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CARRABELLE — Independent gubernatorial candidate Lawton "Bud" Chiles III is a defendant in seven lawsuits stemming from a construction business currently in bankruptcy and a foreclosed condo development.
Most of the suits are either foreclosure cases or claims that Chiles and his partners did not pay leases for construction equipment. In total, suits involving Chiles and his development businesses ask for more than $10 million in damages, though he could be obligated for far less.
The lawsuits could be used politically to raise questions about Chiles' ability to manage a major organization as he runs for governor as an "outsider" who wants to clean up the political structure in Tallahassee.
"Anybody with any sense knew the economy was slowing down and we were headed into really tough times," said Gene Langston, a Carrabelle real estate agent. "I will give him credit for one thing. He had enough sense to know when to get out.
"Now, whether that makes you qualified to be governor or not, I really don't know."
Chiles said the business failures came during an "excruciatingly difficult period" in his life and that the sharp housing downturn contributed to much of their problems.
"I don't think me or anyone else knew the market would turn this way," Chiles said. "When the market values dropped by 50 percent or 60 percent, then your management skills are not going to make up the difference."
The business woes soured many in the Panhandle town of Carrabelle. With an economy built on real estate, tourism and seafood, the community of 1,300 is hurting for jobs.
Chiles' GreenSteel construction plant was supposed to provide those jobs.
He was a partner in GreenSteel, along with a New Hampshire inventor. The plant opened in the summer of 2007, designed to make steel-frame houses billed as more environmentally friendly and stronger in case of a hurricane. It was supposed to employ 50 workers initially, and a couple of hundred more once production ramped up.
The plant actually employed about 20 workers, and built only a handful of homes.
"It has been a flop from the beginning," said Wilburn "Curley" Messer, Carrabelle's mayor.
"He had a fine daddy, I respected him," Messer said of the former two-term governor. "But I don't have any respect for Bud."
Chiles was bought out by his former business partner, Tony Attalla, in October 2008. Chiles got back his initial investment, plus a "minimum compensation" for his time. The firm has since gone into bankruptcy and is looking for investors.
Attalla invented the product, while Chiles secured connections with city leaders and was the company's public face. He attended several City Commission meetings, as well as a job fair, and said the company had standing orders for more than 100 homes.
"He makes a good presentation," Langston said. "I assume that he believed what he was saying. Maybe they did have orders. But they evidently didn't materialize."
Chiles said those orders consisted of "people that either had expressed interest or had put something in writing to us." But once the market turned, final contracts were not inked.
Chiles said he is not responsible for ongoing GreenSteel lawsuits because Attalla signed an agreement assuming all liability when he bought Chiles out. Chiles is also suing Attalla because he says that agreement has not been honored. Attalla refused to comment about Chiles' time with the company.
In early 2004, Chiles founded the 48-unit Pirates Landing development along with Bill Lindner, an agency director under Chiles' father, former Gov. Lawton Chiles. The complex is nestled on a bend in the Carrabelle River on the western edge of town.
The property was the subject of a $5.3 million foreclosure ruling, though Chiles said he is likely not liable for that amount. It was appraised for a similar value and is now owned by a bank. The partners dissolved the company in December 2009.
Chiles said the project had "really great success in the early stages." But only about half of the 48 condos eventually sold.
Besides the foreclosure and a separate suit seeking $1.4 million for four units, a judge also ordered Chiles' old company to pay $300,000 for complaints of faulty workmanship.
Llewellyn and Carol McEwan of Wakulla County bought a Pirates Landing condo, only to find the walls and floors became "saturated with water" during rainstorms. Their complaint lists 42 defects, including poor sealing around windows and doors.
"I now have a monthly mortgage payment for a unit that is uninhabitable, in addition to having to maintain my current residence," Carol McEwan says in an affidavit.
In April 2009, another Chiles company, the Moorings at Carrabelle Inc., lost a $2.9 million foreclosure suit involving a marina and hotel.
Chiles' venture into the Florida real estate business is relatively new. For 16 years, he owned a Tallahassee public relations firm. Then he moved to New York in 1993 to help lead the charity Hope Worldwide, returning to Florida in 2003.
More recently, he was president of the Lawton Chiles Foundation for a year before leaving that post a few weeks ago to run for governor.
Many Carrabelle residents are unhappy with Chiles because they feel he used his political connections to secure the business deals, but left town when things turned south.
Chris Langston, who works in his father's real estate company, said: "He made big promises, and very few of them were kept."
Lee Logan can be reached at llogan@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.
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