George Mitchell is testament to how some in the capital can do good and do well–and wind up with a fancy home at a cut-rate price on a sparkling Irish golf course on the North Atlantic Ocean.
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The former U.S. Senate majority leader from Maine is now part of a cadre of high-minded and pragmatic souls who broadly exploit their talents and reputations, doing impressive pro bono work while cashing in on years of public service.
Mitchell’s hitching post is a law firm called Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, which has a mix of Democrats, including Mitchell and former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, and Republicans, such as Bob Dole, the Viagra spokesman.
It does legal work and old-fashioned lobbying, including work for the tobacco industry. Mitchell has been right in the middle of assisting the tobacco industry, though he somehow has avoided being tainted much by the representation.
That might be because the most high-profile endeavor of his post-Senate career involves an effort of undisputed merit, arduous labor and accomplishment: trying to bring about peace among the warring factions in Northern Ireland.
It’s an effort that, it turns out, caught the eye of a Maryland golf course developer, who has exploited Mitchell’s good name in a classic and apparently productive marriage of convenience.
Mitchell got involved indirectly in the bitter factionalism of Northern Ireland when President Clinton named him economic adviser on Northern Ireland. He then became the chief of a three-member international panel whose mandate was the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, an issue that was a significant impediment to any hope of peace.
Especially with the intransigence of the Irish Republican Army, this was a seemingly impossible challenge. But Mitchell crafted a widely praised report, highlighted by key compromises. After that, it seemed nobody else would be better than Mitchell, a former federal judge, to actually be chairman of the multiparty peace talks.
Over time, he won over even some dogmatic Unionists who initially viewed him as a shill for Clinton and the potent Irish-American lobby, whose American protectors include Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Daniel Moynihan (D-N.Y.).
“This is a society riven by sectarian division where some political parties are not even on speaking terms and where, in Matthew Arnold’s phrase, `ignorant armies clash by night,’ ” wrote Deaglan de Breadun, northern editor of the Dublin Times, in examining Mitchell’s role.
“Political systems that lack even basic civility have little hope of making social and economic progress,” he wrote. “George Mitchell radiates civility and that intangible quality may prove to have been his greatest single contribution to the talks process.”
Over many rugged months he displayed what many onlookers deemed the patience of Job. When the so-called Good Friday peace accord was signed on April 10, 1998, on the political and economic future of Northern Ireland, he deserved lots of the credit, even if the process to this day remains incomplete and the fate of the accord uncertain.
What is far more certain is that construction could begin this fall of a golf course designed by superstar pro Greg Norman, a hotel called Pebble Beach of Ireland, a conference center and 46 vacation homes along a gorgeous stretch of white beach in a western Ireland town called Doonbeg, in an economically depressed region.
The project, which seems to have the support of most local residents, just happens to be the handiwork of Doonbeg Golf Club, an Irish corporation whose chairman is none other than Mitchell.
So how exactly did a tennis aficionado like Mitchell wind up going from saintly Irish peacemaker to golf entrepreneur, though one who has not gained praise from Irish environmentalists due to the development’s location near an endangered species, the narrowmouth whorl snail?
Mitchell could not be reached. But, just as helpful, I found Gerald Barton, head of the privately held Landmark National of Upper Marlboro, Md., corporate parent of Irish National and builder of 38 golf courses, including prestigious ones such as Oak Tree in Oklahoma, PGA West and La Quinta near Palm Springs, Calif., and Kiawah Island off Charleston, S.C.
“I’m not exactly sure when his involvement started, but I think it was pretty much after the Good Friday peace accord,” said Barton, himself a non-golfer but longtime Democrat, former member of the Democratic National Committee and partner with former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) in a similar golf project.
“His affection for Ireland had a lot to do with this,” said Barton about his offer to Mitchell. “He liked Ireland and wanted a base there, a home in our project. It was his affection for Ireland and desire for a house.”
The course is on nearly 400 acres whose purchase will be completed shortly by Landmark after a convoluted process that saw a longstanding feud among the four local landowners ultimately mediated by a Doonbeg parish (it was exacerbated when one won the national lottery). They finally agreed to sell, with Landmark further assisted by a $4 million development grant from the European Union.
The course, which would be 38 miles from Shannon International Airport, will be private, though guests at the hotel may play it. Membership would be select, with perhaps a $70,000 downstroke, or entry fee, for about 300 initial members, who are likely to be heavily American and probably mostly from the East Coast, said Barton.
“I wanted a positive image of the Irish-American,” Barton said. “That is my market. Not many people in Ireland are going to join, but people in Boston and New York will.”
Barton says Mitchell played “no political part” in the enterprise and “he believes” most key administrative hurdles were overcome before the relationship was struck.
That is not exactly true since it was only on July 30 that a key Irish board, known as An Bord Pleanala, gave its approval to the project’s environmental plan, upholding a decision by the Clare County Council. A big Irish environmental group will still try an appeal and claims that “Greg Norman is still a long way from the first tee.”
Mitchell is paid what Barton says is a “modest” corporate director’s member fee. At major corporations, such annual fees tend to be in the $45,000 to $75,000 range, though popular stock option deals can dramatically increase the final take.
As telling, Mitchell will get a nice house on the golf course at a very, very good price.
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“We won’t make a profit off our board members,” said Barton.
Mitchell’s involvement has not gone unnoticed by environmentalists in Ireland and Maryland, in no small measure due to a letter he sent to Irish environmental authorities on Landmark’s behalf. Amid sharp criticism of the Doonbeg location, he defended Landmark and its reputation, telling them how in the U.S., it’s known for “a civic spirit . . . particularly in the area of the environment.”
Several Maryland environmental groups were chagrined at such a conclusion, given an ongoing battle with Landmark over a proposed Maryland course, also to be designed by Norman and also perilously close to another endangered species, the stripeback darter.
Those groups have at least stalled for a short period the final go-ahead with the Maryland course. A county council is reconsidering a previous go-ahead, though the conventional belief is that they will give approval to Barton.
Barton is adamant about his firm’s record, pointing to environmentally sensitive projects he has pulled off with apparent aplomb, like South Carolina’s Kiawah, site of a past Ryder Cup, a famous U.S. vs. Europe competition. He looks forward to the completion of Doonbeg Golf Club.
And Mitchell should look forward to his beautiful home.
It might be appropriate that, when finished, he hold a small party and invites Barton, a Protestant terrorist, a Catholic terrorist and, finally, that Doonbeg parish priest who brought the four squabbling locals to heel.
In a way, they made it all possible.
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James Warren and Michael Tackett of the Tribune’s Washington bureau are hosts of “Unconventional Wisdom” at 7:05 p.m. Sunday on WGN-AM 720.