Trump's Florida voter registration trips up his Mar-a-Lago plans

Source: raw story







Published 5 hours ago on May 17, 2020



Amid all the intensity and serious of pandemic, this little fable with no international significance has been percolating over in a quiet corner of our world.

Once upon a time, a couple of months ago, Donald Trump moved his formal residence – and voting address – from the gilded Trump Tower in New York City to the equally exclusive Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. But, in doing so, he stubbed his toe on local regulations that now are keeping him from adding a dock to his property.


Maybe he plans to move from golf to boating. More likely, he wanted to serve his high-flying friends and visitors at Mar-a-Lago by providing a waterside mooring.


Now, Trump has ended up withdrawing his dock request after The Washington Post disclosed that there was a local law requiring that only residential owners are eligible for docks in the interior south Florida waterways..................................

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/trumps-florida-voter-registration-trips-ups-his-mar-a-lago-plans/

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/under-fire-president-trump-drops-his-mar-a-lago-dock-plan--for-now/2020/05/12/99060dd8-947c-11ea-9f5e-56d8239bf9ad_story.html

.............Reginald Stambaugh, an attorney who represents one of Mar-a-Lago’s neighbors, said he is hopeful that the president will now permanently drop the dock proposal.

“One prevalent issue remains lingering, whether President Trump still considers Mar-a-Lago Club his residence,” Stambaugh said Tuesday. “He still can’t have it both ways. It’s either a club or a residence — not both. Florida’s voting laws apply to citizen Trump. If he resides there, he will have to close the club.”.........................


..............Attorneys and historical preservationists in South Florida immediately began digging into town records, unearthing an agreement that Trump made in 1993 to convert Mar-a-Lago from a single-family residence to a private club owned by a corporation Trump controls. The agreement includes a provision that bans members from using the club’s guest rooms for longer than seven days at a time three times a year. Trump’s attorney at the time, Paul Rampell, assured council members that he would not live at the club.

The agreement also banned construction of a dock, but Trump was asking for that condition to be waived. Trump’s attorney originally argued that the dock was necessary for the president’s protection. That claim was included in an application that made no mention of Mar-a-Lago being the president’s home. In a later application, the rationale was changed, with Trump asserting that the club is his “personal residence.”................................................