Jeb Bush in '06 facilitated Office Depot deal for benefit of former business partner, Armando Codina

[seafan]

I would wager that we will be discovering many more deals Jeb Bush pulled over on the backs of the people of Florida.

This is a good place as any for our new Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink to begin investigations.



How business works the system

By SYDNEY P. FREEDBERG
Published January 28, 2007

When Office Depot broke ground on a new headquarters complex in November, outgoing Gov. Jeb Bush issued a news release praising the company for creating hundreds of jobs.
"While this fine global corporate headquarters would be welcomed anywhere, I am distinctly proud Office Depot chose South Florida to foster its future success," Bush declared.
Office Depot, a Fortune 500 firm with $14.3-billion in revenues, expected to spend $210-million on construction and equipment and expand by 430 jobs, his news release said.

What it did not say was perhaps more noteworthy, however:

- Office Depot was moving less than 5 miles, from Delray Beach to Boca Raton.

- Florida and Palm Beach County had promised a $15-million incentive package to help pay for the expansion.

- A real estate firm run by Bush's former business partner, Armando Codina, stands to benefit. That firm is part owner of the land, and it will develop the 28-acre corporate campus and lease it to Office Depot.

- Office Depot threatened to move its headquarters with 1,750 jobs out of Florida if it didn't get incentives. Yet evidence suggests the company might have chosen Boca Raton anyway.

- While Office Depot was promising to create headquarters jobs, it eliminated 350 jobs elsewhere in the county. And this month it announced that 75 headquarters jobs will be cut.


......


Office Depot wanted to build the headquarters on 28 acres of a 54-acre business park. Codina Group of Coral Gables, now part of Jacksonville-based Flagler Development Group, owns 20 percent of the park; the giant pension fund TIAA-CREF owns the rest.
In March 2006, TIAA-CREF filed plans for the site with the city of Boca Raton. Office Depot's proposed headquarters would include three five-story buildings connected by glass-enclosed bridges. Flagler/Codina would oversee design and development of the campus and, jointly with the pension fund, lease it to Office Depot.
Office Depot, which hopes to move next year, declined to disclose terms of its agreement with Flagler/Codina.

......



Codina, a longtime friend of former President George Bush, hired Jeb Bush in the early 1980s to sell and lease real estate and ultimately renamed his business Codina Bush. Codina gave Jeb Bush, with no personal investment, 40 percent of the real estate company's profits plus chances to invest in other ventures.
After Jeb Bush became governor in 1999, Codina said, he was careful not to use his connections with Bush on personal or business matters.
Still, the two men remained close. Gov. Bush appointed Codina to the board of trustees of Florida International University. (On Codina's gubernatorial appointments application, he listed Bush as a reference.) And the developer told a South Florida business magazine last February that he regards Bush as a son.


As governor, Bush was chairman of Enterprise Florida, the nonprofit organization that recommends state incentives. Many incentive projects are approved and overseen by the governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.
During Bush's tenure, Codina-run businesses stood to gain from state decisions to offer incentives to several companies, including Kraft Foods, Burger King and Office Depot. But a Codina spokesman said the firm is unaware of any incentives those clients received.
"I have never spoken to Jeb about Office Depot, Burger King or any of these matters," Codina said in an interview. He said he does not believe he should be deprived of earning a living because his friend was governor. "As far as I'm concerned, this (Office Depot) is not a political decision."


Alia Faraj, Bush's spokeswoman, said Bush did not talk to Codina about incentives for Office Depot. Nor did the former governor see a need to recuse himself from handling Office Depot or any other incentive matter.
"There is no provision in state ethics laws that would require him to do so based on a previous business relationship," Faraj said. She discounted any suggestion that the men's relationship could have tilted any incentive decision in favor of a Codina client.
"I take offense to your inference, which is altogether improper," Faraj said. .....
Office Depot quietly negotiated with Flagler/Codina while working to get incentives.
In April, a month after plans were filed with Boca Raton, the company said it wanted to keep its headquarters (with 1,750 jobs) in Florida but its decision hinged on incentives.
Within several weeks, it began seeking expedited building permits, a property tax exemption, tax refunds, a cash grant, training aid and road improvement funds.
There was one hitch. Incentives aren't meant for companies moving just down the road.

.....

(Emphasis added.)

[mod mom]

1. Typical BFEE move, Screw the public to benefit the cronies.

:mad:

[Benhurst]

2. I'm shocked. It's hard to believe that one of Ma Bush's children could be a crook.

Ma Bush: Texas' answer to Ma Barker.

[wakeme2008]

3. Is Jeb getting FREE RENT

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/joan_fleischman/16119083.htm

Jeb Bush, who will soon vacate the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, is moving to The City Beautiful. Bush and wife Columba are renting a ninth-floor condo in Segovia Tower in Coral Gables
..cut..

Rent is $5,500 per month for the 3,949 square foot unit. The condo has three bedrooms, overlooks Granada Golf Course and is walking distance to Miracle Mile. Bush's landlord is Rolando Iglesias, a builder and real estate investor, and wife Hilda.

..cut... now the funny end of the article

Bush used to work with developer Armando Codina. No word on his job plans.

..little more at link....

Jeb's net worth per state filing is 1.5 million. So he is going to RENT a condo for $5,500 per month ($66,000 per year) Something just smells in this deal....

I would bet there is a connection between Rolando Iglesias and Armando Codina.

[Olney Blue]

4. First Condi, and now Condina? The Bushes really like "cons" don't they?

[salin]

5. Wasn't JEB! known for questionable real estate deals

which used PUBLIC money to back private investments (and croney and self-enrichment) prior to being governor? Sounds like his MO. Have to wonder how many billions of taxpayer dollars were siphoned off in such deals to his cronies during his eight years as governor.

[seafan]

6. So many un-investigated deals.... Nigerian water pumps, Broward

Hospital District questions, Medicaid dealings, savings and loan fishiness, .... virtually an endless list.



Here is a good primer on Jeb and his siblings, from September 1, 1992. They haven't changed.


A beginning clip:

In 1991, President Bush bristled at a flurry of news accounts that questioned the business ethics of three of his sons. "The media ought to be ashamed of itself for what they're doing," Bush complained. "They have a right to make a living, and their relationships are appropriate," added a White House spokeswoman in June 1992.

Since George Bush has raised "family values" as a campaign issue repeatedly, though, it seems only fair to take a look at his own family. A computer search showed that over the past five years stories have periodically surfaced chronicling the individual business antics of the president's sons -- each riding comfortably through life in the slipstream of his father's growing power and influence.

Although a handful of good reporters for the New York Times, LA Times, Village Voice, and Wall Street Journal have diligently been digging through business records for months, something has been missing: an overview that "connects the dots" in the myriad deals that have been examined, making it clear that cashing in on influence has become a pattern of behavior extending through the first family.

Instead of criticizing reporters, the president might more wisely begin listening to those in government who have watched his sons with mounting worry. A year ago, I sat across a desk from a Secret Service agent who had been assigned to Bush-family security. I rattled off the names of a half-dozen questionable characters who had found their way into business deals with the Bush boys. How had these characters been allowed to get even close to the president's sons?

The agent slumped back in his chair and sighed. "We warn them," he said in a whisper. "But that's all we can do. We can't stop these kids from associating with someone they want to be with. All we can do after warning them is to sweep these guys with metal detectors when they come around."

What follows is a sourcebook of concerns about the president's three sons.

......

[UTUSN]

7. K&R for WE-NEED-A-FORUM just for Jeb Crow Shrub. The a-hole MIGHT be there!!1

[seafan]

8. A kick for the Monday morning crowd. n/t