway built is Atlantic Blue Group, which owns a ranch in Highlands County. The company has tried to sell the ranch for development, and the toll road would increase the value of the land for development.
Atlantic Blue, which financed a group lobbying for the parkway, has Seneff on its corporate board.
Atlantic Blue's largest shareholder, state Rep. Baxter Troutman, told the newspaper that he doesn't see anything improper with Bush's appointment.
"Does it raise eyebrows? Maybe," said Troutman, a Republican from Winter Haven. "It's a non-issue. Jeb is a former governor. I'd want him on my board. Who wouldn't?"
Common Cause's Wilcox said there's nothing wrong with Bush serving on corporate boards and making a living.
"But maybe there are ways to do that without leaving the perception that he's being rewarded for something he did while in office," he said.
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