Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Riot may have cost Trump, GOP big bucks
From New York to Florida, President Donald J. Trump’s call to supporters to storm Capitol Hill in Washington appears to be hitting the Republican Party and the president’s family business hard in the pocketbook.
Professional Bank, a growing South Florida community bank, doesn’t want to do business with the Trump Organization anymore.
Neither does New York City, whose mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced Wednesday it wants to cancel contracts the Big Apple holds with the Trump family business to operate four popular entertainment centers.
And in the wake the Jan. 6 assault on Congress by pro-Trump rioters, a number of businesses and associations have halted or are reassessing campaign contributions to Republicans who voted to block the confirmation of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, and Kamala Harris as the next vice president.
The swift change of direction by some businesses and political donors is in part an act of self-defense, and in part an adjustment to the shifting winds of political power, analysts say. But the passage of time
also has resulted in a return to business as usual once the shock of outrageous events has worn off.
“Businesses are always wary of trying to do anything that alienates consumers, especially businesses that interact directly with consumers,” said Kevin Wagner, who chairs the political science department at Florida Atlantic University.
And as a practical matter, Wagner suggested, it’s the Democrats who are destined to be in charge of Washington at a time when Trump’s influence and popularity “are at a nadir.”
One company saw the storm coming
In South Florida, Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, the country’s largest retail car seller, asserted it saw the rising tide of enmity in Washington long before the national election, and did not want to be caught in the approaching maelstrom. One executive said its political action committee didn’t give any money to federal candidates in the 2019-2020 election cycle and that the policy will continue “for the foreseeable future.”
“We did not want to be part of the conversation or the tone that was emerging and that has continued to go on in Washington,” said Marc Cannon, an AutoNation executive vice president. “So we made this decision in early 2019 that we did not want to be part of it.”
He added that the company and its executives did support some local candidates.
Other large corporations and professional service firms doing business in Florida are temporarily suspending political contributions made through their political action committees. American Airlines, which maintains a major domestic and international hub at Miami International Airport, is one of them.
“When we resume, we will ensure we focus on a bipartisan array of lawmakers who support U.S. aviation, airline workers and our values, including bringing people together,” American spokeswoman Stacy Day said, according to Travel Weekly.
According to Bloomberg News, other big corporations doing business in Florida that announced a withholding of political contributions or requests for rebates from Republican lawmakers include Airbnb, Amazon, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Blackrock, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Citigroup, Comcast, Hilton Hotels, JP Morgan Chase, Marriott and UPS.
Earlier this week, Disney joined the roster of major companies that won’t be contributing to Republicans who objected to Biden’s election.
A number of big law firms that lobby for clients in Washington have suspended contributions from their political action committees. That includes Holland & Knight, one of the biggest law firms in Florida. “In light of recent events, the Holland & Knight Committee for Effective Government is suspending further PAC commitments while it reviews its policies and practices,” the firm said in a statement.
Spokeswoman Olivia Hoch said Thursday the action is not aimed at anyone in particular. But other national firms that do business in Florida did cite lawmakers who voted to stop Biden’s election in Congress.
Cozen O’Connor, which maintains offices in Miami and West Palm Beach, said the firm “condemns last week’s events in the strongest possible terms” and “has frozen any future PAC contributions” to lawmakers who objected to the certification of Biden’s election.
While the dollar impact of lost campaign dollars may not be readily calculable, some businesses have decided it’s worth making a clean break from the Trump Organization.
That’s what Professional Bank and other financial institutions did in the riot’s wake.
“Professional Bank has decided not to engage in any further business with the Trump Organization and its affiliates and will be winding down the relationship,” the Coral Gables-based bank said in a statement circulated Wednesday.
A spokesman said the bank, which maintains branches in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, had no other comment.
According to published reports, the bank lent Trump $11 million in 2018 to help him buy an $18 million Palm Beach home for his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, next to the president’s Mar-a-Lago club. Records show the loan comes due in 2048.
Other banks, most notably Deutsche Bank, are unlikely to be lending the Trump Organization any more money, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the business owes the bank more than $300 million in loans that come due in 2023 and 2024.
Signature Bank of New York, where Trump maintains accounts, publicly urged him to resign.
And back home in South Florida, there could be business tensions locally for Trump in Palm Beach, as well as down the coast in Miami.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Mack Bernard said he doesn’t know if the county has business ties with Trump that could be severed, but he imagines it could come up at a meeting. Trump leased the land for his 27-hole golf course in suburban West Palm Beach from the county under a 99-year agreement that he signed two decades ago.
Howard Falcon, an assistant county attorney, examined the lease at a county commissioner’s request and determined there wasn’t a legal basis for ending it, Palm Beach County Attorney Denise Nieman wrote in a text message.
In Doral in western Miami-Dade County, home of the spacious Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, sponsors of forthcoming events could be having second thoughts about conducting future tournaments there.
Already, PGA of America has announced that its 2022 PGA Championship will not be played at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.
The tournament is one of the four “majors” in men’s professional golf — the most prestigious on the calendar.
At the end of this month, the Michigan PGA is scheduled to put on an annual tournament at Doral between Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. Last year’s event was sold out, according to the organization’s website. Its executive director, Kevin Helm, did not respond to a phone message asking whether the event will proceed as planned.
Whatever transpires, analysts and Republicans themselves think the cracks in campaign donor and business sentiment may be short-lived.
Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and is spearheading fundraising efforts for Senate Republicans. He’s also one of eight GOP senators who objected to certifying the election result.
Chris Hartline, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Scott isn’t stepping down from his new role and isn’t concerned that his fundraising efforts will be hurt.
“Rick Scott will raise a ton of money,” Hartline said. “He will build a strong grassroots operation. He will stay on message. And we will win back the Senate majority in 2022.”
In short, the Republicans believe they’ll still be called upon to serve the interests of traditional corporate constituents once the initial shock of Trump’s loss wears off.
Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida, said the corporate announcements send a short-term message in the court of public opinion but are unlikely to have a lasting long-term effect. Members of Congress won’t face election again until 2022, and corporations and special interests need GOP support in the Senate because of the filibuster.
The Senate will be split 50-50 with Harris, as vice president, providing the tie-breaking vote. Under the Senate’s cloture rule, it requires 60 votes to end debate on most topics and move to a vote.
“They are going to need some Republican support for any major issue,” Jewett said. “Corporations and interest groups know that. They aren’t going to want to alienate all Republicans.”
History shows that businesses change course on political contributions when public outrage subsides. In May 2018, Publix halted political donations amid protests related to the Parkland school shooting. The grocery store chain and its current and former leaders had contributed $670,000 to Adam Putnam’s election effort. The GOP candidate for Florida governor was on record declaring himself to be a “proud NRA sellout,” sparking outrage from student protesters.
Activists staged “die-ins” at grocery stores, producing viral images of young people sprawled out in Publix aisles. But when that story faded from the headlines, Publix restarted its political giving in February 2019, contributing to Republican and Democratic politicians, the Tampa Bay Times reported.