"A lifelong Republican, Winn... fared better with the next governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, who is still in office"
Not only that, if you READ the PIECE you will find ROMNEY was WAY MORE ETHICAL than this stink-s*** guverner we got now!!!
"Columbus Center a curse - and a cause; Amid funding woes, political flap, developer Arthur Winn presses on" by Casey Ross, Globe Staff | March 29, 2009
Arthur Winn's campaign for Columbus Center has fed a political drama that is remarkable even for Boston, where development is something of a blood sport. The project had high-powered enemies, including former House Speaker Sal DiMasi, who used his leverage to repeatedly block Winn's attempts to get public funding.
Probably another reason the Globe helped run scum-bag Sal out.
Also see: Columbus Center Chutzpah
Although DiMasi left Winn damaged, it was Winn's friends and unfortunate timing that hurt Columbus Center the most. He got backing from governors Deval Patrick and Mitt Romney, but they proved unwilling to help at critical moments. And then came the debacle with a former state senator, Dianne Wilkerson, a top supporter whose arrest on bribery charges has made her one of the project's most visible liabilities.
See: Criminal State Senator Also a Liar
Criminal State Senator Returns For Cover-Up
The Difference Between a State Senator and City Councilman
The controversy has left Winn fighting to preserve his reputation. It has also left him trying to rescue a project that has become a political taboo, incapable of attracting a supporter who will defend it in the light of day....
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Well before the Wilkerson controversy, however, Winn was struggling to get the project off the ground. Between 2003 and 2007, its price tag doubled, to about $800 million, causing Winn to launch a lobbying blitz to secure millions of dollars in public subsidies. His main targets were economic development officials in the Romney and Patrick administrations.
"Arthur was all over the agencies. He was asking for substantial amounts of money," said Douglas Foy, who was secretary of Commonwealth development under Romney. "Our response was that he was welcome to apply for any help, but his requests were well beyond the normal operating boundaries of our grant programs."
No wonder the LIBERAL DEMOCRAT GLOBE hated the REPUBLICAN SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!
The requests included $6 million from the Executive Office of Transportation; $15 million from the Department of Housing and Community Development; and $15 million in low-cost loans from the Massachusetts Housing and Finance Agency, according to public records.
The lobbying prompted Romney on Nov. 2, 2004, to file a letter with the state Ethics Commission because Winn was such a big political supporter - donating along with his relatives more than $46,000 to Massachusetts Republican committees during Romney's tenure.
The governor's ethics disclosure stated that Romney would play no role in reviewing Winn's funding requests. Such disclosures are filed to protect against conflict-of-interest allegations.
Oh, that is SOOOOOO DIFFERENT from what we have NOW under the "REFORM" guverner!!!!!!!!!
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: No Purchase and Governor Patrick's Phibs
We MISS YA, Mitt!!!!
Still, at one point Romney made a high-level intervention on Winn's behalf: The governor called Andrew Card, then chief of staff to President George W. Bush, to press Winn's case for financial assistance from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and from the government-chartered mortgage giant Fannie Mae, according a handwritten memo about the call that was filed in state housing records.
"Mitt called Card who called HUD to get FNMA [Fannie Mae] to stand by for Columbus Center," stated the memo, which the Globe obtained through a public records request. It is unclear from the memo when the call was made. Romney said through a spokesman that he did not recall making the call. Card did not respond to requests for comment.
Columbus Center did receive $32.5 million in tax-exempt bonds from HUD, but nothing from Fannie Mae. And despite Romney's support, Winn only got $2 million from the Massachusetts housing agency.
A lifelong Republican, Winn initially fared better with the next governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, who is still in office. The Patrick administration approved a $20 million package of grants for Columbus Center that allowed Winn to begin construction in October 2007. But the global credit crunch promptly undid that.
Negotiations with Winn's primary lender, Anglo Irish Bank, collapsed, leaving him without a needed $430 million loan, and forcing Winn and his investment partner, the California state pension fund, to halt construction in March 2008. Weeks later, Patrick withdrew the state funding.
WTF is a PENSION FUND doing investing in BUILDING PROJECTS, hmmmm?
NO WONDER California is BANKRUPT!!!!
The project's management was trying to regroup in October when news broke of Wilkerson's arrest, leading to the subpoena, the ethical cloud, and more delays. Today, Winn is a minority partner in Columbus Center, with a marginal role in the decision-making. The pension fund and its real estate consultants are now in charge of the project's finances....
Un-effin'-believable!
