War of words over Trump plans
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has vowed his company will do “no new foreign deals” while he is president. But he’s left “new” and “deals” open to interpretation.
Now those words are drawing scrutiny as his company confirms plans to expand its golf resort near Aberdeen, Scotland, raising concerns about conflicts of interest.
A spokeswoman for the resort says the expansion is not a new deal, but just another construction phase that was included in the broad plan approved by the local government in 2008.
Some lawyers who specialize in government ethics aren’t convinced.
Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, said there are so many pending issues before local governments at each stage of a real estate project, it’s like a new deal every time.
“Each phase requires building permits, each phase requires financing, each phase poses additional conflicts of interest,” said Painter, a relentless Trump critic who has urged him to sell his company. “Americans don’t want their president or any other high ranking official dependent on a foreign government for a building permit.”
Center and at Easton Town Center. In the coming weeks, one of the awards also is expected to go on display at John Glenn Columbus International Airport.
Brian Ross, CEO of Experience Columbus, said the organization will use its website and social media to promote the award and to encourage people to take selfies with them to include on their own social media posts.
“We’re going to saturate our outreach to promote the award,” Ross said.
Ross’s comments on the group’s plans came during a Columbus Metropolitan Club event Thursday at the Boathouse at Confluence Park.
J.D. Power executive Jennifer Corwin, who also spoke at the event, said that recipients are allowed to use the award to promote themselves within certain guidelines, but added the research firm is “very protective of our brand name... If you use it too much, you wear it out.”
Ross quickly joked: “Well, we’re going to wear it out. That’s going to happen.”
Tourism officials for years
have said that lack of awareness is the biggest hurdle for Columbus in attracting new meetings and events. Once here, they say, meeting planners and organization officials are quickly sold on the city’s merits.
The J.D. Power award gives the city an endorsement akin to a Good Housekeeping seal of approval.
In the J. D. Power survey, formally known as the 2016 Destination Experience Satisfaction Study, Columbus ranked seventh among the 50 U. S. cities. The research firm used hotel bookings determined the top 50 cities. Las Vegas topped the national list, followed by Austin and Orlando. Columbus’ strongest scores were in the categories of food and beverage, cost/ fees and infrastructure.
Corwin said Columbus has room for improvement, especially in getting
more people to take part in activities during their stay in Columbus. Those who attended a sporting event or visited a museum, for example, reported high satisfaction with those activities, but only a minority of respondents did so.
If those numbers can be increased even modestly, Corwin said, Columbus could see millions of dollars in additional visitor spending and gain even higher scores on J. D. Power’s next visitor satisfaction survey in 2018.
“What these results show me is that we’re emerging,” Ross said. “We’re nowhere near where we want to be, but we’re a heck of a lot better than we were.”
Visitors spend an estimated $ 6.4 billion a year in Columbus and generate $ 1.13 billion in tax revenue.