Burying Hatchet With Trump

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Almost six years ago, when Richard “Skip” Bronson, 67, began writing about his development war with Donald Trump, he was looking for catharsis rather than a book deal – though he ended up with both.

With the help of another writer and an editor, Bronson, chairman at U.S. Digital Gaming in Beverly Hills, turned his stories into the book “War at the Shore,” which was released this month. It tells the story of how Bronson and Steve Wynn battled with Trump to build a casino and a controversial exit ramp in Atlantic City, N.J., in the 1990s.

Bronson called the writing process a “pleasant diversion” and said he did much of the work for the book in the predawn hours, in a part of his Beverly Hills home that his wife began calling the “Skip cave.”

Since the five-year-long Atlantic City episode, Bronson said he, Wynn and Trump have all become friends. He even plays golf with Trump when they’re both in Los Angeles.

“They have a unique capacity to bury the hatchet,” he said.

Argentina Calling

Carlos Siderman knows firsthand what happens when good people stay silent while bad things happen. He and his family were persecuted, kidnapped and tortured for their Jewish heritage in their home country of Argentina under the reign of dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. They were forced to flee to the United States more than 30 years ago.

That’s why the downtown L.A. real estate industry veteran started the Fulbright-Siderman Foundation, a four-year-old program operated in conjunction with the State Department’s Fulbright Program that trains promising Argentine lawyers to fight human rights abuses.

Last month, Siderman, 61, received recognition for those efforts. Southwestern Law School awarded him an honorary doctorate degree and South L.A. non-profit Program for Torture Victims honored him at its Human Dignity Awards dinner.

“I feel extremely gratified,” he said. “We believe that education of the masses is education of the leaders. Our program goes to educate who we believe will be the future leaders of the country.”

One Argentine lawyer is chosen each year for the program. The chosen are trained in the United States and are obligated to return to their home country or go to a nation that needs human rights law assistance. Graduates of the program have gone on to be an envoy for human rights at the United Nations and the national chief of investigation for Argentina.

“It’s my dream that this can grow into other countries,” Siderman said. “The hope is for these (human rights abuse) occurrences to never happen again.”

Staff reporters Jonathan Polakoff and Jacquelyn Ryan contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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