Aug. 15--As the Broward County Commission debated Tuesday what to do about a convention center hotel after a four-year juggling act with developer R. Donahue Peebles collapsed, Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion made a subtle but critical shift in words. 

Eggelletion, the commission's only African American, was blaming the county for the deal's failure and exhorting his colleagues to honor the promise the commission made in 1995 to partner with a "minority" to build and own the hotel. Midway through, however, he switched to the phrase "black-owned." 

The change was no accident. And it foreshadowed what may be the next wave of politics to descend upon this most political of business deals: what happens if an Hispanic -- or an Asian American, or a woman, or any other developer who meets the broader definition of "minority" -- steps forward with a proposal to get the much-needed hotel built? 

"I changed my words to clarify because I can see what is happening here," Eggelletion said afterward. "There is a move by I don't know whom -- whether from a commissioner or the administrator's office -- to change this from `black-owned' to `minority-owned' in order to, in my view, drive a wedge between the Hispanic and black community." 

The board was on vacation last month when Wyndham International backed out of its deal with Peebles, killing his ability to build the hotel. The NAACP, which supported Peebles, is monitoring the situation. 

On Tuesday, the board voted to declare Peebles in default of the lease, the first step in terminating its legal relationship with him, and decided to wait to discuss any payments it might owe Peebles until tapes and transcripts of various promises can be studied. 

Peebles has said he is owed between $3 million and $4 million. But Commission Chair John Rodstrom passed around a once-confidential list the developer gave Wyndham early this year showing expenses of $1,047,214, including $100,092 owed to lobbyist Ron Book and $498,581 in other legal fees. 

The commission is cautiously moving ahead with the plan for a hotel. Commissioners decided to ask for input from the Tourism Development Council and to hire a consultant to analyze market conditions before it moves on with a new proposal for either a minority-owned hotel or a county-owned but minority-run facility. 

Eggelletion laid out Peebles' accusation that the deal fell through because the lease the county wrote up was different from the verbal deal, that no one was around to change it, and that Wyndham executives felt they were treated poorly. 

County Attorney Ed Dion said that the lease was derived from meeting transcripts, and Commissioner Ilene Lieberman said she personally negotiated two of the points in question as they appeared in the lease. 

Rodstrom noted the economic downturn made financing new hotels difficult. 

At one point Eggelletion called the hotel chain chairman, Fred Kleisner, for clarification. He reported back that Kleisner said he felt issues in the take-it-or-leave-it deal needed to be resolved and Wyndham would not be interested in further discussing the deal. 

Wyndham's deal with Peebles prohibits the company from another Broward deal for three years. 

As the board debated, the question of "minority" versus "black" kept surfacing: "It was fortuitous that it was an African American, but the minority was never defined," said Commissioner Lori Parrish. 

Outside the commission chambers, Convention and Visitors Bureau President Nicki Grossman spoke with Andy Ingraham about just that. Grossman has already sold 588,910 room-nights for Broward between November 2003 and 2012 to convention groups based on there being a hotel. 

Ingraham, a Peebles ally who runs a multicultural tourism marketing company and is associated with Al Sharpton, said flatly that the deal was earmarked for blacks. 

But Grossman told him that commissioners discussed using an African-American developer, but issued a request for letters of interest that used only the word "minority." 

Earlier in the day during the lunch break, the commission's only Hispanic, Diana Wasserman-Rubin, said she would encourage Broward or Dade-based Hispanic developers to look at the deal. 

"If it's a minority firm, then whether it's an African American or an Hispanic or an Asian developer, I consider all of those minorities and I would certainly encourage any qualified minority to apply," she said. 

Monday, the executive director of the Latin Chamber of Commerce of Broward, Jose "Pepe" Lopez, said he hopes Hispanic builders will stay away. 

"I think that this `minority' contract actually was for African Americans and it would be in bad taste to get in the middle of this," Lopez said. 

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