Jeb Bush appointment to corporate board fuels allegation of favor (CNL Bancshares)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- A government watchdog is questioning the appointment of former Gov. Jeb Bush to the board of an Orlando banking company because a related company benefited from tax breaks pushed by Bush's administration.
While Bush was governor, his office approved tax refunds to CNL Holdings, which is affiliated with CNL Bancshares Inc., the St. Petersburg Times reported Wednesday. The bank appointed Bush to its board last month.

"It smacks of political payback," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Florida Common Cause, a nonpartisan political watchdog group, of Bush's appointment to the board. Wilcox said the former governor, a Republican who left office in January, should have refused the appointment.

The tax rebates were supposed to guarantee that the company wouldn't leave the state and would create jobs in central Florida. They have resulted in $181,875 being returned to the company, the newspaper reported. CNL hasn't since applied for or received any additional tax breaks above that amount, CNL spokesman Mark Tosczak told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

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James Seneff controls several CNL-affiliated companies, including CNL Holdings, which won approval in 2003 for tax breaks as an incentive to expand its headquarters in Orlando. .....
A Bush spokeswoman told the newspaper that he wouldn't comment and Tosczak said that although Bush is on the bank's board, the company didn't speak for him and couldn't make him available for comment.

The Bush administration also pushed for a toll road that would have benefited another company in which Seneff has an interest.
Bush's staff advocated for the Heartland Parkway, a proposed toll road still under consideration that would go through the citrus growing area of south-central Florida.
Among the groups that want the Heartland Parkway built is Atlantic Blue Group, which owns a ranch in Highlands County. The company has tried to sell the ranch for development, and the toll road would increase the value of the land for development.
Atlantic Blue, which financed a group lobbying for the parkway, has Seneff on its corporate board.