Category: Corruption
Jeff Vinik Owns Tampa Bay Times—in Case You Hadn’t Noticed

By Jim Bleyer Jeff Vinik, through Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment LLC, owns the major interest in the Tampa Bay Times, according to corporate records obtained by Tampa Bay Beat from Bloomberg, the world’s primary distributor of financial data. It accounts for the Times’ sheer, unfettered promotion …
Tampa-South Pasco Stuck with ‘Bridge to Nowhere’

By Jim Davison, Contributor The term “bridge to nowhere” conjures up many different images from short-sighted government planning to outright corruption. The term spans the entire spectrum of negative perception about government performance. We all know that bridges are built to connect two areas divided by some type …
Tampa Mayor’s Race Mercifully Winds Down with Jane Castor as Heavy Favorite

By Jim Bleyer The Tampa Mayoral runoff Apr. 23 matching former police chief Jane Castor against billionaire David Straz will end with one sure loser: Tampa residents. Neither candidate excited the electorate with an anemic 20.55 percent primary turnout Mar. 5. Voters traditionally go to the polls in far fewer …
Hillsborough Transit Tax Hangs on Deceptive Ballot Language
Vinik Lackey Hudson Acceded Transit Scheme Is “Fraudulent”

U By Jim Bleyer In a text to a Hillsborough County voter two weeks before the November transit tax referendum, Jeff Vinik pointman Tyler Hudson virtually admitted that the now exposed scam is fraudulent. Once more Hudson, in responding to Charlotte Greenbarg’s accusation that promoters of the Vinik Tax were …
Hillsborough Commissioners Poleax Constituency to Save Tax Boondoggle

I By Sharon Calvert, (excerpts from Eye on Tampa Bay) Six Hillsborough County commissioners are intentionally putting taxpayers at tremendous financial risk and signing away the rights of their own constituents and future commission boards. County Commission Chairman Les Miller, a supporter of the $16 billion All For Transportation (AFT) …
Media Needs Open Books to Maintain Credibility

By Jim Bleyer The public has had enough. Mainstream media entities that purport to report unvarnished news must be held accountable for their transgressions—slanting coverage, contorting facts, omitting information. HAL 9000, the futuristic computer in the Space Odyssey series, would go haywire attempting to tally the mushrooming mountain …
Hillsborough Transit Tax Lawsuit Has Serious Statewide Ramifications
Confusion Reigns with Hillsborough Transit Tax as Public Loses Faith

By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay The All for Transportation (AFT) 30-year $16 billion transit tax referendum has created mass confusion, with the public questioning the viability of the program, the veracity of its advocates, and the motives of the corporate players and media entities that …