There seems to be an on-going confusion as to what “Special Interests” are.Special interests are:
Lobbyists, PACS, Business groups, Professional bodies, Trade Unions, 501 c, 527 s, and other groups giving money to influence political decisions and election results.
From Wikipedia: An interest group (also advocacy group, lobby group, pressure group or special interest group) is an organized collection of people who seek to influence political decisions.It is a private organization that tries to persuade public officials to act or vote according to group members’ interests.
Special interests are NOT:
Individual voters. Although Individual voters are "special", they are not considered a special interest group. Giving a campaign contribution to someone who thinks as you do on an issue is not a special interest campaign contribution.
It is not a tenant at the beach who supports Commissioner Mulvehill who wants to preserve our history and refurbish the Casino. She is not directly benefiting from the outcome.
It is not Commissioner Lowe who took multiple campaign contributions from Sun Recycling Companies. Her transgression was the cover-up as to where these corporations were located and her filing of false reports.
It is not Wes Blackman who took a campaign contribution from Adam Schlesinger, owner of The Gulfstream Hotel, for $500.
When a writer of the Post refers to the Casino as being landmarked, he was not talking about it being an official historical landmark. He is talking about it as a prominent feature of our beach/park.
As far as shoring up the Casino building, it is unfortunate that politics from those who want to develop our beach with new construction forced the City to spend this kind of money on the Casino when not one engineering report said that it was structurally unsound—NOT ONE!
