... the llusion of Success."
I just finished reading this part of the book. Tesoro is Andrew Tesoro, architect on the Westboro Golf Course.
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Once the clubhouse was completed, Tesoro asked that the remaining $141,000 balance of his bill be paid. After several requests and phone calls, he was told someone from Trump’s office would meet with him in the new clubhouse. He entered the large lobby, with its grand sweeping staircase, and felt his heart sink. It looked like a surprise reunion of everyone who had worked on the project. “There was the landscape architect, the title company president,” he recalled later. “There must have been at least fifty people in the lobby waiting to negotiate their final bill.”
One by one, the contractors were called into the six-thousand-square-foot grand ballroom that Tesoro had designed. Tesoro was directed to one corner, where more than a dozen of Trump’s lawyers and managers waited for him at a round dining table stacked high with papers. There, under the huge crystal chandeliers, Tesoro was offered $50,000, just over a third of what Trump had agreed to pay. “I left,” he later recalled. “I was furious.”
He consulted a lawyer, who said winning a lawsuit would cost more than Trump was shorting him. Feeling defeated, he agreed to accept the $50,000. But when even that didn’t come through, Tesoro called Andrew Weiss, then Trump’s widely liked and respected construction manager, for an explanation. “Well, Mr. Trump thinks that he has spent enough on this building, and he doesn’t want to pay anymore,” Weiss told him. He called Bernie Diamond, with whom Tesoro was friendly. Diamond said his job was to make suing Trump long and expensive.
Exasperated, he called Trump’s assistant, Rhona Graff, and asked to see Trump. Tesoro raced to Trump Tower. He recounted the situation to Trump: You owe me $141,000 and I agreed to accept $50,000, which I now regret, but even that wasn’t paid. “What the hell is the trouble?” he asked Trump.
Trump put his arm on Tesoro’s shoulder. “You’re the most talented architect I’ve ever met,” Trump said, as Tesoro recalls. “And just because you’re such a nice guy, I’m going to tell them to give you a check for twenty-five thousand dollars.”
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Donald Trump is a scumbag. No half-way intelligent person could ever vote for him for president.
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