Category: Corporate Subsidies
Propaganda Protects, Promotes Agenda of Tampa Bay Times Benefactors

By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay The Tampa Bay Times discarded its journalistic ethics in reporting on the proposed Hillsborough County sales tax hike for transportation that was spearheaded by the newspaper’s primary benefactor, former hedge fund manager and developer Jeffrey Vinik. The Vinik Tax passed in …
Portland Stumbles, Vegas Marches in Chase for Tampa Bay Rays
Vinik: the Man, the Tax, the Hedge Fund, the Spin
Move to Amend: Reversing Citizens United and Beyond

By Beth Eriksen Shoup, Contributor Today marks the ninth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission ruling, striking down limits on independent corporate spending in elections. It also marks the anniversary of the founding of Move to Amend, a group that sprang up to fight corporate …
Rays Lower Seating Capacity: Real Story and the Spin

By Jim Bleyer The obsequious Tampa Bay media, never passing up an opportunity to genuflect to the local lords of professional sports, uniformly term the shrinking of Tropicana Field’s seating capacity as creating “an intimate fan experience.” The national press and fans of the Tampa Bay Rays know better: …
Overman claimed tax hike language was “vetted closely” – had no evidence

By Tom Rask, from the Tampa Bay Guardian “The referendum language was vetted closely,” Hillsborough County commissioner Kimberly Overman told the Tampa Bay Times earlier this month. Overman was speaking about the ballot language for the Hillsborough transit tax hike referendum that passed in the general election this …
Rays in Crosshairs of Brash Vegas, Restrained Portland

By Jim Bleyer The abject failure of Hillsborough County to provide a sensible location and realistic financing for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium has emboldened two western cities that yearn for Major League Baseball. Both Portland and Las Vegas are rumored to be hastening plans for building state-of-the-art …
AFT Rolls out Big Legal Guns to Defend Transit Farce

By Sharon Calvert from Eye on Tampa Bay All for Transportation (AFT) created the 5-page tax-hike charter amendment that led to Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White’s lawsuit, case #18-CA-011749. AFT recently filed to be an “intervener” in the lawsuit, filed against the county and other parties receiving the new tax …