INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — For the last four years, the Daniel J. Brognano family – owners of Ameron Homes on Easy Street in Sebastian – appears to have proven that being the biggest contributor to local political campaigns can pay off. During this period, Brognano, his sons and their home-building company contributed nearly $30,000 to local candidates, much of it to county Commissioners Bob Solari, Wesley Davis and Joe Flescher.
In return, the County Commission on 3 to 2 votes:
• Rejected a recommendation from staff that would have required sand mines to be a “special exception” to zoning regulations, paving the way for the first new sand mine to open since the moratorium was lifted, the Wild Turkey Estates sand mine, in which Brognano’s son Todd is a partner.
• Named Todd Brognano to the county Planning and Zoning Commission to fill the seat of an environmentalist who served on the panel when it adopted tougher new sand mining regulations.
Solari, Davis and Flescher voted for the changes.
Perhaps this is all just coincidence. Davis and Solari strongly denied their votes were influenced by the Brognanos’ campaign contributions. Flescher did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Efforts to reach Daniel Brognano were unsuccessful, but Todd Brognano said that his family has always been involved in local politics in Sebastian and that they’ve donated to Flescher for many years. He said the family more recently began supporting a broad field of pro-business county candidates.
“We believe that for a community to survive, it has to have business-minded people at the helm,” he said. “If you look at those three commissioners’ records, that’s been the case.”
Following the money trail makes for very interesting reading.
In his 2008 campaign for the county commission, Solari took $800 from Daniel J. Brognano of Captain’s Walk, Vero Beach 32963; $500 from Daniel Brognano Jr. of Genessee Avenue, Sebastian; $1,000 from William Brognano of Sebastian; and $700 from Todd Brognano of Sebastian for a total of $3,000. On top of that, Ameron Homes gave Solari $1,000 for a total of $4,000 that election cycle. In the just completed 2012 election, Solari got $2,000 from the Brognanos.
Solari said the Brognanos have never asked for special treatment from him as a commissioner, and as to whether their generous support swayed those two votes, he said, “Absolutely not.”
Todd Brognano concurred with Solari that there have been no special favors. “Show me one. I don’t see any,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, I believe I’ve been treated the same as anyone else.”
How important is the Brognanos’ campaign cash to Solari?
“They’re supporters. I think every supporter is an important supporter,” Solari said.
In 2008, Wesley Davis took $600 from Todd Brognano, $500 from William Brognano and $500 from the Daniel J. Brognano Trust, plus $1,000 from Ameron Homes for a total of $2,600. Davis this year was unopposed for re-election, but still got $200 from the Brognanos.
In 2006, Joe Flescher received $500 from Ameron Homes. Then in 2010, Joe Flescher got $500 from Daniel Brognano and $500 from Todd Brognano.
Another big beneficiary of Brognano cash has been U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, who has received $3,650.
During the housing boom, Ameron Homes blanketed the Sebastian Highlands, Collier Creek Estates, San Sebastian Springs and Sebastian Lakes area with upscale single-family homes.
But after the boom turned to bust, Brognano’s sons branched out into other businesses – Todd as a partner in the 835-acre Wild Turkey sand mine which opened out on 82nd Avenue about three weeks ago, and William going into pest control, where he was just awarded the contract for all Sebastian city buildings.
Daniel Brognano, who lives on the barrier island and restores antique cars, is known to be equally passionate about local politics, and has a reputation for being as adept at tuning men as he is with tuning machines.
So with the economy in the tank, the Brognanos began spreading money around among local politicians who favored development.
The county had said “enough” on sand mines just before the housing market took a nosedive and demand for gravel, sand and the material used to level up roads, parking lots and homesites plummeted. So it seemed a long-shot that a new mine would get approved.
In fact, the county staff strongly recommended that commissioners vote to raise the hurdle that mines like the Wild Turkey Estates sand mine would need to surmount.
Staff called for there to be a “special exception,” which would require a zoning change.
But in a rare act of open defiance to their “experts,” three commissioners voted that sand mines should be simply a permitted use, and not a special exception. Gary Wheeler and Peter O’Bryan sided with the staff and voted in favor of the special exception requirement.
As it happens, the Brognanos backed Gary Parris to the tune of $1,600 in 2008 in an effort to unseat Wheeler, and backed Tom Lowther in 2006 his unsuccessful race against O’Bryan.
In the one remaining county commission race this year, the Brognanos seem to be hedging their bets, giving $600 so far to architect Tony Donadio and $1,000 to homebuilder Tim Zorc.
The maximum donation per person or business entity is $500 for the primary election and $500 for the general election. Checks had to be written from different family members and Ameron Homes to keep from violating state election laws.
This time around, Solari got $2,000 to fend off Nick Thomas and Brian Heady and Davis, who was unopposed, got $200 this time.
Davis said the Brognanos’ support did not influence his vote on the mining issue and did not prompt him to vote Todd Brognano onto the P & Z Commission.
“No, I don’t ever make a decision on that. I make a decision on what is right at the time,” Davis said. “I am a pro-business, pro-job candidate and a pro-business commissioner as well for that matter.”
Davis said the decision on the mining was in line with his conservative view that government should be limited and not place undue hardships on people trying to operate a business.
In addition to supporting county Commission candidates, the Brognanos in this year’s primary election gave $2,000 to challenger Bill McMullen in his unsuccessful race against Sheriff Deryl Loar. Other contributions in the past four years have included $3,650 to the Friends of Bill Posey, $1,000 to the pro-development Common Ground PAC for a total of roughly $30,000 since the moratorium was imposed on new sand mines.
The Planning and Zoning Commission, which ushered in that moratorium and new regulations that Todd Brognano complained “added $30,000 to the cost of opening” the Wild Turkey mine last month, probably won’t do something like that again.
On Feb. 1, 2011, Solari, Davis and Flescher voted to appoint Todd Brognano to an at-large seat on the Indian River County Planning and Zoning Commission.
O’Bryan, who joined Wheeler in not voting for Brognano, raised concerns that adding him would give business interests too much power on that board, specifically noting the role P & Z plays in the crafting and review of mining ordinances.
“For the last several years the composition of the P & Z board had been very balanced. We had some business folks on there, we had some environmental folks. I think we had very good balance, all aspects of the community on there,” O’Bryan said during the Feb. 1 commission meeting.
Brognano replaced David Cox, a respected environmental consultant with a doctorate in population biology and ecology and nearly 30 years’ experience in the field.
But Davis, who supported Brognano, said: “I believe that the environmental side of things has been very well represented with Mr. Jens Tripson.”
Tripson, who owns a nursery and tree farm, is a long-time Pelican Island Audubon Society leader and avid conservationist. He’s also one vote of seven on the P & Z board – hardly enough to block anything.
