Pier operator fighting Key West cruise referendum gives DeSantis’ committee $1 million

The business developer who operates the Key West pier, which gets most of the city’s cruise ship traffic, has donated nearly $1 million to the political committee of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Legislation that would overturn a voter-approved referendum to limit cruise traffic is up for a vote in the House Tuesday and may soon be on its way to the governor’s desk.

At the onset of the legislative session, companies owned by Mark Walsh, a Delray Beach-based businessman who owns Pier B Development, gave $995,000 to Friends of Ron DeSantis, the political committee operated by the governor, according to data collected by the Florida Division of Elections and analyzed by the Herald/Times. DeSantis is expected to announce his bid for reelection soon, likely after the special legislative session scheduled for May 17.

Walsh leases the state-owned terminal on Key West Harbor in front of the Opal Key Resort and Marina, which his family owns along with dozens of other hotels. His company helped finance the opposition to the three referendums approved by Key West voters by wide margins in November. The effort involved a disinformation campaign, funded in party by a “dark money” scheme that included contributions from the cruise industry, which publicly stayed out of the campaign.

The three new ordinances, adopted by more than 60% of voters in Key West in November, ban cruise ships with more than 1,300 passengers from docking at the city port and limit the total number of cruise visitors who can disembark each day to 1,500. Another gives priority to cruise ships that have the best environmental and health records.

After the measures passed, legislation emerged by Sen. Jim Boyd, a Bradenton Republican and Rep. Spencer Roach, a North Fort Myers Republican, to cancel out their vote to limit cruise ship traffic in the Florida Keys.

Walsh’s portfolio includes several West Coast properties, including the Holiday Inn Lido Beach, Hilton Longboat Key Beachfront Resort, Lido Beach Resort, Courtyard Bradenton Sarasota/Riverfront and the Chart House restaurant property adjacent to the Longboat Key Club.

Legal action prior to voters’ approval

Pier B Development first filed a lawsuit last summer to remove the referendum from the ballot, but a judge rejected it. Walsh and other opponents of the initiative, which include the Florida Harbor Pilots Association, Disney Cruise lines and other cruise operators, and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, got behind legislation that would essentially invalidate the referendum.

The bill began as a broad attempt to prohibit local governments from restricting maritime commerce at several ports. But with local governments fighting it and 92 lobbyists registered to work on it, the bill’s sponsors eventually narrowed the proposal to apply only to Key West.

Lobbyists for the bill have picked up on the same arguments made by opponents to the referendum: Proponents of the referendum are engaged in class warfare against cruise ship passengers. But the Key West mayor and several business owners have testified before legislative committees that the goal of the referenda was not to eliminate cruise traffic but to protect the ecosystem on which their livelihoods depend.

They said that since the last ship sailed out of their port in March 2020, the tourist-dependent economy has retooled its marketing plans and even without the cruise traffic, tourism has rebounded.

On Thursday, the Florida Senate voted 25-14 to pass SB 426 which prohibits local governments from restricting maritime commerce within areas of “critical state concern.” The House postponed a vote Monday but added it to its calendar for Tuesday.

Walsh has kept a low profile as the legislation has moved through the House and Senate, but his checkbook spoke loudly. Between Feb. 28 and March 3, Walsh’s companies made 11 donations to the governor’s political committee ranging from $75,000 to $95,000. Each of those sums exceeded what Walsh had given DeSantis in the past, a total of $45,000 in 2018 and 2019.

Walsh responded, through his Key West-based attorney, Barton Smith, that he is “a strong supporter of the governor and his efforts to keep Florida open for business and those efforts have provided all Floridians especially those people employed in the tourism industry with the ability to work and care for their families.

“Our support of Gov. DeSantis is based upon his overall pro-business governance,’’ he continued. “To imply that our support is tied to any specific piece of legislation is absolutely incorrect.”

Arlo Haskell, who along with local fishermen helped organize the three referendums on the November ballot, said the size of the contribution surprised them.

“We always knew the special interests of a few wealthy people were leading our opposition, but a $1 million bid for the governor’s signature on legislation is beyond even our own imagination,’’ he said.

The pier lease agreement

According to a lease agreement with the state and obtained by the Herald/Times, Pier B Development has paid $24,572 a year to lease the pier since 2015, or just over $2,000 a month. According to an agreement with the city, the company keeps three-fourths of each $10 fee the cruise industry pays for each passenger who disembarks, and the city receives the rest.

In the 2018-19 fiscal year, city budget records show that the city of Key West made $3 million from the fees and budgeted $3.7 million for the 2019-20 fiscal year, before the coronavirus halted cruise traffic into the port.

It is not known how much Walsh could lose if fewer passengers come through his terminal but Roach, the House sponsor, told the House Tourism Subcommittee that he believes the referendum is unconstitutional and “if you say the remedy is the court, that litigation is very expensive.”

He argued that the legislation was needed because Walsh “has now been told that he cannot use his private property for the purpose of which he has been using it for years” and it was necessary for the state to “come to his aid and uphold the U.S. Constitution and allow him to make a living on his private property.”

Haskell said that when Walsh started bringing cruise ships “that were too big for our channel 30 years ago, the local fishermen were lonely voices raising the alarm about the damage ships do to our environment.”

After the federal government issued a no-sail order because of the pandemic and stopped cruise traffic, “everyone in the Keys realized they were right. Our fishermen started a movement that got huge electoral support, but they obviously can’t match the Mark Walshes of the world when it comes to money.”

Haskell and other supporters say they are now hoping the governor will veto the bill, and they point to how DeSantis’ earned environmental support when he fought to restore the Florida Everglades and campaign against the sugar industry.

“The fate of the world’s third largest barrier reef and the livelihoods of fishermen up and down the Florida Keys are in the hands of the governor,’’ he said. “Will he stand up for the environment and working Floridians against big money donors like Mark Walsh and veto this bill?”

Who donated how much?

In December, Walsh’s Ocean Properties gave $20,000 to a political committee run by West Palm Beach political consultant Rick Asnani. It was the largest check received by the committee in the last six months. The committee then financed a series of pre-session polls.

In January, Ocean Properties gave $30,000 to a political committee called People for Coastal Common Sense operated by Jensen Beach political consultant Michael Millner. It also was the largest contribution that committee had seen in the last six months. In the opaque and tangled world of Florida’s campaign finance laws, Miller’s committee since February has given more than $96,000 to Anthony Pedicini, the Republican political consultant who has worked closely with House and Senate Republican leadership.

The Walsh companies that contributed to the DeSantis political committee:

▪ Jensen Beach LLC - $95,000

▪ Jupiter Res LLC - $95,000

▪ Velogan Inc - $95,000

▪ Sudsco Inc - $95,000

▪ Bosdel LLC - $95,000

▪ Delray Village Shoppes Inc - $95,000

▪ Highbeach Inc - $95,000

▪ Bankoff LLC - $90,000

▪ Treas Island LLC - $85,000

▪ DELINT INC - $80,000

▪ Vandy LLC - $75,000

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@miamiherald.com and @MaryEllenKlas