Edition XVII · Mon Nov 9

Mon/Wed/Fri mornings · Read online

Illustration of the West Wing entrance at gray dusk: black silhouette columns frame a lit, empty glazed double door and two tall curtained windows glowing warm under the portico. Links to the Lead story.

Plate I · The West Wing door stands lit and empty after Susie Wiles’s last day as Donald Trump’s chief of staff

The Lead · Politics · Statewide

Trump called her the most powerful woman in the world. Susie Wiles is out

The Ponte Vedra Beach strategist who ran Trump's White House left Friday, weeks after he said she would "be there until the end." The Florida lobby firm where she worked for years, run by Trump fundraiser Brian Ballard, topped Washington in 2025.

Susie Wiles, the Ponte Vedra Beach strategist who ran Donald Trump's White House, worked her last day as his chief of staff on Friday. Ballard Partners, the Florida lobby firm where she worked for years, was Washington's top-earning lobby firm in 2025, at more than $88 million. Florida companies, counties and universities are among the clients who pay it to press their case with Congress and federal agencies.

Why it matters: The firm's own lobbying reports to Congress list its income from each client, and Florida governments are on them. By our count, 26 Florida counties, cities, school boards, public universities and authorities account for about $2.6 million of its 2025 income, which is public money. All its clients with Florida addresses account for about $14.8 million.

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, takes over Monday. Neither Trump nor Wiles gave a reason in their announcements. Three sources told CBS News her exit was tied to Republicans' midterm defeats. Wiles appears on none of the firm's 2025 or 2026 lobbying reports, and no record we found shows she acted for a Ballard client. Calley Means, a former Trump health adviser, told CBS News that Wiles and "a very close-knit crew" of advisers "were taking money from the industries we ran on fighting against." He offered no proof in that interview. A Wiles spokesperson called his accusations "outrageous, defamatory, and provably false," Axios reported, and Wiles denied his claim that she set up a tobacco meeting with the president, CBS reported. Ballard Partners called his account of its dealings with her false, and Attorney General Todd Blanche called him a "disgruntled former administration official," Axios reported. Trump told associates that Brian Ballard, who runs the firm, "is not welcome in anything anymore," POLITICO reported in 2025. Ballard told POLITICO that he has never touted his relationships with people in the West Wing to try to win clients.

Trump has called Wiles "the most powerful woman in the world," the AP and The National report.

What's next: Miller starts as chief of staff Monday, Nov. 9. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Wiles "will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation," CBS reported. His post did not describe her role there, The National reported, and no title for her is on the record. Ballard's fourth-quarter federal lobbying reports, which complete its 2026 total, are due Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2027.

Old Florida Money desk · Mon Nov 9 · Every Ballard Partners figure is income the firm reported on its federal lobbying filings, not cash we traced; figures marked "our count" are our arithmetic from those filings. The reason for her exit rests on unnamed officials. No record we found shows Wiles acted for a Ballard client; a former Trump adviser says she and her aides took industry money, offered no proof on CBS, and her spokesperson and Ballard Partners call his claims false. · Sources: Senate and House Lobbying Disclosure Act filings; Justice Department FARA filings; CBS News; NBC News; the AP via PBS NewsHour, OPB and ABC News; The National; St. Johns Citizen; News4JAX; Jacksonville Daily Record; POLITICO; Bloomberg Government; Mother Jones; Fox News; Just the News; Axios

Read the full story

Oaktree Alpha No. XVI: oldfloridamoney.com/alpha/xvi

Quick Hits

Orange County hotel tax sets a $30.6 million September record

Yearly collections also set a record, but grew 7.5%, just below the 8% the county's modeling assumed.

Illustration of small civic buildings under moss-hung oaks in a small Florida town, with a city skyline small in the distance. Links to the first Pulse story.

Plate II · A small Florida town’s civic buildings under the oaks, with Orlando’s towers set small against the sky

Money Pulse

Politics

DeSantis's tax cut hits small towns like Howey-in-the-Hills harder than Orlando

Gov. Ron DeSantis championed the property tax cut voters passed Nov. 3, and Howey-in-the-Hills, a small Lake County town, now plans to dip into its reserves to absorb it. The town loses 22.5% of its general fund once the cut is fully in place, an Orlando Sentinel analysis of the state's estimate found, against about 7.6% of Orlando's general revenues. Oviedo's mayor wants to talk about merging police agencies, and DeSantis promises a grant pool with no amount named.

Politics

Brightline's lenders can now declare a default if it misses its budget

Brightline's parent companies have been in bankruptcy since Sept. 24, and the company that runs its Miami-to-Orlando trains, which did not file, must now live within strict cash-flow budgets under its $258 million rescue loan. If it misses a budget or a deadline, the lenders can declare a default under its final court order. Its bond insurer, Assured Guaranty, now says it will provide up to $122 million of the loan, after naming up to $178 million in September, and its Nov. 6 filing gives no reason. A judge takes up claim deadlines today at 10 a.m., and the plan is due in late November.

Detailed colour illustration on flat navy of the north-east corner of Addison Mizner's pink stucco Warden House in Palm Beach: paired chimneys, a carved statue niche, cast-stone window surrounds and an arched loggia wing. Links to the desk story.

Plate III · The north-east corner of Addison Mizner’s Warden House in Palm Beach, where its cast stone needs repair

From the desks

Houses

Palm Beach clears repairs to the Mizner mansion its architect said he drew to look small

Addison Mizner later claimed he sketched the 1922 Warden House at half scale so its owner, the son of a Standard Oil founder, would think it small. It had 32 rooms around a courtyard, built from cast stone made in Mizner's own factory, and that stone is now crumbling. Palm Beach's landmarks board signed off on a restoration plan, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. The building, now six apartments, owes the town $250 a day until the repairs are done. A private foundation that holds a 1987 easement must approve the work and the contractor in writing.

Sources: Palm Beach Daily News; National Register nomination; Town of Palm Beach LPC packet; Palm Beach Daily News via Yahoo

That is the edition. Every story above, with its records, is on the site.

About

Old Florida Money is a Florida newsletter on where the money goes: the named checks behind houses, teams, races and public votes across the state.

Illustrations are Old Florida Money editorial art. Portraits of public figures are caricature or silhouette, never photographs. Each image carries its credit.

Drawn after reference photographs: Plate I, Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy, Dec. 21, 2009, via Wikimedia Commons (US government work, public domain); Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton, Dec. 14, 2010, via Wikimedia Commons (US government work, public domain). Plate II, JER3L1337, ‘Lake Eola and Orlando Skyline seen in 2024’, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0); Wikimedia Commons user upload, ‘OrlandoSkyline.jpg’ (own work) (public domain).

St. Petersburg · Est. MMXXV

Forwarded this? Subscribe free.