Monty Bennett

Monty J. Bennett (born 1964 or 1965^[1]) is an American businessman who founded and is the chairman and CEO of Ashford Inc., a hospitality real estate company. He is also the publisher of the Dallas Express, a newspaper launched in 2021 that covers daily news in Dallas, Texas.

Early life and education[]

Monty Bennett grew up in Houston, Texas as one of seven children. His father was Archie Bennett Jr., also a hospitality executive. After high school he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 1988,^[2] and an Master of Business Administration from Cornell University's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1989.^[3]

Career[]

Hotels and real estate[]

In 1989, Bennett co-founded and joined Remington Hotels, a hotel company co-owned by Archie Bennett Jr., his father.^[2] Bennett was the CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust from its founding until 2017, and he remains the firm's chairman.^[4] He was CEO of Braemar Hotels & Resorts until 2016 and since 2013 has remained its chairman.^[5] Ashford is the advisor to two real estate investment trusts (REITs): Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts, which combined own 120 hotels.^[6] Bennett's 2015 annual compensation from Ashford was $6.65 million.^[7]

COVID-19 pandemic and relief funding controversy[]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ashford laid off or furloughed 95% of its 7,000 workers by late March 2020. In addition, one-third of the company's salaried staff was laid off permanently. Bennett forfeited 25% of his 2019 earned bonus, cut his own salary by 20% and later took his reduced salary in stock only.^[8]

Also in March, as the CARES Act for COVID-19 relief funding was being negotiated, Ashford Inc. spent $50,000 to hire its first lobbyists in Washington, D.C.^[9] The lobbyists were both former fundraisers for Donald Trump.^[10][11]

In April 2020, it was discovered that Bennett's businesses were the largest recipient of funds distributed through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), meant for small businesses.^[12] They applied for $126 million in PPP funds through multiple loans, and received at least $56 million.^[10][13] Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for an investigation by the Small Business Administration into how Bennett's corporations were granted so much funding.^[10] The United States Department of the Treasury later ordered publicly traded companies to return the funds, and Ashford and its subsidiaries did so.^[9][10] Bennett blamed the backlash on the media.^[1]

Publishing[]

Bennett is the publisher of the Dallas Express, a daily newspaper launched in 2021 that covers news in Dallas, Texas. Since emerging in early 2021, Dallas Express has drawn controversy after it was linked to a "pink slime" network of right-wing websites by Columbia Journalism Review,^[14] D Magazine,^[15] and others.^[16] It has also drawn criticism for using the name of a historic progressive Black newspaper.^[16]

Controversies[]

In 2018 it was reported that Bennett owned property with U.S. Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX).^[17] In 2020, Bennett clarified that he did own less than one acre at one time with Gooden and other investors, but no longer does.^[18] Before they knew each other, Gooden helped Bennett with a dispute with a regional water district in 2011, supporting legislation that would help stop a proposed water pipeline from going through Bennett's 1,500-acre Athens, Texas ranch property.^[17] Bennett spent over $235,000 of his own money to support the election of two Tarrant Regional Water District board members, who opposed the plan; both ultimately lost their elections.^[19] With the aid of a legislator, Bennett created a conservation district on his land. He also brought endangered animals to live on the land amongst other exotic animals he already had, and created a cemetery where the pipeline was planned to be laid.^[1] The dispute was eventually settled out of court, with the TRWD agreeing to route the pipeline around Bennett's property.^[20] The water district board election results led to an investigation that was called "the largest voter fraud investigation in Texas history" by the Fort Worth Business Press. Thousands of ballots were found to be fraudulent, and the Texas Attorney General prosecuted an individual who eventually pled guilty and served time.^[21]

In October 2020, Bennett was named in a New York Times article which alleged he paid a network of pink-slime outlets run by Brian Timpone to disseminate multiple articles about topics ranging from COVID-19 stimulus legislation to US–China policy.^[22][23] After the controversy around Ashford Inc.'s receipt of COVID-19 loans, Bennett allegedly paid the network to run positive articles about himself, and negative articles about creditors to whom his businesses owed debts.^[23][24] Following a D Magazine blog post about Bennett's involvement with the paid news network, Bennett allegedly paid a local site in the same network to publish a story making a similar accusation against D Magazine, of engaging in pay-to-play journalism.^[25]

Politics[]

Bennett has been a substantial donor to Donald Trump's presidential campaigns and to the Republican National Committee.^[11][10] Bennett donated more than $1.1 million to Trump and the Republican Party between the 2016 election and May 2020.^[10]

As of 2019, Bennett was on the advisory board of Texans for Education Reform.^[6]

Personal life[]

Bennett is married and has four children. Two are from a previous marriage, and two are stepchildren. He lives in Dallas, where he has lived for more than 30 years. He also owns a 1,500-acre ranch in Athens, Texas, a portion of which has been his family for three generations.^[1]

References[]

External links[]

• "Hotel M&A becomes hot property for Chinese investors" – Bloomberg Markets video (2016)