Four years ago, Republican donors from the Vero Beach barrier island contributed nearly $1.2 million to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, and another $1.1 million to the political action committee supporting him.
Then, earlier in the current presidential race, island-based Republican donors delivered more than $950,000 to Jeb Bush’s bid for the party’s nomination and contributed more than $1 million to the Right To Rise USA Super PAC that backed him.
As of Monday, a grand total of five big GOP donors from our barrier island – one of the most Republican bastions in Florida – have con– tributed less than $4,000 to New York real-estate tycoon Donald Trump’s financially troubled push for the presidency.
Island Democrats, badly outnumbered here, have actually contributed four times as much to the campaign of their party’s likely nominee, Hillary Clinton.
So have ZIP Code 32963 Republicans decided to keep their checkbooks closed this year when asked to support their party’s presumptive nominee?
At this point, it kind of looks that way. Three have contributed a combined $3,200 to his campaign. Two others have sent checks totaling $750 to the pro-Trump Great America PAC. Other Super PACs backing the big-talking billionaire have gotten nothing.
“I’m not sure what to make of it, except that Donald Trump is a pretty controversial guy and it’s hard to get up-close to him, so I can understand why people haven’t quite put their arms around him,” Indian River County Republican Party chairman Tom Lockwood said.
“I think a lot of people are sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what unfolds, probably because he’s not yet the nominee,” he added. “My personal opinion is that he will get the nomination and, when push comes to shove, people will come around.”
I wouldn’t put money on it.
Across the past week, I tracked down several of the island’s biggest GOP donors – many of them were away for the summer, most agreed to talk as long as I agreed to not quote them by name – and found little enthusiasm for Trump.
Of the 10 donors I was able to contact, either by phone or email, only one planned to contribute to Trump’s campaign after he secures the nomination at the Republican National Convention next week in Cleveland.
“I want to see who he picks for his running mate, and he needs to slow things down a bit and stop calling people names,” said the donor, who requested anonymity. “I know he isn’t that great, but he’s a Republican and he’d be better than Hillary.”
For most Republicans, being “better than Hillary” is setting the bar awfully low – and that, alone, could make Trump worthy of their vote, if not their money.
More than half of the local GOP donors with whom I spoke or corresponded, however, expressed concerns about the harsh tone and lack of substance that has marked Trump’s candidacy. They were so troubled by the bluster and belittlement on which his campaign has been built, in fact, that they weren’t sure they could bring themselves to vote for him.
One such donor was Bill Becker, owner of Vero Beach-based Peace River Citrus Products. Contacted via email, he said he contributed to Romney because he believed the former Massachusetts governor would’ve made a “superb president.”
He also gave $350,000 to Bush’s Super PAC this year for the same reason. But he said he will not contribute to Trump or any Super PACs supporting Trump’s campaign.
“I am seriously conflicted,” Becker wrote. “Hillary Clinton would be my worst nightmare as president, and that may sway me to vote for Trump. However, he has to show a great deal more restraint and dignity than he has shown so far.
“There is still ample time to make a decision on how to vote or whether I will simply vote down ballot and refrain from voting for president.”
He wasn’t alone.
Fay Vincent, a former baseball commissioner and Columbia Pictures chairman, said he has voted for the Republican ticket in every presidential election since 1980. But he might skip this one.
“How can you trust Trump?” said Vincent, a John’s Island resident who in 2012 donated $75,000 to American Crossroads, the Super PAC that backs Republican candidates and supported Romney’s candidacy.
“What does he stand for?” he added. “Nobody knows because he’s constantly changing his positions.”
Vincent said he has “no plans to give any money to Trump,” adding, “I doubt I’ll vote for him.” But he can’t see himself voting for Clinton, either.
“I have no enthusiasm for either candidate,” Vincent said. “I can’t imagine not voting, but, right now, I can’t see myself voting for either one of them.”
He compared having to choose between Trump and Clinton to the elections involving Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater in 1964, Richard Nixon and George McGovern in 1972, and Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford in 1976.
“It was pretty bad eight years ago, too,” Vincent said, referring to Barack Obama’s historic victory over John McCain.
He paused for a moment, then continued: “I worry about having Bill and Hillary Clinton back in the White House. Any reasonable person can see that she’s totally corrupt. But Trump is worse . . . . You can’t just say you’re going to build a wall and think that’s going to fix everything.
“I’m very concerned about the future of this country.”
One of those concerns is the Supreme Court, which Vincent said Clinton would stack with “extremely liberal” justices, probably in their 40s, “so they’ll be there a long time.”
And still he won’t endorse Trump.
“This time,” Vincent said, “we have no good choice whatsoever.”
Another big-bucks donor agreed with Vincent’s assessment, but, after being promised that she would not be identified, said she will reluctantly and dutifully vote for Trump.
“I’ll hold my nose and vote for him, even though I find him completely repugnant, because the alternative is worse,” the donor said. “But, trust me, it won’t be easy.
“I would’ve supported Jeb Bush,” she added. “He’s a good man who was a terrific governor and who would’ve been a great president. But once Trump got into the race, Jeb, being the gentleman that he is, didn’t know how to respond to someone who conducts himself with so little class and couth.”
“So this is what we’re left with . . . unless something happens with the delegates at the convention or he gets discouraged and drops out.”
For the record: Two of the island’s top 10 GOP donors from 2012 – including John Childs, who gave $1 million to Romney’s Super PAC and remains, by far, the most generous contributor to Republican causes – could not be reached. A third refused to comment.
Michael Garavaglia Jr., president of The Packers of Indian River, said Trump is “certainly the better option,” but he hadn’t yet decided whether to contribute to his campaign, either personally or on behalf of his company. In 2012, he gave $100,000 to American Crossroads.
Similarly, Jack and Anne Kelsey contributed $5,000 to Romney’s campaign four years ago, but she said they still hadn’t decided whether to support a candidate in this year’s race.
“A lot of folks here really liked Romney, and Jeb has always had a lot of support in this town, but there’s not nearly that same feeling about Trump,” said a top-25 local donor in 2012 who won’t be contributing to any campaign in this election.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people, and about eight out of 10 tell me they’re very disillusioned with the choices we’re being given, which is pretty much what we’re seeing in the national polling,” he continued.
“I know quite a few Republicans who say they’d actually cross over if the Democrats gave us a better choice,” he added. “Of course, they’d rather be excited about the Republican candidate.”
And they would have been if the Republican candidate were someone other than Trump – and preferably Bush, whose Super PAC also received big checks from Thomas Corr ($250,000), CEO and head trader at the George E. Warren Corp.; Neill Currie ($205,510), retired CEO of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd.; and Evans Properties ($100,000), a family-run citrus company.
Instead, Bush donors and supporters watched helplessly as Trump relentlessly challenged, criticized and mocked their candidate, eventually chasing him out of the race. Apparently, some island-based GOP donors haven’t forgotten.
“Jeb has a lot of friends here, and to see him attacked that way probably didn’t sit well with them,” Lockwood said. “But once Trump is the nominee, I think people will move past all that and do what needs to be done.”
I wouldn’t put money on it.