When the dust settles on the downtown hotel deal, how much cash will the principles put in their pockets?

Seems like a fair question, given the request for public help in the form of a tax-free bond issue.

Also:

Chairman Melvin "Skip" Alston  was a broker on the hotel deal in its early stages. Although his work with the project has ended, Alston said he will recuse himself from further board discussion of the hotel to avoid a conflict of interest.

What does it mean for someone to have been a broker on a deal "in its early stages?" That's when brokers do their brokering, isn't it? We're talking about the same package of properties, then and now, so Alston still gets his brokerage fee, right? How much was that fee, anyway?

And speaking of conflicts of interest, does anyone still care about possible ramifications of Alston's backroom efforts to keep the deal alive, or is that just accepted as the way things work in Guilford County? 

Comments

[Tim]

Skip Alston had a LIMITED role in this hotel deal yet people are making this hotel proposal all about Skip Alston. All that is water under the bridge now. Yes some of his tactics which some consider were threatening were questionable but the truth is he didn't make not one vote under the capacity of county commissioner yet people cry conflict of interest. Just about every city council person has financially benefited from a deal that involved city government and they excused themselves from voting. No one cried foul all those times. You would think Skip Alston is the anti-christ the way some people are carring on.

[Joe Killian]

I didn't use the term "early stages" to try to distance Alston from the deal now.

I just meant to get across that no one in the deal considers him part of it now, going forward, his services have been rendered and he's been paid.

How much? I'm one of many people who'd like to know, but no amount of my asking him has gotten him to tell me.

[Tim]

Frankly what he got paid is no ones business. I don't care if he is a county commissioner. This is a private project that involves private funding and there was no conflict of interest because he didnt vote for the bonds. Asking what Skip Alston made out of this deal is like someone asking you how much you make a year on your job. Its no ones business. Not once have I heard people inquire about how much Robbie Perkins or other council members made on deals that involved decisions by the city. Why are people singling out Skip Alston? If he made a fortune, so what God bless him.

[Mick]

"Not once have I heard people inquire about how much Robbie Perkins or other council members made on deals that involved decisions by the city."

I dont disagree with everything you said here Tim but ......
would you like to reconsider that particular statement?

[Joe Killian]

The people of Guilford County don't have the right to know how much the Chairman of the county commissioners made on a deal for which he lobbied city council members and was involved in a flap over council members and the mayor saying they were threatened if the project didn't go through, because he recused himself from the vote but didn't disclose the details of why, as he would now be required to do under the county's new ethics code?

And even asking is rude?

Just trying to be sure I understand exactly what you're saying.

Also, the idea that not one, not two but three local boards or councils and one state committee have to vote on giving preferential federal bond financing to the project in order for it to move forward would seem to tell against the idea that it's a "private project that involves private funding."

They're asking for something from the government. In order to get it, they've had to be more transparent than they initially thought they'd have to be. That hasn't, to this point, included disclosing what the county commissioners chairman who was a broker on the deal and lobbied others in local government on its behalf actually made on the deal. But the idea that we shouldn't even be asking the question is ludicrous.

[Tim]

"would you like to reconsider that particular statement?"

maybe one or two people have brought it up but it seems like more people are making a fuss over Skip Alston. A big part of it is that a lot of people just don't Skip Alston and thats for a number of different reasons.

[Tim]

Ok why not ask what everyone involved is making out of this deal if thats the case? why single Skip Alston out?

[Ed Cone]

"why not ask what everyone involved is making out of this deal if thats the case? why single Skip Alston out?"

Lede sentences of post:

When the dust settles on the downtown hotel deal, how much cash will the principles put in their pockets?

Seems like a fair question, given the request for public help in the form of a tax-free bond issue.

[triadwatch]

tim, i am in the process of wanting to know if robbie perkins is a part of this american express deal and yes we have wanted and asked about Robbie Perkins and also Zack Matheny in dealings off of highway 68 as well. So yes we have asked about other people as well at other blogs. We also wanted to know about robbie perkins and the lincoln financial building off of high point road as well. Those are just a few in the past so it isn't like we are singling out Skip Alston.

[triadwatch]

can someone please direct me to the pdf file that shows where they are going to park the visitors to the hotel because i can't find it in the renderings. It doesn't even look like it is a part of the budget as well with no parking.

[Ed Cone]

The lack of parking is a puzzling omission of the new new plan.

[Joe Killian]

I think just about everyone would like to know what everyone is making in all large business deals in the city or county.

But not all of them are elected officials.

[Andrew Brod]

Tim's advocacy is getting hysterical. His claim that it's wrong to question Skip Alston about this is certainly not persuasive. What is persuasive is Joe's list of particulars: Alston is the chair of the county commissioners, he lobbied government bodies for the project, he recused himself from the vote without saying why, and he brokered the deal in question. This isn't even close. It's obviously reasonable to ask what he made on a deal of this nature, and it takes a particularly opaque pair of blinders for someone not to see that.

[Ed Cone]

"I think just about everyone would like to know what everyone is making in all large business deals in the city or county.

"But not all of them are elected officials."

Nor do all of the deals include funding mechanisms that involve tax breaks and credits -- circumstances that justify some transparency into cash to be taken out of the deal.

[Spag]

After all these months, Tim still won't reveal who is writing his checks to lobby for this project. Whatever it is, it's too much because he isn't very good at it.

[Tim]

well I dont think there is anything anybody can do about it. If Skip doesn't disclose what he makes, legally he has that right.

[Bubba]

To sum up Tim's contribution on this issue: "Nothing to see here, folks. Let's move on."

[Spag]

Yes, if I ever come around to supporting the hotel it will be in spite of Tim, not because of him. His lack of transparency about his connection to the project is a net negative for the project and is more likely to increase skepticism about it.

[Andrew Brod]

I think you guys focus too much on Tim's "lack of transparency." It's his arguments that matter, and the one in evidence in this thread is weak.

[Tim]

The Guilford County bond authority unanimously approved issuing the bonds for the downtown Wyndham.