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Propping up Peyton: Developers, Corporate Executives, and an Exclusive Beach |
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Thursday, 10 August 2006 |
To date John Peyton has raised $1,156,016 for his mayoral re-election bid. But where has this money come from? We all know that the Mayor, by the very nature of his position, will forge business relationships.
So we thought it would be interesting to see just exactly where these relationships are strongest - evidenced by who is bankrolling his re-election campaign. Here is what we found.
Corporate executives, assumably from all segments of business, gave heartily with a total of $132,925...about 11.5% of the total funds raised. One could speculate that many of these executives have cozy relationships with Herb, John's father.
Attorneys and law firms were another notable donor with $58,800 (about 5.1% of the total funds). This could be looked at as a "thank you" from the law community to Peyton for his almost doubling of the new courthouse budget from the voter-approved $190 million to the Peyton-approved $390 million.
Much to our surprise though (or maybe not) was the industry that gave the most. It was the real estate, property development and construction industries (which included engineering firms). Together this property sales, construction, and development industry conglomerate donated over $187,000! That accounts for almost 20% of Peyton's total!
Why does the property development and construction industry favor John Peyton so much? We've all heard rumors about the developers who buy-off city hall...is that what is going on here? And then there is the Gate Land Development Company. We can only speculate.
Before we go, we'll leave you with one other note of interest. A little over 8% of Peyton's contributions came from one zip code - 32082. If you live in Duval County though you may not be familiar with this zip code that gave the mayor over $90,000.
That's because it is the postal code for Ponte Vedra Beach. |
August 10, 2006, 11:51 pm
from wikipedia
Early in the 1970s and 1980s, Gate invested in huge areas of land to the south of central Jacksonville, which was growing rapidly - not northward towards the airport, as had originally been anticipated, but south, down the I-95 corridor towards Orlando. These investments paid off, as Gate was able to parcel off the large tracts into business parks, driving demand by developers to build housing and apartments in the area. Among the largest of these was Deerwood Park, which is served by Gate Parkway, a road that clearly shows the source of its history. Deerwood Park is occupied by companies such as Merril Lynch, IBM, Compass Bank, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. Adjacent to Deerwood Park is the Southpoint Business Center, which lies at the intersection of J. Turner Butler and I-95.
Other holdings include Ponte Vedra Club Realty, Riverplace Towers (currently bearing the Southtrust name), Epping Forest Yacht Club and The River Club, a members-only club located in the topmost level of the Modis building.
August 11, 2006, 9:45 am
Covering their bases
People who need or want access to the Mayor will cover their bases by making contributions. Especially when as yet, no one has come forward to run against him. Whether they think he is doing a good job, is competent, or they like him, they will, as always, cover their bases. And this is good business. Peyton\'s father is a hard charger and has been very successful and no one or nothing should take away from that. The fruit does not always fall close to the tree. He should be judged on what he has accomplished not on what his father accomplished or is doing. On the other hand, his father can command a lot of support for the son. But all fathers do that, nothing new or wrong about that. We may just have to hunker down and pray we have a semblance of good city government four years from now to turn over to someone else.
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