Money Can't Buy Me Love

The Political Action Committees (PAC's) to support and oppose the Greenlight Pinellas light rail referendum are required to file their campaign reports of their donors, donations and expenditures each month. 

The pro Greenlight Pinellas PAC, Friends of Greenlight, has raised almost a half million dollars. Their filings can be found at the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website here.  

Who are their heavy hitter donors?

• Duke Energy - $50K - the seed money for Yes for Greenlight

• SEIU Florida Public Services Union - $2.5K (the same group we previously posted funds the Progressive Peoples Budget Review organization)

• Pinellas Realtor Organization - $10K

• Tampa Bay Partnership - over $18K of in kind Administrative, Accounting Services and Office Supplies (this special interest organization was the symbiotic twin of pro rail PAC Moving Hillsborough Florida in 2010, pushed to create TBARTA and apparently coordinates their legislative agenda with taxpayer funded TBARTA)

• National Association of Realtors with an address out of Chicago, IL - $245K (the Chicago way comes to Pinellas...)

• Tampa Bay Rays - $25K (they're looking for a new taxpayer funded stadium but apparently can blow $25K on a train)

• Carlton Fields - Tampa - $10K (this law firm helped lead the failed rail effort in Hillsborough)

• Baycare - $25K (healthcare wanting to take more out of our wallets?)

• Raymond James - $50K (aren't they planning to move to Pasco?)

• Sykes in Tampa -  $50K (Sykes was the largest donor to the pro rail PAC Moving Hillsborough Forward in Hillsborough in 2010) 

• TECO Energy - $20K

There are some individuals that contributed, mostly nominal amounts, including a number of donors from Tampa who can't vote in Pinellas but support the "cause". Many of the donors, whether individual or corporate, are associated with the Tampa Bay Partnership.

Does this look eerily familiar? It is. The 2010 money is the same as the 2014 money. These corporations and organizations must be doing very well today.  They keep throwing tens of thousands of dollars towards their "hopes" of getting a train.  Do they have money to burn or will they benefit?

Friends of Greenlight spent money on direct mail, consulting, yard signs, video production and their new PR firm. They had to drop their former PR firm Tucker Hall who was already representing PSTA's Greenlight Pinellas campaign......

The opposition PAC, No Tax For Tracks, campaign filing can be found here.  No Tax For Tracks has raised about $30.5K.  Besides the vast difference in the amounts each PAC has raised, the other big difference is that ALL donations to No Tax For Tracks are from individuals and they are donors who live in Pinellas and can vote. 

David vs Goliath

We'll continue following the Money "Train" and report this information as the election cycle heats up. This David vs Goliath will be worth watching (again).

But like the old Beatles song - "Money Can't Buy Me Love"

Tampa Bay Transportation Roundup to Keep Up

There is a lot happening with the transportation issue in Tampa Bay.  Here's a roundup to keep up with what's going on this issue.

We'll start with the most serious matter - the issue of a taxpayer funded entity using tax dollars against the taxpayers. 

The Eye previously posted here, here and here about the egregious activities that PSTA's taxpayer funded Greenlight Pinellas advocacy campaign has been doing under a false claim of "education". We reported that PSTA's CEO Brad Miller spoke at the kick off event of the private advocacy campaign "Yes for Greenlight" in February on taxpayer time and dime. We wondered who Miller was "educating" speaking to a group of people who already support the referendum. That was a collaboration rah rah event not an education session. Is that even legal? 

PSTA CEO Brad Miller speaks at Yes for Greenlight,
private pro Greenlight advocacy campaign's kick off event 

Thankfully, state senator Jeff Brandes asked for an investigation and the Tampa Bay Times reported:

The state Department of Transportation launched an investigation Thursday into how the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority spent public money to educate voters about Greenlight Pinellas.

Common sense tells us that Greenlight Pinellas, hiring PR firm Tucker Hall and spending almost a million dollars of taxpayer money, is an advocacy/marketing campaign encouraging voters to support the Greenlight Pinellas referendum. If the common sense answer is not provided with this investigation of Greenlight, then don't our electioneering laws need reforming?

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The first campaign filing for the private pro rail PAC "Friends of Greenlight" was filed.
 The SaintPetersblog reported:

According to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website, of the nearly forty donations the committee received through March 31— totaling $66,350 in cash and $7,084 if in-kind offerings — the largest contributor was a $50,000 check from utility giant Duke Energy. The Pinellas Realtor Organization also gave $10,000. 

Advocacy group Tampa Bay Partnership chipped in with administrative services worth $6,781 and $266 in office supplies while TBP chair Barry Alpert gave $1,000. 

Palm Springs-based SEIU Florida Public Services Union also donated $2,500

Same playbook as 2010. Duke Energy of the Tampa Bay Partnership seeded Friends of Greenlight with $50K like SunTrust of the Tampa Bay Partnership seeded the initial $50K to Moving Hillsborough Forward in 2010. The circle of Tampa Bay Partnership money goes round and round for rail.

SunTrust donates $50,000 to Moving Hillsborough Forward 3/26/2010

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The results of a recent poll of "likely voters" in Pinellas commissioned by SaintPetersblog and done by professional organization StPetePolls show the referendum in trouble:

Just 29% of likely voters say they plan to vote ‘Yes’ to “approve the Greenlight Pinellas transit referendum and sales tax increase on the ballot in November.” Forty-eight percent are opposed to the plan, while 23% say they are unsure.

Even when asked if they would favor the referendum if the sales tax increase was smaller and funding only went toward buses with no light rail provision, a majority of likely voters opposed the plan (52% to 23%).

Interesting results after PSTA spent $400K of taxpayer dollars last year to launch and lobby Greenlight Pinellas and they are spending another $400K of taxpayer dollars this year. 

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There is lots of confusion surrounding the Howard Frankland bridge. Does Greenlight Pinellas goes over the bridge? NO. 

The  FDOT 5 year work plan has the Howard Frankland Bridge replacement project in the District 7 plan. FDOT agreed to spend $25 million to include some infrastructure to accommodate future premium transit. The Tampa Bay Times reported late last year:

At the Tampa Bay Partnership breakfast (emphasis mine), Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad said his agency has committed to spending $25 million on a substructure that would strengthen the bridge span, FDOT officials said. 

"We're not building any amenities but rather we're making the structure strong enough to build a light rail," said Ming Gao, FDOT planning manager.
Gao said the project is still in the study phase, so the announcement does not alter previous progress. 

The bridge was built in 1959 and is structurally worn. Current plans include swapping out the bridge with a new one that looks much similar. But the new design would include room on either the side or middle lanes for "transit envelopes," or spaces where buses, tolled express lanes or a light rail could fit (emphasis mine).

We did find this from FDOT letter in 2012:

FDOT was already considering managed/bus toll lanes
and congestion pricing

The outcome of the Greenlight Pinellas referendum could weigh into the final decision but here's some cost information regarding the replacement and adding some type of transit:

• "The price to replace just four lanes of roadway will be about $367 million" FDOT said. That does not include relieving the traffic bottleneck at the Tampa International Airport/Memorial Highway interchange.
• If the project adds two express lanes in each direction to accommodate bus rapid transit and cars paying tolls to avoid the free, congested lanes, the cost would increase by $339 million to $706 million.  
• And if the new bridge were built to accommodate a transit exclusive guideway — a corridor for either light rail or bus — the cost would increase by $989 million to $1.36 billion. That price would include additional work in both Hillsborough and Pinellas to accommodate an enhanced transit system and link with new transit terminals."

Adding bus/managed toll lanes is LESS than 2 times the cost of replacing the bridge while adding light rail would cost 4 times MORE than the cost of replacing the bridge.  Bus/managed toll lanes are more cost-effective, would be higher utilized, it is user pays based on the individuals decision and the revenue generated would go back into improving and maintaining the toll lanes. Light rail would be high cost, lower utilized, the fares are highly subsidized by all taxpayers whether they ever use it or not, it would not relieve congestion and a new long term revenue source would need to be found to keep it operating.

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The Hillsborough County PTC continues to be a problem. The PTC has a history of corruption and cronyism. They hired a lobbyist last year and the taxi cab industry hired their own lobbyists to descend on Tallahassee. The PTC Chairman County Commissioner Victor Crist even recently went up to Tallahassee. The PTC truly is a three ring circus as we posted before here, here and here. State senator Brandes and State representative Grant have been trying to reign in the PTC and burdensome regulations but it's difficult against an entrenched industry who wants to protect their turf and inhibit competition.  

The Tampa Bay Times recently reported on Brandes and Grant's bills in the state legislature and Uber and Lyft moving forward to provide service.

Lyft is going rogue. The ride-sharing service, which uses a smartphone application to connect passengers with drivers who use their personal vehicles, began accepting passengers in Tampa on Friday evening.Under Grant's revised proposal, special districts could not impose a minimum wait time or fare on app-based commercially licensed driver services, such as town cars and limousines. Special districts would also be prohibited from restricting the number of available limousine permits.

While the bill would make way for Uber's black car service to operate here, it would not affect ride-sharing services such as Lyft, which the PTC considers a taxicab company. 

Lyft, which bills itself as a technology company, sees things differently. 

"Lyft's new peer-to-peer model does not easily fit into existing frameworks," Lyft spokeswoman Paige Thelen said in an email Friday, "which is why we created a strict set of safety standards that are far more strict than what's required of taxis and limos."

The Tribune reported Friday:

Uber, a ridesharing service that lets customers use a smartphone to find a driver, said late Friday afternoon the company has started offering its UberX service in Tampa. The announcement comes only a few days after Lyft, which offers a similar service, began operating in the city. 

Both are part of a new wave of companies offering services that challenge the way traditional taxi and limousine services operate. With UberX and Lyfft, customers use an app to find drivers, who often aren’t professional drivers and use their own cars. Rates can fluctuate and could rise during high-demand periods.

Safety issues, background checks, licensing and insurance liability can all be dealt with without the burdensome PTC. Technology and the Internet allows anyone who uses these new services to immediately rate the service they were provided for all the world to see.  That's quicker than any PTC regulator could ever report. Technology can and should rid us of some bureaucracy.

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We continue to follow what is going on with TBARTA as we've reported TBARTA has numerous issues. It appears now there is a proposal to merge/consolidate the MPO's Chairs Coordinating Committee into TBARTA. At a meeting Friday of the West Central Florida Metropolitan Planning Organizations Chairs Coordinating Committee Staff Directors Workshop, this presentation was about the consolidation. 

TBARTA was not originally established to fairly represent, on a proportional population basis, the counties it represents. TBARTA was created in 2007 at the behest of the special interest organization Tampa Bay Partnership and the Partnership has always appeared to have dominate influence over TBARTA. Friday's presentation confirmed that influence. This is one of the recommendation's from the consolidation presentation: 

Coordinate legislative priorities developed by TBARTA, MPO's
and Tampa Bay Partnership, secure funding as "one voice"

Tampa Bay Partnership is not elected nor appointed but they do have dominate influence over TBARTA. When a special interest has that much influence, isn't that cronysim? Would the Partnership then have dominate influence over the MPO's too with this consolidation? This should be raised as a concern and a red flag for the MPO's to NOT merge into TBARTA.  

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We'll end with a video from NoTaxForTracks Pinellas At the Annual Oldsmar Parade.  
Lots of resounding NO's in Oldsmar to raising their taxes to pay for a train. These are people who actually live and vote in Pinellas and not deep pocketed special interest groups or people who don't even live in Pinellas and can't vote on Greenlight.

PSTA's Greenlight Pinellas Campaign to be Investigated

The Eye recently posted calling for  PSTA's taxpayer funded Greenlight Pinellas marketing campaign to Shut Down, Cease and Desist.  Common sense says this is an advocacy campaign cloaked in their lawyered up legalease that Greenlight Pinellas is an "education campaign" -  but a one-sided campaign as PSTA CEO Brad Miller admitted when asked. A taxpayer "education" campaign spending almost a MILLION taxpayer dollars handing out goodie bags and trinkets to sell voters "to vote for" a tax increase for Greenlight Pinellas.

Regardless of the PSTA's lawyers providing legal excuses that PSTA can actually do this -use taxpayer money against the taxpayers as long as they don't use the words "support" or "vote for" - IT IS WRONG!  Don't forget PSTA CEO Brad Miller spoke (on taxpayer time and dime) at the Yes for Greenlight kick off event standing next to the sign to vote YES for Greenlight in November.  Does anyone think Miller's speech was part of an "education" campaign? 

PSTA CEO Brad Miller speaks on taxpayer time at Yes for Greenlightkick off campaign held at 9:30am on a Thursday next to "Vote Yes for Greenlight on Nov. 4th 

Remember TBARTA's lawyers said it was legal for TBARTA chairman Ronnie Duncan to also lead, organize and raise money for the private advocacy campaign Yes for Greenlight.  But that was WRONG too and he supposedly resigned from Yes for Greenlight nonprofit - though legally sunbiz.org still shows Ronnie Duncan as a Director for Yes for Greenlight.

Now Florida state senator Jeff Brandes is weighing in on the Greenlight Pinellas issue.  It is reported today at the Miami Herald

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, is asking the Florida Department of Transportation's inspector general to investigate how Pinellas County's mass transit agency is spending money on its Greenlight Pinellas program 

In a letter he sent Tuesday to DOT Secretary Ananth Prasad, Brandes is asking the agency to review how the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is spending about $800,000 on an information campaign on a Nov. 4 referendum asking voters to support a sales tax increase of 7 percent to 8 percent to pay for new routes and a 24-mile light rail line between St. Petersburg and Clearwater. 

The campaign uses taxpayer money for propaganda purposes, a violation of state law that should require the money to be returned, Brandes said.

FL State Senator Jeff Brandes

Here's Brandes letter to Ananth Prasad, FDOT Secretary

This is good news for Pinellas taxpayers as most of Brandes constituents are in Pinellas.  It is refreshing to see an elected representative holding a taxpayer funded government agency accountable to protect the taxpayers.  Let's hope we see more of this from more elected officials.

Here's a youtube on the taxpayer funded the Greenlight Pinellas "sham" education campaign.  If your browser does not load, click here.  

We look forward to seeing Greenlight Pinellas shut down, cease and desist!

Cronyism and Economic Development: Where's It Going?

Transportation is a hot issue in Tampa Bay today.  Economic development is the buzz word of the day from our elected officials.  What happens when your start tying the two closely together?

In Pinellas, we're told by the local transit agency PSTA and most of the Pinellas County Commissioners that the reason high cost rail is included in the Greenlight Pinellas plan is economic development. We're told we need mixed use land development of residential and retail around train stations.

In Hillsborough we hear the same echo chamber from the pro rail power brokers that high cost fixed rail corridors will "magically" drive economic development - transit-oriented development (TOD) . TOD is heralded as the panacea for our economic prosperity.

But at least we have confirmed that high cost rail systems are NOT about mobility or reducing congestion.

So what is high cost rail projects really all about?  To start, there's a perversion for why the power brokers push for costly rail projects as Randal O'Toole from CATO Institute testified last December before the Congressional House Transportation Committee:

[Federal} New Starts, however, is a competitive grant program [for light rail]. The rules of the competition can be boiled down to this: regions and transit agencies that propose the most expensive projects get the most money (emphasis mine). 

The Obama administration eliminated cost effectiveness as a criteria for getting federal grants.  Why not go for the gusto to get the most federal tax dollars for costly rail projects? Then local governments can subsidize the TOD to incentivize development or designate areas as Community Redevelopment Areas (CRA's) and use tax-increment financing (TIF's) for specific redevelopment purposes.

According to the Florida Redevelopment Association:

Examples of conditions that can support the creation of a Community Redevelopment Area include, but are not limited to: the presence of substandard or inadequate structures, a shortage of affordable housing, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient roadways, and inadequate parking 

Tax increment financing is a unique tool available to cities and counties for redevelopment activities. It is used to leverage public funds to promote private sector activity in the targeted area

O'Toole also testified:

The reality is that almost all of the economic development they claim along light-rail and streetcar lines has resulted from tax-increment financing and other subsidies to developers. Experience in many places has shown that almost no new development takes place along a rail line without subsidies to developers.

Mayor Buckhorn held his State of the City address this week. 



At about 44:21 (go to that time on video link if your browser does not automatically go there) Buckhorn talks about mobility options, including light rail, he advocates support for Greenlight Pinellas, admits rail will never pay for itself and makes a strange comment about not worrying about  fare box revenue has to make sense. Mayor Buckhorn then talks about working with his partners in Hillsborough County to extend the CRA's in Tampa and the use of TIF's.  No mention of the cost to do all of it.

However, Buckhorn's biggest challenge may be a revenue shortfall of $10 million to $15 million for next year's budget, that he must find a way to close.

We previously connected the dots on the local rail cartel. The cartel is a cozy relationship between pro rail politicians and the taxpayer funded agencies and special interests who will benefit from the flood of tax dollars heading their way. Then the deep pocketed special interests can circulate campaign donations back to the politicians to ensure their influence is maintained.

This must be one of the coziest relationships. At times it is difficult to distinguish the difference between TBARTA, a taxpayer funded agency and special interest Tampa Bay Partnership. TBARTA was created by our state legislature in 2007 at the behest of the Tampa Bay Partnership. TBARTA was setup to cover the same geographical area as the Partnership. Was TBARTA simply created to advance Tampa Bay Partnership's regional agenda? 

We previously posted about the conflict of interest issue Ronnie Duncan, chairman of TBARTA had when he also began leading the private advocacy campaign Yes for Greenlight.  We reported that Duncan started organizing and raising money for the private campaign at the same time TBARTA was endorsing the Greenlight Pinellas plan months before Greenlight got on the ballot last December. Duncan owns a land development company and his wife owns a commercial real estate company. Coincidence?

Where was the Yes for Greenlight kickoff event held in February?  At the Pinellas Realtors Association office in Clearwater, not at a local bus station or any other public venue.

What can happen when our tax dollars are flowing to local municipalities to build high cost rail where economic development around train stations is sold as the dire reason we must have a train.  What can happen when the politicians and central planning bureaucrats plan where "they" want development to occur, can designate areas as CRA's and use TIF's or other subsidies to incentivize development? And what happens when there's collusion and cronyism with special interests and/or amongst them all?

Back in 2010 we were told by the local media and pro rail contingent that we needed to follow Charlotte as they were the "gold standard light rail model" to follow. 

Wednesday, Charlotte's Mayor Patrick Cannon, Democrat, was arrested on bribery and corruption charges. Mayor Cannon  has since resigned.  The Tribune reported

Cannon solicited and accepted more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and the use of a luxury apartment as bribes, according to a criminal complaint. 

According to the complaint, FBI agents posing as commercial real estate developers paid Cannon on five separate occasions between January 2013 and February 2014. Cannon accepted cash in exchange for access to city officials responsible for planning, zoning and permitting. 

The investigation began in August 2010 after a tip from a local undercover officer about public corruption. At the time, Cannon still held an at-large seat on the Charlotte City Council.

Two days after Cannon announced he was running for mayor in May 2013, the first undercover agent introduced him to a second undercover agent posing as a developer from Las Vegas. The second agent told Cannon he was interested in developments along a streetcar and light rail line being built in Charlotte. Cannon provided the proposed routes and stops, according to the complaint (emphasis mine). 

Mayor Cannon got caught. How many others have not? Who knows how often and where else unethical, if not illegal activities, have occurred where lots of tax dollars are flowing to build rail and to subsidize economic development.

Could that type of corruption happen in Tampa Bay? We don't know. We do know we've seen corruption before in Hillsborough. We see a rail cartel in Tampa Bay pushing a high cost rail agenda.  We see PSTA's taxpayer funded Greenlight Pinellas advocacy campaign, attempting to skirt our electioneering laws, while using hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars marketing their Greenlight plan. We see taxpayer funded entities and special interests looking to benefit from the flow of tax dollars.  

What we do not want to see in Tampa Bay is cronyism that leads to corruption and results in crooks.

New Rail Cartel same as the Old Rail Cartel

As the Eye mentioned in a previous post 

It looks like very same cronyism is now happening in Pinellas with the same rail cartel led by Tampa Bay Partnership pushing the Greenlight Pinellas boondoggle.

So let's connect the dots between the 2010 rail referendum in Hillsborough and what we see going on with the pro rail side in Pinellas. 

Back in 2010, the pro rail PAC was "Moving Hillsborough Forward" which was even called the "political wing of the Tampa Bay Partnerhsip" by the Tampa Bay Business Journal.  Moving Hillsborough Forward was simply a symbiotic twin of Tampa Bay Partnership.  They shared office space, resources and staff according to this Bradenton Times article titled “Grassroots” Tampa Rail Organization has Deep-Pocketed Backers that Stand to Profit The Tampa Bay Partnership is Moving Hillsborough Forward

In March of 2010 the Tampa Bay Partnership created the local political action group called “Moving Hillsborough Forward,” which shares office space and staff with their affiliated parent, the Partnership, though it maintains its own bank account.
 Their recent launch of televised advertising is identified as originating from “Moving Hillsborough Forward,” which represents itself as “a grassroots coalition of Hillsborough County residents, neighborhoods, environmentalists, businesses, civic groups and community leaders.”

The Bradenton Times article provided an abundance of information about who Moving Hillsborough Forward actually was:

• Gary Sasso is the Chair, Deputy Treasurer and Registered Agent at Moving Hillsborough Forward while also a board member and Vice Director of the Partnership. He is President and CEO of Carlton Fields, a Tampa Bay Partnership member.

• Stuart Rogel acts as Deputy Treasurer at Moving Hillsborough Forward while simultaneously is the President and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership.

• Ten interns were recruited from USF by a Partnership member using a Partnership email for contact. Student interns are receiving school credit for their work. 

• A young professional group TRANSITion Tampa Bay has a website and is orchestrating events to rally on the rail issue. They identify several members as well as the Tampa Bay Partnership and Moving Hillsborough Forward as partners, in addition to the young professional programs of the Clearwater and Tampa Chambers, plus the local NAIOP chapter. There is no political or nonprofit filing for this group in the state of Florida.

• Requests for information to the young professional group were responded to by Betty Carlin, Tampa Bay Partnership Director of Communications, informing that the young professionals group is a committee of the Tampa Bay Partnership (emphasis mine). 

This pertinent information was reported in a Bradenton publication but not in our local pro rail print media in Hillsborough county in 2010.

In addition, Chuck Sykes was then President of the Greater Chamber of Commerce and also became an officer of the Moving Hillsborough Forward PAC.  In 2009, the then Chairman of the Chamber, Henry Gonzalez, stated this in an interview with WMNF:

We had voted unanimously in a past board meeting to be supportive of the points set forth by the Tampa Bay Partnership.

At the Hillsborough County Supervisors of Elections are the campaign filings for Moving Hillsborough Forward PAC that raised about $1.6 million in 2010.  Select one of the pdf files and the address used by Moving Hillsborough Florida is 4300 West Cypress St., Tampa, FL 33607.  What is Tampa Bay Partnership's address?  4300 West Cypress St., Tampa, FL 33607

TRANSITion Tampa Bay Facebook page describes their organization

Non-Profit Organization
TRANSITion Tampa Bay is an organization for young professionals who want to see an innovative and integrated transportation network in the Tampa Bay region become a reality

Their last Facebook Post was August 22, 2013: 

August 22, 2013 near Tampa, FLLAST CHANCE: I will be deleting the TRANSITion Tampa Bay facebook page today. If you haven't "liked" Connect Tampa Bay yet, please do it now so you can keep up on transportation news.
Thanks - Brian Seel

According to sunbiz.org, Brian Seel is now an officer of the pro transit non-profit Connect Tampa Bay .

Brian Seel also is the son of Pinellas County commissioner Karen Seel who voted to place Greenlight Pinellas on the 2014 ballot.  Karen Seel's father, the late Don Williams, was a past chairman of PSTA.

The Eye reported previously that another taxpayer funded layer of transportation bureaucracy, TBARTA, was created by our state legislature in 2007 due to pressure by the Tampa Bay Partnership. Thus, taxpayer funded TBARTA and Tampa Bay Partnership are tied together today to promote their agenda. 

Fast forward to 2012 in Pinellas.  The Yes for Greenlight nonprofit was established last month creating controversy because the organization was created and being led by the chairman of taxpayer funded TBARTA, Ronnie Duncan.  You can find our posts here, here and here.  Supposedly, Duncan resigned from the Yes for Greenlight organization. But as of today sunbiz.org still lists his name as a Director, along with Stuart Rogel of Tampa Bay Partnership and Chris Steinocher, President and CEO of St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce.  

Yes for Greenlight nonprofit registration

There was additional controversy regarding transparency surrounding the Yes for Greenlight non-profit.  As a non-profit, the organization is not required to disclose their donors, campaign contributions or where they spent their money.  

So now a new pro Greenlight Pinellas PAC has been registered with the Pinellas County Supervisors of Election called Friends of Greenlight.  According to their registration, Joel Giles is Chairman and Stuart Rogel  is Treasurer. 

Stuart  Rogel is President and CEO of Tampa Bay Partnership.

Who is Joel Giles? Joel Giles is an attorney with Carlton Fields law firm,  a member of the Tampa Bay Partnership.

Joel Giles practices in the areas of complex real estate and commercial transactions.  He represents the  developers of large mixed-use, commercial and residential projects.

Gary Sasso, who headed Moving Hillsborough Forward in 2010, also works for Carlton Fields.

Will Yes for Greenlight remain in place together with the Friends of Greenlight PAC?   According to this March 13 post on SaintPetersblog, supposedly a new Yes for Greenlight team was announced:

In a statement issued Thursday, Don Ewing will be the new co-chair, joining St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Chris Steinocher. Ewing is head of the Council of North County Neighborhoods and President of Haruspex Business Software in Clearwater. 

Joel Giles, Tom Morrissette, Stuart Rogel, and Bob Clifford will make up the initiative’s Organizational Committee, whose function is to support decision-making by the co-chairs.

The inaugural 20-person team includes Sierra Club regional rep Phil Compton, Florida Consumer Action Network specialist Tim Heberlin, Duke Energy Government/Community Relations District Manager Melissa Seixas, Crescent Oaks HOA president John Miolla and former St. Petersburg City Council member Jeff Danner.

Donations can be given to both organizations but only the PAC must file campaign reports. Donations could be made to the Yes for Greenlight nonprofit and then they donate to the PAC.  It will be interesting to watch.

The dots are connected.  What's revealed is that the new rail cartel in Pinellas is the same as the old rail cartel.  The same rail cartel that failed to get a train in Hillsborough in 2010 are now are pushing for a rail boondoggle in Pinellas.

Duncan Raising Money for Rail Private Advocacy Campaign 6 months prior to "Yes for Greenlight"

Ronnie Duncan, chairman of TBARTA who recently resigned from the private "Yes for Greenlight" advocacy campaign, remains a drag on TBARTA and the Greenlight Pinellas referendum. Duncan still must resign from TBARTA.  

While he was chairman of TBARTA, according to this Times article in January, Duncan was out raising money for 6 months for the then unnamed private advocacy campaign: 

Boosters of the referendum, led by Ronnie Duncan, chairman of the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority, have begun work on a privately funded advocacy campaign to sell the public on the transit tax. In an interview, Duncan said the group has been raising money for the last six months, but declined to disclose how much or when the campaign will make its debut. It will continue to work with Tucker Hall to shape its message, he said.

At the same time Duncan, while chairman of TBARTA, was behind the scenes orchestrating the private advocacy campaign, TBARTA formally endorsed Greenlight Pinellas.  

TBARTA endorses Greenlight Pinellas

TBARTA, with Ronnie Duncan as chairman, endorsed Greenlight Pinellas on September 27, at the same time a private group led by Ronnie Duncan was raising money for a private advocacy campaign.  Which happened first - Duncan negotiating with anonymous special interest donors or TBARTA's endorsement? Or did they coincidently occur about the same time? 

Apparently the behind the scenes orchestration for raising money for a private campaign was started almost a year ago, according to this Tampa Bay Times article of April 13, 2013:

It's too early to know who will take the lead in fundraising, but rail advocates said they will look for someone with ties to the business community and government, such as Ronnie Duncan, chairman of the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority,(emphasis/highlight mine)….

We must say the power brokers couldn't get much closer to finding someone with ties to the business community and government than Ronnie Duncan.  Duncan is Founder and President of the Duncan Companies which provides a number of services including commercial real estate and land development. In addition, Duncan's wife, Ann Duncan, is President and Founder of Vertical Integration, Inc., a commercial real estate firm that includes a public and private sector practice. 

Ronnie Duncan, President, The Duncan Companies, Inc.

Who will be contributing to the Yes for Greenlight private advocacy campaign? The Tampa Tribune reported:

Realtors, construction firms and other companies are expected to raise up to $1 million for the advocacy campaign dubbed “Yes for Greenlight.”

Perhaps this was a slip of the tongue but Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA confirmed rail is not about mobility but development.  Miller stated at an event last summer where I heard his Greenlight Pinellas pitch, that the reason rail is part of Greenlight Pinellas is economic development aka transit-oriented development which is land development around transit stations.  

Still TBARTA has never responded to the initial letter sent to Ronnie Duncan and the TBARTA board requesting Duncan resign from TBARTA.  We then must assume the board of TBARTA condones Duncan's behavior and that sets a bad precedent. TBARTA has lost its credibility and public trust.  The only way to regain it back is for Duncan to resign from TBARTA.

Can't Run a Campaign but Think They Can Run a Train

The Eye has been posting since last year about the distrustful and deceitful activity that continues to be associated with the Greenlight Pinellas referendum and it's advocacy campaigns. Yesterday's Tampa Bay Times editorial admits

The political campaign for the Greenlight Pinellas transit referendum already has jumped the track.

Greenlight Pinellas advocacy campaign jumps off its tracks

That may be an understatement but we appreciate the Times realizing the train wreck PSTA, Yes for Greenlight and the entire Greenlight Pinellas advocacy campaigns have become. 

In 2010 during the Hillsborough transit referendum both advocacy campaigns, Moving Hillsborough Forward who supported the referendum and NoTaxForTracks.com who opposed the referendum were set up and organized as transparent political action committees (PACs).  Thus the campaigns had to follow the campaign finance rules disclosing who their donors were, how much their donors contributed and where they expended their money.  That information exists today and can be found at the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections website.  

NoTaxForTracks is setup as a PAC in Pinellas just like the PAC was in Hillsborough in 2010.  A PAC provides the legal transparency required by the campaign finance rules. 

Therefore, we questioned why the Yes for Greenlight campaign was setup as a 501c4 nonprofit that enables the campaign to hide their donors and campaign contributions. The Times agreed too, with these statements about the nonprofit status of Yes for Greenlight:

….it made a serious error in organizing itself so that its financial contributors can be kept secret. 

….business and community leaders have to create a smart grass-roots campaign that is highly visible and entirely open about its finances

Yes for Greenlight should reorganize as a different type of political committee that is legally required to disclose its donors….

Taxpayers and voters in Pinellas deserve better.  Inquiring voters want to know where "the campaign money is coming from and where it's going".  The only assumption one can make is that Yes for Greenlight has something to hide and did not want their donors to be disclosed.  One could refer back to Moving Hillsborough Forward's donor list (link above) and perhaps speculate if the same or similar special interests will be donating to the Yes for Greenlight campaign.

This is also a reminder that as reported by the Tampa Tribune 

PSTA CEO Brad Miller said there will be coordination between the two campaigns….

And PSTA already has enough black eyes as we posted yesterday.

The Tampa Bay Times is correct that the Greenlight Pinellas campaign is now a train wreck. 

These folks cannot even run a campaign.  Do you think they can run a $2 Billion train?

Update:  Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA, was serious about his taxpayer funded Greenlight Pinellas campaign coordinating with the private Yes for Greenlight private advocacy campaign. Yes for Greenlight has a picture of Brad Miller, with his Greenlight Pinellas button on, speaking at the Yes for Greenlight campaign kick off event on the Yes for Greenlight Facebook page.  This event was held in the morning so Miller is speaking at this event on PSTA/Pinellas's taxpayer time.  And the caption with Miller states:  New campaign asks for Yes on Pinellas transit referendum.  Is this legal, unethical or what?  Anyone outraged?

Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA, coordinates his Greenlight Pinellas
campaign to ask for a "yes vote" with the private Yes for Greenlight campaign

Another Black Eye on PSTA and Greenlight Pinellas

PSTA and the Greenlight Pinellas campaign continues to get black eyes.

PSTA has been running their Greenlight Pinellas ads on their buses for months.  So NoTaxForTracks Pinellas decided to request and pay for their own bus ads but PSTA just said No:

No Tax for Tracks, a group opposed to the Greenlight Pinellas mass transit plan, recently offered to pay $15,000 to advertise its logo on the back of five Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority buses. 

But the group on Friday said it was told that the agency, which is funded through taxpayer dollars, does not allow political advertising and accepts advertising only for companies selling goods or services.

PSTA says they have legal cover for their bus ads because their ads are only educational.

PSTA puts their own Greenlight Pinellas ads on buses
but refuses to put NoTaxForTracks ads

Who is PSTA trying to kid? Where does education begin and ads for a political marketing campaign end?   Does PSTA think education is a one way street?  

Last summer PSTA created an ethically challenged taxpayer funded marketing campaign, targeting specific audiences, to support their transit referendum for light rail and expanded bus service. The Greenlight Pinellas campaign started on a rocky road last summer, before the referendum was ever placed on the ballot in December, when PSTA decided to spend at least $400K or more of taxpayer dollars to hire PR firm Tucker Hall to market their plan.  This was not educational, this was target marketing as Tampa Bay Times reported in January.

But unlike other education campaigns, Greenlight spent little money to spread its message. With no TV or radio commercials, billboard ads or flashy mailers, the campaign was nearly invisible to ordinary voters.

The agency bought ads on Bay News 9's website and in newspapers, including this one ($3,000). It purchased $6,750 in advertising on saintpetersblog.com, a local website read by political insiders and covered 10 of its buses in Greenlight ads (emphasis mine). It spent $700 to increase the number of "likes" it had on Facebook.

We assume PSTA had to spend $700 on Facebook ads or perhaps no one would have liked their page.  

Subsequently the Tampa Tribune reported at the beginning of February that PSTA will spend another $150k or more to continue their pro referendum advocacy campaign. 

PSTA leaders say the campaign will enable voters to make an informed decision on whether to raise the sales tax by one penny to pay for an expanded bus service and a new light-rail network. 

That will mean treading a fine line since state law prohibits tax dollars being spent to influence how residents vote. Nonetheless, the publicly funded campaign will also be used to counter misinformation (emphasis mine) PSTA leaders say is being spread by transit opponents, including the No Tax for Tracks group.

Misinformation?  PSTA/Greenlight Pinellas has been leading the way with misinformation and misleading information:

• PSTA's Greenlight Pinellas plan page 1 states that Pinellas population will grown by 200K in the next 25 years.  Wrong.  Pinellas has been losing population recently.  As we posted here, the most likely will be a stagnant, no growth population by 2040 but could LOSE 200K over the next 25 years.                                                                                     

• PSTA's Greenlight Pinellas plan, page 4, shows a misleading map with a connection over the Howard Frankland Bridge, insinuating Greenlight Pinellas goes over the bridge.  As we also posted previously, even local media was misled and reported that Greenlight Pinellas was going over the bridge.  If the media were easily duped, do you think others will be?  

  

  Greenlight Pinellas DOES NOT go over the Bridge

• PSTA/Greenlight Pinellas and the power brokers are attempting to sell Greenlight Pinellas as a tax swap: a 14% increase in the sales tax (from 7-8%) generating $130 million and eliminating the existing property tax which generates about $30 million.  If the property tax is eliminated, that's a four fold (4x) tax increase. No one in their right mind calls that a tax swap, that's a huge tax increase.

• Reality is the ballot language voters are being asked to vote on is misleading.  There is nothing that states the property tax is being eliminated, it's not honest by stating it is a light rail system and insinuates the funding will include "regional connections" over the Howard Frankland.  
• Title: Levy of Countywide One Percent Sales Surtax to Fund Greenlight Pinellas Plan for Public Transit. 
• Summary: Shall the improvement, construction, operation, maintenance and financing of public transit benefitting Pinellas County, including an expanded bus system with bus rapid transit, increased frequency and extended hours, local passenger rail and regional connections be funded by levying a one percent sales surtax from January 1, 2016, until repealed, with proceeds initially deposited in a dedicated trust fund?

• Greenlight Pinellas campaign is making things up as they go along. Greenlight Pinellas has NOTHING to do with roads but with Gov. Scott's recent announcement about the Gateway Express toll road project, suddenly we are being told Greenlight Pinellas was "meant to complement" roads.  
• State Senator Jeff Brandes, chairman of the Senate Transportation committee, was interviewed last week on WFLA 970 about the Gateway Express project and said this: "The newly announced I- 275 connector in Pinellas to be started in 2017 does not contemplate any involvement with a light rail system. In fact, it would help leverage the assets we already have in Pinellas County and work well with expanding Bus Rapid Transit and managed lanes and steer our conversation away from light rail and all the huge costs of a light rail system. Once this connector is completed you will be able to travel from the Sunshine skyway bridge to north of Countryside Mall without a stop light. This will be a game changer in Pinellas County transit." The entire interview podcast is here.     

What is PSTA/Greenlight Pinellas so afraid of?  The truth! 

PSTA says they have legal cover as long as they do not use the words "vote for" or "support".  Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA, runs all over Pinellas advocating for Greenlight Pinellas with Greenlight Pinellas buttons and handing out goodie bags and the inference is plain as day: PSTA/Greenlight Pinellas is asking you to SUPPORT and VOTE FOR the referendum.  Who's intelligence are they insulting simply because they don't use the words "vote for" or "support"?

Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA, hands out Greenlight Pinellas buttons and  goodie bags

The fact is Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA and leading the taxpayer funded Greenlight Pinellas marketing campaign, attended and even spoke at the recent Yes for Greenlight campaign kick off event on taxpayer funded PSTA time. That is correct.  Taxpayers in Pinellas paid for PSTA CEO to speak at the private pro-referendum campaign kick off that is asking taxpayers to support  the tax increase for Greenlight Pinellas.  Below is a picture of Miller speaking at the event next to the sign stating "Vote Yes on November 4th".  What legal cover does Miller have for that?   We're not lawyers, but is that legal? 

Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA, speaks at the private Yes for Greenlight campaign kick off
standing next to sign stating "Vote Yes on November 4th"

PSTA is using their power to unethically advocate for the referendum and using their power to silence their critics.  

PSTA must allow NoTaxForTracks to buy their bus ads or PSTA needs to remove their bus ads immediately.  

The entire Geenlight Pinellas campaign is imploding. 

PSTA and Greenlight Pinellas have become a victim of their own deceptions and deceit.