The Political Whore

Our FLA senator, Mel Martinez, center, chums it up at with Tampa Chamber visitors recently.

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

Since we’ve got such a budget crunch looming that we have to close public facilities and lay off Hillsborough County workers, I wonder if Hillsborough’s economic development “donations” to the many chambers of commerce ended up paying for the Tampa Chamber’s trip to Washington, D.C.? And if so, how much did it cost to send this delegation to the capital to discuss legislative business impacts on our dime?

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Elaine Silvestrini over at the Tampa Tribune has a great story to go with all the Brian Blair news today: One of Blair’s benefactors, the late Ralph Hughes, a top Money Man and power broker in Hillsborough County politics and business, died owing millions of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service.

From her story:

The agency has filed a claim with Hughes’ family trust seeking more than $69 million in unpaid income and business taxes and interest for the years 2003 to 2007.

Hughes’ beneficiaries – his widow and two of his three children – are contesting the IRS claim, arguing Hughes paid millions in taxes.

After Hughes died at age 77 on June 27, 2008, Hillsborough County commissioners voted to rename the county’s Moral Courage Award for him. The decision was controversial, with detractors accusing commissioners of repaying their benefactor and injecting politics into what was supposed to be a nonpartisan award.

Should local governments have spent your tax dollars in campaigns for referenda such as the Penny for Pinellas?

Senate Bill 216 is now law, and its top advocate, St. Petersburg state Sen. Charlie Justice is pretty happy about it. SB 216 bans local governments from spending tax dollars to educate voters about referenda, a process that is both defended by government as a necessary means of explaining tricky civic issues and criticized by those who say it is merely advocacy campaigning with taxpayer money.

I’ve got both sides of the issue on it. First, Justice, who issued this statement upon Gov. Charlie Crist signing the bill:

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From The Stogie Guys:

The 700 percent excise tax increase on “large” cigars that Obama signed into law on February 4 goes into effect today. The tax is part of a series of increased tobacco taxes raised for the controversial State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Under SCHIP, large cigars will be taxed at 52.75 percent, with a cap of 40.26 cents per cigar. This enormous increase, up from the previous rate of 20.719 percent with a cap of 4.875 cents per cigar, has many worried that it will devastate an industry already under siege due to state tax hikes and smoking bans.

Cigarettes go up $1 a pack, and even chewing tobacco sees a tax hike, to $1.51 a lb. from 58.5 cents.

I have nothing against the children of the working poor. And I actually wouldn’t mind if tobacco taxes were raised on my beloved cigars. But I do mind raising taxes on smokes — both ciggies and stogies — to pay for something not directly related to the social costs of those vices, such as lung cancer research, related health care or smoking prevention programs.

That is what is ready to happen in Congress. With a solidly Dem government, Nancy Pelosi et al. are using the opportunity to take up again the SCHIP bill, which President Bush vetoed last year. Here’s TBO.com on the legislation:

The bill uses tobacco taxes, including an extra 61 cents a pack on cigarettes, to expand an existing program providing health insurance for children of the working poor. It’s one of the most divisive issues Congress has considered recently.

The Democratic majority passed it in 2008 but couldn’t muster the votes to override former President George W. Bush’s veto.

This year, President Barack Obama says he’ll sign the bill. The House passed it Jan. 14, and it’s expected to come up for a Senate vote this week.

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That’s the message you can draw from the latest Quinnipiac University poll, which shows that Florida voters repudiate two stances the GOP-dominated Legislature has taken: on cigarette taxes and gay adoptions.

Voters support 71 – 26 percent raising the cigarette tax an additional $1 a pack, the independent Quinnipiac (KIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

The survey also finds that Floridians oppose 55 – 39 percent a state law that prohibits homosexuals from adopting children. Republicans support the law 52 – 43 percent, as do White Evangelical Christians 58 – 37 percent. Democrats oppose the law 61 – 32 percent, along with independent voters 60 – 34 percent.

House leadership, including embattled Speaker Ray Sansom, took the cigarette tax hike off the table before the special session earlier this month even started. The Legislature has also long opposed allowing gay couples to adopt children, even as some gays serve as foster parents.

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Blago refuses to step down, I refuse to step up, and Obama plays it cool:

• Columbo has Alzheimer’s.
• Lowry Park Zoo CEO says he was actually doing good when he got all those cut-rate animals and structures and developed his own private zoo on the side.
• Charlie Crist’s deal with US Sugar is nearly in the shitter.
• Obama says Go Gators!
• NOW the local parties think the youth vote counts for something.
• Slash and burn at the special session in January.
• The cost of smokes appears to be heading up.
• More South Florida political corruption.
• Sarasota legalizes (wait for it) spitting.

The latest to come flying across the News Desk here at PoHo Central, courtesy of Americans for Limited Government.

Credit: William Warren/ALG Features Syndicate

Jabberwonk has weighed in with a great tool as we debate the usefulness of a summertime gas tax holiday: the Gas Tax Holiday Calculator.

By plugging in how much I drive a week, I find that the plan being supported by both John McCain and Hillary Clinton (but not Barack Obama) would save me a measly $39.21 in my Dodge pickup. That includes a 1,600-mile college campus trek over the summer I plan with my teenager.

$39.21. Just about enough for one full loaf of bread.

Doesn’t hardly seem enough money to make it worth doing, given the resulting transportation projects that those dollars would pay for instead.

How much would you save, and is it worth it? Or should we maybe, oh, get a real viable energy policy in the U.S.

My piece examining the Tampa Bay Rays new stadium proposal is on the streets and on our website:

I have a buddy who has been a baseball nut for decades, who knows the sport inside and out, a season ticket holder, a true fan. He’s also a successful business owner and civic leader. Two weeks ago, he sent me 12 reasons why the Rays won’t get a new stadium.

Twelve, count ‘em, 12. He didn’t even stop at 10. Surely it couldn’t be that bad? The Tampa Bay Rays’ new ballpark and vision for Downtown West (the new name for the Tropicana Field site if it is torn down) is ambitious and surprising and smart and visionary. It gives us a chance to revisit St. Pete’s biggest mistake — building a subpar indoor baseball stadium on spec, without a team to play in it, without the support of MLB, to the indignation of residents and beach businesses that saw tourist taxes sapped away to pay for it.

Finally: a remedy for one of St. Pete’s biggest municipal blunders.

But, unfortunately, my buddy may be right.

Where was this plan 20 years ago? Where was this ownership group 20 years ago? And why not put a winning team on the field before considering asking voters for their taxes to continue to chase the dream of baseball economic development?

I also gave the Rays their say, and they make a strong case for their vision of how a new stadium and redeveloped Trop site would work. Read excerpts of it here. The larger audio interview is also available.