[TVMayor]

Morse hires lobbyist
Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2012
THE VILLAGES
Staff Report
Three weeks to the day after Republicans took a beating in the Nov. 6 General Election, Villages developer and GOP supporter H. Gary Morse for the first time hired a Washington lobbyist, registration forms show.
Cardenas Partners is headed by lobbyist Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Florida Republican Party and current chairman of the American Conservative Union.
Morse will pay Cardenas to represent him on tax issues, according to lobbying registration forms sent to both the House and the Senate with an effective date of Nov. 27. Specifically, The Villages said its lobbying issues will be "Community Development Districts and IRS interpretations."
The Villages is controlled by about a dozen CDDs, most of which provide and maintain the roads and transportation paths, storm water systems and structures, underground utilities, curbs and gutters, and street lights. The costs of building and maintaining this infrastructure are paid for by annual special assessments included in property owners' tax bills.
CDDs are usually overseen by a Board of Supervisors consisting of five individuals elected by the landowners/residents of the district to act on their behalf.
The Villages and the IRS have butted heads in the past over CDDs, with the government questioning the relationship between The Villages Center CDD and The Villages developers since the VCCDD has no residents and its Board of Supervisors consists solely of individuals who work for or have an affiliation with The Villages developers.
Essentially, the IRS position is that the VCCDD is an "alter ego" for the developers.
In a letter sent on its behalf to the IRS last month, The Villages contends a single landowner district can be a political subdivision.
Morse -- along with his family members and a handful of companies he manages or operates in The Villages -- gave about $1.7 million this year to a super-political action committee supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose campaign was advised by Cardenas.
Disclosure papers said Cardenas will be assisted on Villages issues by Emily Zammit, a former staff assistant to U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).

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