{"id":47046,"date":"2020-07-06T16:54:34","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T20:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=47046"},"modified":"2020-07-06T16:54:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T20:54:41","slug":"mike-welch-in-a-pigs-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2020\/07\/mike-welch-in-a-pigs-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Welch in a Pig&#8217;s Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Mike Welch has said  &#8220;Promises Made, Promises Kept&#8221;,  Right in A Pig&#8217;s Eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Head-up-Arse.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47049\" width=\"252\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Head-up-Arse.jpg 424w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Head-up-Arse-269x300.jpg 269w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 252px) 100vw, 252px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Current East Lee County Chamber of Commerce President and LAMSID Commissioner Mike Welch is a lobbyist &#8230;&#8230;.  And is under investigation &#8230;&#8230;..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The complaint (#20-071) shows at Michael Welch and his business&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.leetc.com\/ncp\/search_detail.asp?account=0900297&amp;SearchType=OCCLIC\">Building Industry Issues of SW Florida<\/a>&nbsp;are alleged lobbyist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is a lobbyist: Lobbyist\u201d means a person who is employed and receives payment, or who contracts for economic consideration, for the purpose of lobbying, or a person who is principally employed for governmental affairs by another person or governmental entity to lobby on behalf of that other person or governmental entity.&nbsp;Fla. Stat. Ann.&nbsp;\u00a7 11.045.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Welch-Monkey-300x226-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47047\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>What is lobbying: \u201cLobbying\u201d means influencing or attempting to influence legislative action or nonaction through oral or written communication or an attempt to obtain the goodwill of a member or employee of the Legislature. Fla. Stat. Ann.&nbsp;\u00a7 11.045.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Welch has admitted that on his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/michael-welch-7a121514\/\">LinkedIn<\/a>&nbsp;account it states: that he is the CEO of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/search.sunbiz.org\/Inquiry\/CorporationSearch\/SearchResultDetail?inquirytype=EntityName&amp;directionType=Initial&amp;searchNameOrder=BUILDINGINDUSTRYISSUESSOUTHWES%20L080000641270&amp;aggregateId=flal-l08000064127-dcb95e5f-ac09-4e00-89a4-dabb18ea1b09&amp;searchTerm=Building%20Industry%20Issues%20&amp;listNameOrder=BUILDINGINDUSTRYISSUESSOUTHWES%20L080000641270\">Building Industry Issues of Southwest Florida<\/a>&nbsp;and they do Local and State lobbying in the State of Florida since 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The facts are simple according to the complainant, Michael Welsh is a lobbyist since 2008 and he\u2019s been on the board of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.myecwcd.net\/seat-1-michael-welch\/\">Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District<\/a>&nbsp;since 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Documents show that in 2013 and 2014 Building Industry Issues of Southwest Florida is listed as a lobbying firm with the State of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Florida Statute 112.313 an elected person cannot be a lobbyist in the State of Florida and is a violation that could lead to fines and or jail time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mike Welch has said &#8220;Promises Made, Promises Kept&#8221;, Right in A Pig&#8217;s Eye Current East Lee County Chamber of Commerce President and LAMSID Commissioner Mike Welch is a lobbyist &#8230;&#8230;.&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":47049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}