Mel Sembler
Mel Sembler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Ambassador to Italy | |
| In office 2001–2005 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Thomas M. Foglietta |
| Succeeded by | Ronald P. Spogli |
| United States Ambassador to Australia | |
| In office 1989–1993 | |
| President | George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Laurence W. Lane |
| Succeeded by | Edward J. Perkins |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Melvin Floyd Sembler 10 May 1930 St. Joseph, Missouri |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Betty Schlesinger |
| Children | Steve, Brent, and Greg |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Profession | Diplomat, businessman |
Melvin Floyd Sembler (born May 10, 1930)[2] is former United States Ambassador to Italy (2001–2005), and former Ambassador to Australia and Nauru (1989–1993). He has also served as Chairman of the Board of the Sembler Company, which develops and manages shopping centers, and co-founder of Straight, Inc.,[3] a controversial drug-treatment center. Sembler has been personally accused of being responsible for the claims of serious physical and psychological abuse that went on in his centers. Currently, Sembler serves as chairman of the Scooter Libby Legal Defense Trust,[4] and was a co-chair of the Florida Finance Committee for Mitt Romney.[5]
Personal history
Born in 1930 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Sembler is a 1952 graduate of Northwestern University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree.[6] He and his wife Betty (nee Schlesinger) have three sons, Steve, Brent, and Greg, and are the grandparents of eleven grandchildren.[7]
Political fund raising career
Sembler has been a Republican fundraiser since 1979, raising a record $21.3 million at a single dinner in April 2000.[8] During the 1988 Presidential campaign, Sembler served on the National Steering Committee and the National Finance Committee for the George H.W. Bush for President campaign. Additionally, he was Finance Co-Chairman for the state of Florida for the George Bush for President campaign, and played an instrumental part in raising funds for the Fund for America's Future. He served on President Reagan's White House Conference for a Drug-Free America and was an advisor on drug policy to President Bush and to Florida's former Governor Bob Martinez. He served as Co-chairman of the Republican National Committee's Team 100 and Finance Co-Chairman of the American Bicentennial Presidential Inaugural, and from 1993 to 1995 he was Finance Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
Sembler served as Finance Chairman for the Republican National Committee from 1997 to 2000, as Florida's National Committeeman to the Republican National Committee from 1994–2000, as Honorary Chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, as Chairman of the Drug Free America Foundation, served on the boards of the Florida Governor's Mansion Foundation, and the Florida Holocaust Museum. He is a resident member of the Florida Council of 100, a business advisory council to the Governor of Florida. Sembler presently serves on the boards of the International Council of Shopping Centers, American Enterprise Institute, American-Australian Education Leadership Foundation, George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, Republican Jewish Coalition, and the Moffitt Cancer Center.[3]
Sembler is a supporter of the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney and is one of the more prominent Jewish donors to the Republican party.[9] On October 11, 2011, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney announced that he had appointed Sembler to his Florida Finance Team.[5]
Financial career
Sembler has served on the Board of Directors of several banks, including the First Bank of Treasure Island, the National Bank, First Union Bank, and presently serves on the Board of Directors of American Momentum Bank. Collectively, he has served on the boards of those banks in excess of 14 years. He founded the Sembler Company, a shopping center development and management firm, and served as the spokesman for the shopping career industry as the 1986-1987 President of the International Council of Shopping Center, where he served for 25 years.
The Sembler Company came to the attention of federal investigators in 2008 after a planned shopping center in Boynton, Florida, that had previously denied a zoning variance, was suddenly approved after a payment of $100,000 had been made to lobbyist Hugo Unruh. Unruh's name had previously "popped up" in a corruption investigation that led to the conviction of two Palm Beach county commissioners in 2006. [10]
Diplomatic career
In February 1989, President George H. W. Bush appointed Sembler United States Ambassador to Australia and Nauru, where he served for three and a half years. On August 23, 1989, cartoonist Garry Trudeau published a Doonesbury comic strip which seemed to imply that Sembler had purchased the ambassadorship.[11][12] It has been pointed out that Sembler had no previous diplomatic experience and had donated $100,000 to the presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush shortly before his appointment.[13][14] During his tenure as ambassador, however, his performance "won favorable reviews and quieted his critics".[12]
At the recommendation of the Governor-General of Australia and with the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Sembler was named an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia at an investiture ceremony in October 2000, recognising achievement or meritorious service to Australia or humanity at large.[15]
Sembler was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Italy by President George W. Bush, being sworn in on 16 November 2001. In February 2005 Sembler had an annex to the US Embassy in Rome named after him (the Mel Sembler Building), an honour never before bestowed on a sitting diplomat, and made possible due to an amendment by Congressman Bill Young to an appropriations bill.[16]
President George W. Bush appointed Sembler to serve on the Honorary Delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.[17]
Allegations of abuse at Straight, Inc.
In 1976, Sembler and his wife founded Straight, Inc., an adolescent drug treatment program which has treated more than 12,000 addicts. The group now operates as the Drug Free America Foundation.[18]
In May 1983, Straight, Inc was convicted of false imprisonment after being sued by then 20-year-old Fred Collins Jr, who alleged he had been held captive by the program against his will. The program was ordered to pay $40,000 in compensatory and $180,000 in punitive damages.[19][20]
In 1990, a jury awarded Karen Norton $721,000 in damages due to mistreatment by Straight. In 1982, while a patient in Straight's Florida facility, Norton alleged that staff members assaulted her, and denied her health care.[21]
It has been suggested that licensing for Straight's Florida-based programs had been renewed under pressure from Sembler on state senators.[22]
Sembler's Drug Free America Foundation continues to campaign for hard-line drug policy. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, the brother of President George W. Bush, Former Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Karen Tandy, and Congressman Dan Lungren of California are on the advisory board.[23]
Pumpgate
Between 2004 and 2006, a spike in media attention was generated regarding both Sembler directly, as well as Straight, Inc. Several news articles were published covering a lawsuit filed by Sembler and his wife against Richard "Ray" Bradbury. On May 3, 2003, Bradbury, a former patient at Straight, had posted a classified ad in the St. Petersburg Times offering for sale a penis pump, which he alleged he found in Sembler's trash.[24][25] Bradbury had previously been convicted in 1988 of breaking and entering property owned by Straight, Inc.[13] Bradbury later offered the pump for auction on E-bay along with a copy of a cease and desist demand letter from Mr. Sembler's attorney, which Bradbury claimed testified as to the pump's authenticity. Sembler filed for and was granted a temporary injunction that ordered the removal of the E-Bay auction and return of said pump to Sembler's possession on August 26, 2003.[26] Sembler and his wife filed a lawsuit against Bradbury, claiming invasion of privacy,[27] but dropped the suit on December 28, 2006.[28][29] In January 2007, a permanent injunction barring Bradbury from coming within 1000 feet of the Semblers or their attorney was entered in Pinellas County, Florida.[30]
References
- ^ St. Petersburg Times: "Celebrating 75 years of faith, progress. Temple Beth-El has built a reputation over the years for community involvement and social activism By WAVENEY ANN MOORE March 7, 2004
- ^ EXECUTIVE CALENDAR (Senate - October 07, 1989)
- ^ a b "Biography of Mel Sembler". United States Dept. of State. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- ^ Mel Sembler and the Advisory Committee, "Message from the Chairman", March 6, 2007, accessed 7 March 2007.
- ^ a b "Mitt Romney Announces Florida Finance Team". www.mittromney.org. 2011-10-11. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
- ^ US Senate, Sembler, Melvin, accessed 21 July 2009
- ^ Florida Council on the Status of Women - Hall of Fame: "Betty Schlesinger Sembler" retrieved July 21, 2012
- ^ John Gorenfeld (2005-11-08). "Ambassador de Sade". Alternet.org. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ The Tablet: "Withholding: A review of 175 major Jewish Republican donors shows that many who gave in the 2008 primary have yet to pony up for a GOP candidate. Why the wait?" By Allison Hoffman January 25, 2012
- ^ "Boynton mayor, lobbyist stir feds' interest". Palm beach Post. 2012-02-28. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ "Doonesbury, August 23rd, 1989". 1989-08-23. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- ^ a b "Developer to be ambassador to Italy". St. Petersburg Times. 2001-07-15. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- ^ a b "Dirt & the diplomat". St. Petersburg Times Online. 2006-11-11. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
- ^ "Picking Lemons for the Plums? Bush selects some rich but unqualified ambassadors". Time Magazine. 1989-07-31. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- ^ "Australia bestows honor on Sembler". St. Petersburg Times. 2000-05-14. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- ^ "Narcissus Is Now Greek AND Roman", Washington Post, March 4, 2005
- ^ "Bush Visit May Boost Olmert". The New York Sun. 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Romney Fat Cat's Reefer Madness, The Fix, retrieved on 30 September 2012
- ^ "Jury Awards $220,000 to Forced Drug Therapy Victim". Gainesville Sun. 1983-05-26.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help); Unknown parameter|http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ignored (help) - ^ "Straight Loses $220,000.00 verdict to patient". Lakeland Ledger. 1983-05-27.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help); Unknown parameter|http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ignored (help) - ^ Journey, Mark (10 November 1990). "Straight client wins $ 721,000 suit". St. Petersburg Times. North Pinellas Times. p. 1.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Audit Says Straight Inc. Got Breaks, St. Petersburg Times, July 8, 1993
- ^ See this page and this on DFAF site for Advisory Board membership.
- ^ "Mel Sembler's Penis Pump, Privacy Claim Headed To Trial - North County Gazette". www.northcountrygazette.org. 2006-11-26. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
- ^ "The Ambassador's Penis Pump and The Damage Done". Huffington Post. 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- ^ "Sembler agitator's latest ploy earns attention, judge's order". St. Petersburg Times Online. 2006-09-04. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
- ^ "The Reliable Source". Washington Post. 2004-04-21. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
- ^ "Penis Pump Case Goes Limp, But Serious Issues Remain". Huffington Post. 2006-12-29. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
- ^ "Sembler eases suit against trash picker". St.Petersburg Times. 2006-12-29. Retrieved 2012-04-05.
- ^ "Trash snooper must avoid Semblers". Tampa Bay Times. 2007-01-18. Retrieved 2012-04-05.