http://dcwhispers.com/did-trump-want-casinos-in-florida-and-did-jeb-bush-stop-him-heres-what-really-happened/Did Trump Want Casinos In Florida? And Did Jeb Bush Stop Him? Here’s What Really Happened…
Posted on September 18, 2015 by DCWhispers
In the most recent GOP debate, Jeb Bush stated that when he was governor of Florida several years ago, he shut down Donald Trump’s plans to bring casinos to that state. Trump stated that claim was, “totally false.” The current Republican presidential front-runner then went on to claim that if he had really wanted casinos in Florida, “I’d have gotten it.”
So who’s right?
The story begins in the mid-1990’s when representatives for Mr. Trump began to have discussions with Seminole tribal leaders in Florida. Those tribal leaders were anxious to get into the potentially lucrative casino business and they wanted the Trump corporation to manage the operation. By then Trump had already established himself as a leading hotel and resort owner in the Sunshine State.
Trump then hired a political consultant named Richard Fields who initiated a rather substantial public relations campaign in conjunction with the Seminole Indians that resulted in a 1997 statewide gambling petition in which the tribe was promising to share its gambling revenues with the state. Jeb Bush was already running for governor of Florida by that time, and was also linked to a no-gambling group in Florida called, No Casinos.
Allegedly at the urging of Mr. Fields, Trump hosted a half-million dollar fundraiser for Mr. Bush and then later donated another $50,000 to the state Republican Party. Jeb Bush assumed the governorship in 1999 and promptly re-affirmed his stance that there would be no casinos in Florida.
Following that decision, Donald Trump is said to have told his primary consultant on the issue, Mr. Fields, that he had no more interest in possibly managing casinos in Florida, but that Fields was welcome to continue trying on his own to continue working with the Seminole Tribe on the venture. An important component of this time period is that Trump was by then working feverishly to consolidate and then soon after, pull out his considerable interests in the Atlantic City casino business. It was a process that began by the mid- 1990’s and continued on for nearly another decade. Donald Trump did in fact, as he has often said, get out of Atlantic City when the getting was still good, and he made a considerable fortune having done so.
Read more at
http://dcwhispers.com/did-trump-want-casinos-in-florida-and-did-jeb-bush-stop-him-heres-what-really-happened/#7dD2pzQuCKmkTqyK.99
