Why I'm Running

It’s that time again, time to focus on elections, time to express our collective voices in order to select our elected officials who will represent us at the local, state and national level. My name is Jeffrey Auslander and I am a candidate for Florida House of Representatives – District #89. I was strongly motivated to run for this office because a Federal Grand Jury determined that our current representative, Mary Brandenburg, had become ensnared with “unethical behavior”. Brandenburg did this when she instructed a local, community-based, non-profit development group on ways to bribe elected officials in order to further an affordable housing development.

To add insult to injury, Representative Brandenburg then spent 16 months attempting to quash the release of the Grand Jury Report through the efforts of her attorneys. It wasn’t until June 7 of this year that Chief Judge Kroll of the local circuit court finally had enough and ordered the release of the Report. This was done just in time to allow an opponent to file to run for the District 89 seat by the filing deadline of June 17th. Most recently, I have been able to secure a copy of both Part “A” and Part “B” of the Report without redactions. I believe that it is vital to spread the word that “pay to play” politics here in Palm Beach County have ended once and for all. We have a full time grand jury, an Assistant U.S. Attorney and a number of FBI Agents working to clean up this corrupt practice and eliminate it from our midst.

This scandal all started when Mary Brandenburg was appointed by Mayor Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach to an Ethics Committee in July of 2006 tasked to look into incidents of ethical breaches in the West Palm Beach City Hall. Additionally, the committee was created to help bring an end to the pay-to-play atmosphere prevalent in the City at that time. Representative Brandenburg met with volunteer officials of Northwood Renaissance (now known as Neighborhood Renaissance), the non-profit development corporation engaged in providing affordable housing to the local community. Northwood Renaissance expected Mary Brandenburg to address ethics issues they were facing at that time with respect to their “Village Center” project of 84 units of affordable housing. This project featured $10 million of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the State of Florida for write-down purposes.

The representatives of Northwood Renaissance expected to be able to address issues related to acceptable behavior in the conduct of business dealings with the City of West Palm Beach. However, much to the surprise of the attendees, Mary Brandenburg had another idea; her agenda was just the opposite – to give them an idea of how to get things accomplished in the City of West Palm Beach. According to the Grand Jury Report – Part “B”, Ms. Brandenburg made it very clear that if Northwood Renaissance wanted to make progress in the political arena, they would have to play the game as everyone else did. Mary Brandenburg even went so far as to describe how elected officials could receive compensation for their votes. Rep. Brandenburg went on to clarify for the “Northwood” group the right and wrong ways to make a contribution, even citing an example of an inappropriate way to offer money, bribes or even a bogus consulting agreement to a spouse. Northwood Renaissance was appalled by Mary Brandenburg’s behavior and immediately reported this unethical behavior to the office of the State’s Attorney.

After a four month long investigation the Grand Jury concluded that Mary Brandenburg committed unethical acts while on task force business. It went on to say, “The Grand Jury is appalled by Mary Brandenburg’s lack of compassion and concern for the citizens of West Palm Beach…..and is saddened by the loss of affordable housing opportunities for lower to middle income residents of the City of West Palm Beach.” As if her conduct on the ethics panel wasn’t enough, Mary Brandenburg proceeded to spend the succeeding 16 months covering up the facts surrounding her corruption. What Mary Brandenburg did was to act immorally, deceitfully and illegally. By promoting the “pay-to-play” atmosphere in West Palm Beach, Ms. Brandenburg has subverted our system of open and transparent government.

In the aftermath of this outrageous behavior, the “Village Center” project failed and the $10 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) have been recaptured by the State of Florida. Furthermore, 84 families have been excluded from an affordable housing opportunity in the midst of an economic downturn. Neighborhood Renaissance has filed a civil lawsuit for damages against Mayor Lois Frankel and the City of West Palm Beach.

After a 35 year career delivering affordable housing to Palm Beach County and to the State of Florida I have a particular sensitivity to the plight of community development organizations whose mission it is to further housing opportunities to those senior citizens and families who are least able to provide for themselves. It was that sensitivity that led me to run for this elected office and to confront the incumbent who has breached the public trust and engaged in scurrilous conduct. Mary Brandenburg has brought shame and embarrassment upon the Florida Legislature, Palm Beach County and the residents of District 89. I want to return a sense of integrity and responsibility to this elected office and represent, to the best of my ability the best interests of the district whether voters endorse and support me or not. I believe in open government under the “Sunshine Law” so that back-room deals cannot and will not be tolerated. We have too much to accomplish during the course of the next two years to allow “pay-to-play” politics to obstruct our view and reach into the future.

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Jeffrey Auslander!

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Latest News

Friday, October 03, 2008

“Jeffrey Auslander says he doesn't think state Rep. Mary Brandenburg's voting record is bad. He's got another reason for challenging the Democratic incumbent. ‘I don't think after what she did, she should get a fourth term,’ said Auslander, a Republican and economic development consultant. ‘It's the prime reason I'm running.’ What Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, did was fight for 16 months to keep her name out of a grand jury report. The sealed portion of the report - finally released in June - concluded that she had encouraged ‘pay to play’ campaign contributions for her friend, West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel.”

— LARRY KELLER of the Palm Beach Post

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About Me

Photo taken at the new charter school facility on Gateway Blvd. in Boynton Beach for the Toussaint L'Ouverture High School for the Arts and Social Justice. I serve as the Financial Advisor to this charter school which primarily serves the Haitian-American community in coastal Palm Beach County.

I have been a real-estate developer and consultant to developers of low-and-moderate-income housing initiatives for over 35 yrs. To date, I have been the principal developer of 683 units of affordable housing in Florida with concentrations in Palm Beach County. Additionally, I have created productive enterprises and employment opportunities through engagement with economic expansion ventures utilizing an array of federal, state and local funding mechanisms. Over the course of my career, I have developed a range of real-estate related projects, from a strip mall to a single-family subdivision. I have acted as a principal in more than $75 million of real-estate growth since 1975 and an equivalent amount as a consultant developer.

More recently, my efforts have been with the US Treasury business development and community revitalization initiative in Florida. I represent three statewide applicants for 2008 credit awards, Enterprise Florida, Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council allied with Farm Credit of South FL, ACA and the Capital Trust Agency of Gulf Breeze, FL (CTA). The aggregate of all three applicants total $375 million of Tax Credit requests, which could leverage over $500 million of economic development stimulus in FL, with considerable amount earmarked for Palm Beach County.