State Rep Mike Jacobs has been calling attention to Semblers efforts to sell their albatross Town Brookhaven project to DeKalb County’s Development Authority under a lease-back arrangement in order to skirt property tax obligations for the next 20 years.
A public forum was held this evening as covered here by the AJC.
Sembler claims taxpayers aren’t losing any money because the property is currently unimproved. They fail to mention that they would then enjoy a significant cost advantage to lure tenants from other poor suckers property owners who didn’t buy off make significant campaign contributions to Vernon Jones and actually pay their taxes.
Sembler is the same company that tried and failed to garner a sweetheart deal from the DeKalb Board of Education to develop a similar scale project just a few miles away at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills Road. They have large, similar scale projects nearby at the Prado and Perimeter Mall.
They’ve played the capitalism game well, including bonus points for remaining “politically connected”. But if DeKalb County decides to purchase their failures, every commercial property owner in DeKalb should refuse to pay their property taxes and sue the Development Authority to demand the same deal.
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Let’s hope the DeKalb Development Authority wakes up and smells the coffee before they get fleeced. This company has a long history of mixing money and politics.
The Sembler Corporation was founded by Mel Sembler a huge muckety muck in GOP fundraising. He is a former Finance Chairman for the RNC, and a former National Committeeman from Florida to the RNC. W rewarded him with the ambassadorship to Italy, not a bad gig if you can get it. Poppy Bush had previously named him ambassador to Australia.
The Sembler Corporation is being investigated for bribery in a case involving Boyton Beach approving a shopping center.
Sembler also started a teen drug “rehab” program called Straight, which was later shut town because of numerous successful lawsuits charging child abuse, torture and rape. Now that is tough love.
To top off his sterling career, Mel Sembler was the chief fundraiser for the Scooter Libby defense fund. Scooter you will recall was convicted of lying to FBI Agents and obstruction of justice.
Got to love those good old fashion family values.
(BTW, I managed to lose my Progressive Dem screen name during this weekend’s technical glitch.)
I don’t have any problem with Sembler asking for the break, I just think the folks in Dekalb would be stupid if they gave it.
The crux of this issue is whether or not a quasi-public DeKalb Development Authority (Lead by a fellow who is also on the DeKalb School Board – Mr. Gene Walker) shall be allowed, without public approval, to CONTINUE to make these sorts of transactions?
Capitalism will produce companies, Sembler in this case, that strive to optimize their financial obligations, often at public expense. The trail of Semblers’ political contributions is vivid:
-Mr. Gene Walke is a Commerce Club member, Sembler bought and paid for,
- Commish Elaine Boyer, $20K Cheer-gate,
-Vernon, thousands, and others! [Angelo Fuster, for one.]
- Sembler sent one of his own kids to Straight, it worked, and he bought the Company. Seemd to make sense at the time.
Straight, Inc. worked so well Judges were amazed that kids sent there had virtually 0% recidivism. Unfortunately, the means did not justify the ends, and Straight, Inc. was shut down. Many people were seriously psychologically damaged by their methods. Lawsuits continue, the program was brutal.
Perhaps others can shed some more light on Mr. Gene Walker, that is the story, not Sembler.
“Douglas Quenqua reports in the NY Times that according to a 2008 survey only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days meaning that “95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.” Richard Jalichandra, chief executive of Technorati, said that at any given time there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on the Internet, but it’s probably between 50,000 and 100,000 blogs that are generating most of the page views. “There’s a joke within the blogging community that most blogs have an audience of one.” Many people who think blogging is a fast path to financial independence also find themselves discouraged.”
Congradulations Peach Pundit for chosing the OTHER MODE.
@techno Huh?
I was just congradulating PP on achieving the bottom spot in the TOP 81,244 Blogs…………….as rated by Technorati.
http://technorati.com/blogs/www.peachpundit.com?reactions
To get in TOP 100 you need > 375 Fans per day
http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/?faves=1&page=10
Wow… this post really jumped out at me. If Pete Randall ever wrote about anything other than what the military or colored people are up to, I bet his titles would look something like this one.
Yo Pete!
Did Perkins just complement us, insult us, or is he just screwing with us?
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