IN! Anne Gerwig, newly elected mayor of Wellington and supporter of the Global Dressage Festival.
WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 15, 2016–Anne Gerwig, a strong supporter of dressage, and a candidate favoring equestrian sports recorded landslide victories to replace Wellington’s mayor and vice mayor in elections Tuesday. The results end control of the local government opposed to the Global Dressage Festival show grounds.
However, a proposal to amend the village’s charter was overwhelmingly favored by 66 per cent to 34 per cent against. The corporation controlled by the family opposed to the Global dressage grounds pumped an unprecedented $760,000 into supporting the amendment campaign which was little understood by the community as it was titled, “Preserve & Protect.”
In the midst of the election results were unconfirmed reports that Mark Bellissimo, who heads up the partnership that owns and organizes the Global Dressage Festival and Winter Equestrian Festival of jumpers and hunters has bought International Polo Club. IPC came up for sale with the sentencing for a manslaughter conviction of former owner John Goodman.
If the reports are confirmed, the Jacobs estate of about 500 acres (200Ha) would be sandwiched between the Global dressage grounds and IPC.
The Wellington Equestrian Partners that Mark leads has gone out of its way since buying the WEF grounds a decade ago to support other horse sports–staging the centerpiece dressage Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday nights, the major jumping Grand Prix of the week on Saturday nights so as to not draw support from IPC’s headline Sunday afternoon events.
In the election, Anne Gerwig received 61 per cent of the total of 15,171 votes cast.
Robert Margolis, the current mayor and one of five members of the council that governs the community of about 60,000 people received 39 per cent. He was a leader of the group blocking development of the Global grounds,
Michael Drahos, a newcomer to elective office but who came out in support of dressage, received 56 per cent of the 14,386 votes over vice mayor John Greene, another opponent of equestrian sports, who received 44 per cent.
Two other seats were uncontested. A fifth seat will be filled by nomination by the new council.
OUT! Mayor Robert Margolis (right) and vice mayor John Greene, both opponents of the Global Dressage Festival.
Wellington is centered around the Global Dressage Festival and the Winter Equestrian Festival of jumpers and hunters at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center and the International Polo Club.
Anne Gerwig, the mother of three children and resident of Wellington for a quarter century, was elected with financial support from a large number of dressage families. She was first elected in 2010 as a member of the council but for the past year was often a sole dissenting voice to opponents of equestrian sports although it is one of the largest contributors in Florida to business revenues and to local and state taxes.
Michael Drahos received considerable support from the dressage community in his campaign to end division in the community,
The Delaware North Corp., one of America’s largest food service and hospitality enterprises with operations in Europe and Australia and owned by the Jacobs family, has contributed more than $1.3 million in the past two elections to control Wellington’s government.
The family has filed a lawsuit to have the Global grounds torn down, contributed $600,000 to elect three of the five members of the council, including the mayor and the vice mayor, four years ago to block development of equestrian show facilities.
This year, the family donated $720,000 in support of a campaign to control all development including grooms’ quarters on horse farms in the equestrian preserve that is a significant portion of Wellington.
The Jacobs’ campaign for candidates was successful four years ago and so was their drive this time around to flood the airwaves with television commercials supporting amendments to the community’s charter.
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