So how does this work? Should these donations from his campaign account to his restaurant have been treated as "in-kind"? Should he be paying for stamps from his restaurant account?
I don't know exactly what is wrong here but --- commingling is going on. Will we see Lynda Bell's campaign having galas at this hotel as well? Even though she claims she doesn't own it (not on the corporate papers) she admits on a video about the hotel that it is her hotel as well (5:14).
Something doesn't sit right with me about these expenses even though he had a crushing defeat, we still should have accurate campaign reports. Any opinions?
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Funny thing about the video, at the end they caught a view of someone who looks amazingly like the Mayor's best friend Ralph Garcia Toledo. Now what would he be doing there? The video was published April 3, 2013. I do not know when it was taken.
His wife Vicky Garcia-Toledo is a lobbyist for CH2M Hill as of 9/20/2013. Ralph is not registered. This is the contract about which Lynda Bell said she was "concerned" 14 times in 2 1/2 Minutes.
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| Photo: Matt Alvarez, SVP for CH2M Hill. Was the contract under the cone of silence when this was taken? |
19 comments:
You brought out an excellent point regarding the Redland Hotel being a beneficiary of the Mark Bell campaign. Clearly he is in business to make a profit so if he pays his hotel restaurant and after food, beverage and labor costs are deducted he is essentially paying himself to hold a fundraiser in his own establishment.
It's all perfectly legal, at first blush.
A lot of candidates reimburse their businesses for out-of-pocket goods (postage, office supplies, food/beverages for events, printing of invitations, etc.).
The postage issue probably was because he used a company check or credit card online, or at the PO, because it was easier.
The problems in these less than arms length expenditures arise when:
1. The reimbursable amounts are inflated.
2. Candidates use campaign funds to cover ordinary living expenses (cars, groceries, even salary).
3. The business does not report the expenditures and reimbursements properly for tax purposes (political donations are NOT tax deductible).
Hope this helps clarify.
OH my. You asked about "in-kind." In-kinds are capped at $1,000/entity providing in-kind, just like all other hard-money contributions.
He could have gone that route. But then his business would not have been reimbursed, and that money comes out of his pocket.
He will get rich on Lynda's campaign.
Look more closely at the report. The Hotel/Restaurant is an idea vehicle for laundering campaign or lobbying dollars. Prove someone really stayed at the room they paid for. Prove that paid for meals were actually served.
That guy is the local rep for CH2M Hill.
He probably paid for a block of rooms that no one will ever stay in.
What happened to the cone of silence, it doesn't apply to Lynda?
Sickening. FBI, FBI, FBI.
Drive through the parking lot of Bell's hotel any day of the week and the place looks like a ghost town. The place smells like a front to me. As far as Rafael Garcia Toledo, when are federal authorities planning to analyze his relationship with Mayor Carlos Gimenez? A quick read of all the public sector contracts he has amassed in the last five years will tell you that something here is not kosher.
It sounds like Bell is practicing the fine art of comingling which he undoubtedly learned in his "helper" days after Andrew during the contractor fraud feeding frenzy.
Transfer of campaign cash to one's own pockets. This is not unfamiliar in Homestead.
Is Alvarez filling the shoes of Sandy O'Neil or is that information shredded too?
Ralphie is another sleazy lobbyist who fails to register.
I think the financials of that Hotel/Restaurant would be telling. Bars, in general, are great ways to hoard/hide cash. One would have to to look at the food/liquor orders versus what's been served or claim to have been served, that's the first sign of an inbalance.
Bateman was charged using campaign funds to buy his workers meals, which is ridiculous in the first place. Why is this being ignored?
I believe the only way to keep that flea bag hotel a float is for Lynda to use it regularly for her campaign events at inflated prices or ghost bookings on rooms because no one will really know unless they keep an eye on the very empty parking lot which could be filled with Southland Towing cars as a back up lot!
This is disgusting. Too bad there's nothing worse then a barf meter tag which this deserves. What about a "should be indicted" tag? JMHO
This is why it is important to know what lobbyists look like. So you can spot them in strange places like a video of a NOT BOUTIQUE hotel tour.
From Wiki:
Boutique hotel is a term popularized in North America and the United Kingdom to describe hotels which have typically between 10 and 100 rooms and often contain luxury facilities.
LUXURY is the magic word.
What are two lobbyists doing at Lynda's hotel? Seems very odd.
CH2M does a lot of work for MDX and Turnpike
....but not Matt Alvarez.
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