8 May 30 - June 5, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | guilty to counts of illegal campaign contribu- tions, tax evasion, and witness tampering in a case stemming from false tax filings and Democratic political campaign contributions in the name of parties without their consent. He served 14 months in prison and was re- leased in August 2006. Fourteen years later, Trump would grant him a pardon before leav- ing office in 2021. Kushner has had a low profile in recent years, scarcely granting interviews and keep- ing his business and personal affairs private. In an early 2023 company letter, he was listed as Kushner Companies’ chairman. Kushner Companies’ first Miami venture was announced in 2019: a $550 million project entailing the buildout of apartment towers on Biscayne Boulevard. The development group has since moved to establish a portfolio of high-end South Florida apartment properties. In September 2023, Kushner Companies paid $40 million for a property at 9300 Col- lins Avenue in Surfside, with plans to develop an 87-unit residential building. At the time, Surfside’s planning and zoning board ap- peared to have a glaring conflict of interest: one of its alternate members was Kushner Companies’ head of Florida acquisitions, Mi- chael Szafranski. Rose had appointed Szaf- ranski in April 2022. In November 2023, nine days before the Surfside planning and zoning board took the project’s site plan under consideration, Szaf- ranski stepped down from the board, noting that his “company has a pending project within the town’s boundaries.” Prior to his role with the Kushner family real estate business, Szafranski was an invest- ment advisor to Scott Rothstein — a former Fort Lauderdale lawyer who ran one of the largest investment frauds in Florida history. In 2015, Szafranski pleaded guilty to conspir- acy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced to two and half years in prison for his role in the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. After Szafranski stepped down, the Surf- side planning and zoning board recom- mended approving the Kushner Companies’ project plan at the November 2023 board meeting. Months later, on January 9, 2024, Kushner Companies scored a major win after Danz- inger and the Surfside commission approved its site plan for 9300 Collins Avenue. The commission approval came seven days after Charles Kushner’s $20,000 contribution to Florida Way – a Palm Beach County political committee that was not designated as a Surf- side political entity and, at the time, did not appear involved in advocacy in the town. The January 9 commission decision granted religious land-use relief to the 9300 Collins site, which allowed the developer to bypass restrictions on building underground parking. Residents expressed concerns that Kushner Companies invoked the land-use re- lief so that the project would be classified as “mixed-use” and skirt the town’s floodplain regulations and National Flood Insurance Program requirements. Religious buildings are typically prohibited in the zoning area where the property sits. “I really think this is being used in a very cynical way by this developer,” resident Ge- rardo Vildostegui (who was later elected to a commission seat) said during the January meeting. “Laws like our RLUIPA and Florida’s own Religious Free- dom Restoration Act exist to pro- tect the rights of sincerely practicing individuals. Kushner [Companies] is not having their freedom of religion burdened.” During the commission meet- ing, Graham Penn, a representa- tive for the project, argued that the town’s code and federal regu- lations allowed for religious land- use relief in instances where a town or city restricts religious as- semblies more heavily than other assemblies. Because Surfside al- lows hotel banquet halls and ball- rooms in the 9300 Collins zoning area, the project was entitled to build a synagogue, he argued. The site plan was approved in a 3-2 vote by the Surfside commis- sion. Danzinger, Rose, and then- commissioner Fred Landsman — all of whom the previously men- tioned One Surfside ads and mail- ers later promoted — contributed the three yes-votes on the project. A previous slate of commission- ers had approved another develop- er’s 205-room hotel plan for the site in 2019, though the project never came to fruition. Fort Partners Fort Partners has been one of Surfside’s most prominent developers in recent years. In addition to completing the Four Sea- sons in Surfside in 2017, Fort Partners has been redeveloping the historic Seaway Villas at 9149 Collins Avenue and the Surf Club Apartments property at 9133 Collins. In April, the outfit entered into a $60 million deal to buy the site of the now-demolished Surf House and a nearby lot. With a handful of pending luxury projects in Surfside, Fort Partners’ plans for the Surf Club Apartments redevelopment went before the town’s planning and zoning board in No- vember 2023 — a month after Florida Way re- ceived its $20,000 contribution from Fort Partners. It was the same meeting where Kushner Companies’ Collins Avenue project plan was recommended for approval. Fort Partners asked for site amendments that would reduce the project density from 29 to 24 units, remove the property’s hotel clas- sification, and increase the layout of the res- taurant space. The amendment request sought to capitalize on a newly passed ordi- nance that allowed restaurants inside condos in the waterfront district of Surfside if they met certain conditions. (The ordinance, passed in June 2023, had been criticized by some residents as an unnecessary concession to developers.) The zoning board ultimately approved Fort Partners’ plan with staff recommenda- tions by a 3-0 vote. While both Fort Partners and Kushner Companies have initiated projects in Palm Beach County – Fort Partners purchased the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach in 2014, and Kushner Companies had now-abandoned plans for a mixed-use apartment and retail project — it appears both companies have since turned their attention to Miami-Dade County. Surfside Political Donations in Focus In a town with a population of 5,500 and an area of less than 0.6 square miles, small contributions can go a long way, especially when multimillion-dollar developments are at stake. The ads in favor of Danzinger and Rose caught the attention of residents, not- withstanding the candidates’ losing effort in the March 19 municipal race. The wave of mailers featured photos of the two candidates smiling wide as the mailers urged voters to “Re-elect Shlomo Danzinger.” Printed in large font was the slogan: “Com- munity leaders, working together for Surf- side.” One Surfside records show it paid out almost $15,000 to a series of vendors, includ- ing Nevins’ company Chelsea Road, in con- nection with the political ads. The loosened Florida regulations on state political committee filing requirements ap- parently enabled One Surfside’s funding sources to remain hidden until April. Early in a calendar year, when many municipal elec- tions are held, the statute no longer requires monthly filings — instead, state committees have to file ten days after the quarter ends. In federal and state elections, dark money donations are rampant as PACs’ donor sources are often concealed through non- profit “social welfare” organizations. So- called “gray money” also creates barriers to transparency via the routing of political dona- tions through multiple layers of political committees, making the task of tracking the money more difficult. “The basic premise of campaign finance re- form is who gave it and who got it. We’ve moved away from that. No longer is transpar- ency possible. And now it seems we have a new way to hide money here in Florida, namely for local elections that are not on the same campaign cycle as the primary and gen- eral election,” Wilcox of Integrity Florida says. “Companies making large po- litical donations are not doing it in the interest of good government. They’re doing it hoping the gov- ernment is going to be good to them,” Wilcox says. “They’re wanting to buy favorable regula- tions, and at the local level, devel- opers are looking for favorable zoning regulations that allow them to do the projects they want to do. They’re expecting some- thing in return. But it’s legalized.” The looser reporting require- ments for state PACs were passed under SB 7050, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May 2023, as part of legislative package with a wide range of election law changes, including controversial new restrictions on voter-registra- tion groups. The money trail to One Surf- side played out as follows: In October 2023, Florida Way received its $20,000 contribution from Fort Partners. Three months later, in January 2024, Kushner made his $20,000 contribution to the committee. The Florida Way made three payments to Floridians Together for Change: $10,000 on January 3, $25,000 on January 19, and $1,500 on March 11. (These were the only large donations listed in public records for Floridians Together for Change.) On January 24, Floridians Together for Change sent its $20,000 contribution to One Surfside and its $5,000 payment to 1,000 Jews of Florida. Roughly $10,000 more was spent on unspecified phone calls, new voter can- vassing, and general consulting fees. The pri- mary hot-button issue in the Surfside election was new development. Municipal commis- sion meetings had regularly descended into chaos and shouting matches in the months leading up to the vote – largely over Danzing- er’s disputes with local activists and their claims that Danzinger was leading a devel- oper-friendly bloc too quick to advance new projects in the town. While Danzinger’s opponent Burkett claimed the then-mayor was “in the pocket” of developers, Danzinger called the accusa- tions “humorous” coming from Burkett, who has made a living as a developer himself. Danzinger characterized his detractors as disruptive rabble-rousers who threw city meetings into disarray over unfounded alle- gations. In the end, residents voted out the politi- cians who were criticized for voting in favor of Kushner Companies’ project: Danzinger, Rose, and Landsman. Regarding the network of PACs, Danz- inger maintains that he was only involved in 1,000 Jews of Florida. “The objectives of the PAC resonated with my beliefs, and I was dedicated to furthering them through legisla- tive means,” Danzinger says. After losing his mayoral seat to Burkett, Danzinger announced he is running in the up- coming Miami-Dade County mayoral election. [email protected] Charles Kushner file photo Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images Small Town, Big Shenanigans from p6
