(Monday Special Edition)

Mark Saunders
District 2
County Commissioner Candidate

“The Billboard was a Monument to God”

In a just released new political flyer, candidate for Lake County Republican District #2 Commissioner, Mark Saunders, claims he has 25 years of business experience as an owner and operator of several businesses, including a multi-media production business and home restoration business.  He also says that for the last 18 years, he’s been a manager of properties here in Lake County.  In the flyer’s bullet points, Saunders says he has personal experience creating jobs, managing people, as well as six other key business elements.

In several candidate forums, Mark Saunders has dogged candidate Sean Parks for not being a businessperson, even though Parks is employed at Weaver Boos as a Senior Project Manager.  Saunders contends that Parks is not a true businessperson because he works for someone else instead of owning his own business; most disagree.  That logic would contend that every executive who works for a publicly held corporation is not a business person because the company is owned by shareholders.

Someone by the name of “Mr. It Don’t Add Up” submitted a blog comment on our website www.lakecountygov.info questioning five different areas of Saunders’ work background.  At first, we really thought it was bluster, but we made a quick peek anyway.  Well, the peek became a glance; the glance became a stare; and the stare turned into the question, “What is going on?”  Citizens for Better Government, L.L.C. found some troubling facts about Mark Saunders’ business record, which call for answers from someone who is seeking public office.

Here are the concerns we have with Mark Saunders’ record:

1. Mark Saunders claims to manage property and sell property; yet, he allowed his real estate license to expire September 30, 1999 – 11 years ago.  We asked Mr. Saunders about this, and he claims he only deals in properties wherein he has some form of ownership; however, we were unable to find any separate business entities, limited liability corporations, or corporations to support his partnerships.  Saunders contends he does everything under the status as a sole proprietor, which is somewhat unusual in land partnerships.
2. In his flyer and during candidate forums, Mark Saunders has ripped his opponents by saying he’s the only one that’s created jobs.  We asked Mr. Saunders how many employees he has working for him presently.  He responded by saying that he actually has no employees and that he is a sole proprietor.  Saunders contends that he hires subcontractors and other companies to do the work he needs completed.
3. Our group checked all of the local municipalities to find out if Mark Saunders has a business license, and we could not find evidence of him having one.  In addition, we tried to find out from Mr. Saunders where his business office is located.  Once again, Saunders said as a sole proprietor, he did not need a business license and he worked out of his home.  By statute, a business license is required for many home businesses; yet, Saunders doesn’t believe it applies to his endeavors.
4. The only corporation we found tied to Mark Saunders was Soul Winners International Ministries, Inc. (SWIM), a registered Florida non profit corporation, which he incorporated with his wife on April 28, 1998.  The corporation was set up in the same manner as a church.  Saunders filed Annual Reports until April 21, 2005, and then the corporation went inactive according to records by the State of Florida.  According to state law, SWIM is eligible to receive tax deductible gifts.
5. On February 24, 1998, through a delinquent property tax sale, Mark Saunders purchased for $800 a piece of property on SR-50 in Clermont, so he could fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a billboard.  Saunders says buying that property was the first miracle.  In conjunction with Smallwood Signs, Saunders put up a billboard and received monies for its use.
6. On May 23, 2008, Saunders re-activated the corporation, Soul Winners International Ministries, Inc., after three years of it being inactive.
7. On June 4, 2008, less than two weeks later, Mark Saunders sold the billboard property on SR-50 to Soul Winners International Ministries, Inc. for $100.  Don’t forget; Saunders and his wife are the owners of Soul Winners International Ministries, Inc.
8. On June 23, 2008, 19 days later, Soul Winners International Ministries, Inc. sold the billboard property in Clermont to Smallwood Signs, Inc. for $175,000, which translates into $174,900 of unrelated business income for Soul Winners.

On the surface, the troubling issues to all of these facts are very serious.  At the very least, there’s a bad smell to the deal.  Here are our concerns:

• We could not find any third source verification of any activities by Soul Winners International Ministries, Inc., which was inactive until the time of the land sale to Smallwood Signs. It seems the motivation for re-instituting this church was the land deal.  This is very troubling.
• SWIM is a Florida non profit corporation owned by Mark Saunders.  As such, this corporation is eligible to accept tax-deductible contributions.  The billboard property was sold to SWIM for $100, and less than three weeks later SWIM sold it to Smallwood Signs for $175,000.  Unrelated business Income for non profit Florida charities are supposed to be listed on Guidestar.org.  Our group could not find such a filing via the IRS.  We are not sure whether or not the proper filing was done with the IRS, but Saunders assures our group that all of the paperwork has been done correctly.
• According to a tax accountant, who is familiar with this type of transaction, by moving the property to the non profit corporation, Mark Saunders probably saved $26,150 in federal taxes.  The question is, “Did Soul Winners International Ministries, Inc. act as a tax shelter?”

Unlike our local, bankrupt newspaper rag in Orlando, our group contacted Mark Saunders directly, laid out the facts to him just as we have in this newsletter.  We then asked Saunders, “On the surface, it looks as if you are evading taxes – what are we missing?  We could find no activities on Soul Winners – can you tell us what you are doing with this?”

Saunders gave a huge response to our group’s questions, which talks about the miracles of buying the land, putting up the billboard, and then just happening to sell the land.  We are providing his full response (click here), because we believe his version of the story verifies our basic facts.

It is troubling to us that Saunders uses God to justify all of his actions, and he doesn’t address the tax issue of the sale.  We know God works in mysterious ways, but we never knew God performed billboard miracles, and we’ve certainly never heard anyone say, “The billboard was a monument to God.”

Related posts:

1. Commissioner Renick “No Shows” Candidate Forum