How to be a money-hungry developer

Bill Turner

First of all, being a developer is all about money and power. Money

and power will get you everything but love, joy and peace. When you

need something, those who owe you will usually come through for you.

Do favors for the right people all of the time so they will be

obligated to come through for you when you need them. Small little

favors now will pay extremely large dividends later on.

Next, give cursory monetary gifts to every charitable organization

that you can find. This giving is guaranteed to build false good will

that will work. Whenever you are attacked there will be a long line

of people fighting to defend you, they need your money. It is a small

price to pay and a great insurance policy to keep anyone from telling

the truth about you and what you are getting away with.

You will have to learn to think mean but never do the dirty work

yourself, and do not have your immediate assistants do the dirty

work. They will just schedule your necessary dirty work and make sure

that it is carried out. You want the ones doing your dirty work

removed from you at least three or four people. Keep a low profile.

Do not let people know what you are thinking, except on very special

occasions that we will identify later.

Your assistants will also need to be people that have low-key

personalities and who think dirty and mean. There will be times that

you are going to have to get people out of your way. If you don’t,

you will not be able to develop the land in the way that will be the

most profitable for you. Remember, power and money is what’s

important.

The least of your worries will be politicians. They can be bought

the easiest and, if you stroke their egos, they will come pretty

cheap. Most politicians like to feel important. Making them feel

important is just as imperative to your plan as keeping their

reelection coffers full. You will need politicians on your team at

every level from the cities, to the county, to the state and even at

the federal level.

You must have your assistants instruct the politicians who are

doing your dirty work to actually say very little and never use

logic. We are not about being logical and doing things for the

betterment of the community. We are about making money and getting

power. Whenever your politicians speak in public after delivering

your project, have them say almost nothing. They only have to make

one little statement and it goes something like this:

“I think that this project is the best thing for the community and

I believe that this is what the people have told us they want.”

If your politicians say anything more substantial than that they

could cause you significant problems. You have to remember that most

politicians who have been bought are not too bright to begin with and

they feed off their ego being stroked. By all means, keep their egos

stroked.

There will be times when you have to destroy honest politicians

who cannot be bought. There still are a few politicians out there

that are bright, have morals, will not be bought and who want to do

what is best for the community. To get your land developed the way

you want it developed, you will have to get a stooge to run against

the honest politicians. Political stooges are easy to find, but they

cannot be too bright, must have a lot of ego and like to be seen in

an important role. The more you stroke your political stooge’s ego,

the more ridiculous things you can get him to do and say for you.

Now is when you collect on all those favors you have been doing

for others. Again, three or four people removed, you attack the

honest politician. The great thing about America is that in an

election, you can trash anyone running for office under political

license whether what you say about them is true or not. Have your

dirty tricks people say anything slanderous they can think of about

that honest politician. Just rip them to shreds. Don’t worry about

investigative reporting, all of the news media now days are

financially stretched to the limit and they just cannot afford

effective investigative reporting. The truth is not important in

Orange County anymore it is all about money and power. Also, do not

hesitate to threaten to sue anyone, especially those who have a

family and are working hard to make a living. They know that they

could not afford an attorney for even two days without significantly

hurting their family, so they will usually back off quickly from

making their public stand for morality, public decency and what is

best for the community.

The “Bait and Switch” will become one of your most important

tools. Let’s say you want to put about 400 apartments in an area

where you know the community would not want apartments. No problem.

Go to the planners with a plan to build 50 custom homes on the tract.

Go through the public process of getting the homes approved but also

have the plans for the apartments finalized behind the scenes. Make

sure that your assistants have all of the necessary politicians in

place, and at the last minute, switch the plans.

The community will be in an uproar, but do not worry. All the

politicians have to do is say, “I think that this project is the best

thing for the community, and I believe that this is what the people

have told us they want.” Here again, logic is your worst enemy. Have

all of the politicians instructed to not make any attempts at logic

whatsoever. When the meeting is over, the vote has been taken, you

have won and you are still a safe three or four people removed.

Now, when to speak and go public, always praise dead people and

laud how they have contributed to the county. This will endear their

relatives to you. If you have a project you want to get started and

there is no public support for it, have one of your politicians

propose a project that is just the opposite. Have them make the

planning for this other project so obtrusive that it will never be

approved. Publicly support this opposite project; others will make

sure it does not get passed. You will be able to say you were working

for the good of the community as plans for your project go ahead

behind everyone’s notice.

You have now won. You own the land, the politicians and

essentially the county. But in reality you have lost. The people

closest to you know what you have done and they do not want much to

do with it. The people who seem to be your friends are just hanging

around because of the money. Your bank accounts are full, but there

are a lot of people that you have hurt along the way. No matter how

hard you try not to, you still see and know about their suffering.

Your realize the things you cherish the most left along time ago,

like love, joy and peace, and money is not an effective replacement.

When asked how you feel, you say, “I think that this project is

the best thing for the community, and I believe that this is what the

people have told us they want.” You have become a slave to your own

success, and life has become as shallow as the politicians who serve

you. Money and power is not as important as you thought it would be.

* BILL TURNER is a Costa Mesa resident.