Fourth Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company goes from "dinner tables at Mar-a-Lago to picnic tables in a gymnasium."

Bad optics has prompted a West Palm Beach Marine Corps reserve unit to cancel its plans to celebrate the corps’ 244th birthday at Mar-a-Lago even though no tax dollars would have been spent, no discounts had been given and no money would have been raised at the president’s private club.

The controversy and cancellation has left the 4th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, also known as the 4th ANGLICO, with no alternative but to host the annual birthday ball in its warehouse-like quarters off Belvedere Road.

"We went from dinner tables at Mar-a-Lago to picnic tables in a gymnasium," said a senior officer with the 4th ANGLICO and former member of the planning committee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The unit already had advertised tickets online and hired shuttle buses to ensure ball goers got home safely. "We can’t plan another ball now."

The controversy about the Nov. 16 event began after the Miami Herald published a story late Thursday detailing the unit’s plans.

Newsweek reported that U.S. Marine Commandant General David H. Berger became angry about the optics of hosting the ball at Mar-a-Lago. The unit got so much blowback that it pulled out of Mar-a-Lago.

The Herald raised accusations from watchdog groups that Trump’s businesses profit from groups seeking White House favor. The story asked but didn’t answer a question about whether Mar-a-Lago would give Marines a discount or even host the event for free.

The senior officer told The Palm Beach Post that the unit would have paid full price to use the club. Officials from the unit were on their way to Mar-a-Lago to put down a 25 percent deposit when the Herald story broke.

"We anticipated media backlash" the officer said. "It is our prerogative where we want to hold ball — we went to Mar-a-Lago, they didn’t come to us —we did it all by ourselves."

Knowing there would be concerns about the propriety of hosting an event at the president’s private club, unit officials ran their plan by Marine Corps legal staff and an ethics committee before booking Mar-a-Lago, a second anonymous senior officer said.

"We never anticipated somebody would call our integrity into question because we went to such great lengths to make sure we were so transparent," the second officer, a senior staff non-commissioned officer, said. "The optics are always scrutinized."

Although accusations that Trump businesses are profiting from his presidency are not new, recent allegations have focused on the military spending at least $184,000 on stopovers at the president’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. Trump also caught heat for his suggestion that the next G7 summit be held at his golf resort in Doral.

Events at Mar-a-Lago have been under scrutiny since nearly more than 20 of Palm Beach’s highest society charities cancelled events after Trump stated his belief there were "very fine people on both sides" at a deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in August 2017. The void, however, was quickly filled by newly formed groups representing Trump’s base, coveted conservative voting blocs and Republican fundraisers.

The 4th ANGLICO have held past birthday balls at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens and Broken Sound Golf and Country Club in Boca Raton. But the event, now expecting to host 700 guests, had outgrown the golf clubs, the officer said.

The unit got the idea for holding the ball at Mar-a-Lago from the Palm Beach Police Foundation’s Annual Policeman’s Ball, which has been held at Mar-a-Lago for years.

Military-affiliated organizations also have held events at Mar-a-Lago. Navy SEALS make an entrance at Mar-a-Lago every year during the Navy SEALS Foundation’s annual tribute. This year, SEALS conducted a live demonstration that involved parachuting out of a plane and saving a fictitious ambassador.

Other Trump businesses also are being used by military-affiliated events. The Palm Beach Council of the Navy League is hosting its birthday ball and fundraiser at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Oct. 19.

What distinguishes the 4th ANGLICO event is that it is not a fundraiser and it is not being sponsored by a non-profit organization.

Instead, the event is supported by a local non-profit called West Palm Beach Marines and the Marine Corps League, a congressionally chartered Marine Corps veterans organization.

Other local donors have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to defer the additional expenses of hosting the event at Mar-a-Lago this year, the officer said. Marines buy their own tickets, based on a sliding scale by rank. Wherever the event is held, no tax dollars will be spent.

Maj. Roger Hollenbeck, a Marine Corps spokesman, said in a statement that the 4th ANGLICO was "considering" celebrating their ball at Mar-a-Lago and that the unit "is not yet committed to any specific venue." Hollenbeck declined to comment on Newsweek’s report.

The irony for older members of the 4th ANGLICO is that for years they attended the Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago, where guests entered under a sword arch created by the unit’s color guard while other Marines escorted ladies in tiaras and ambassador’s wives to their tables.

"There is historical precedence of being in Mar-a-Lago," the senior staff officer said. "It’s like, hey, you can do official duties when we tell you to but you can’t do it on your time with your own money."

Cstapleton@pbpost.com

@StapletonPBP