A Times Editorial

Watchdog's credibility at risk

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

Florida TaxWatch, the well-regarded and much-quoted critic of state budget and tax policies, has been peddling its services to local governments in a manner that suggests its credibility is also for sale. This must stop.

The non-profit organization's influence in Tallahassee and its value to the public owe enormously to its independence from the state government, which doesn't contribute a dime toward its annual budget of some $1.5-million. TaxWatch looks instead to corporations, philanthropies and other private supporters. So when TaxWatch compiles its annual list of legislative "turkeys," lawmakers can only grit their teeth and wait to see what the governor vetoes. TaxWatch is immune to their retaliation.

But that situation stands in sharp contrast to the tone of TaxWatch's May 25 letter to Jacksonville's mayor, offering for a fee -- which turned out to be $160,000 -- to evaluate a proposed $2.2-billion public works program based on a half-cent sales tax scheduled for a September referendum.

"Our research would help provide the voters and taxpaying citizens of Jacksonville a better understanding of the likely economic benefits of the proposed infrastructure improvements," wrote TaxWatch's president, Dominic Calabro.

That sounds all too much like a predetermined conclusion. Such might be expected from a public relations firm, but not from TaxWatch. Real watchdogs don't play fetch.

TaxWatch's annual "turkey" list, issued the very next day, included a $25-million project dear to Jacksonville officials that Gov. Jeb Bush subsequently vetoed.

On one hand, this could be said to confirm TaxWatch's integrity. But on the other, it could unsubtly remind Jacksonville, and other potential paying clients, about the power that TaxWatch wields in Tallahassee.

That power, however, is only as durable as TaxWatch's reputation for independence and integrity. However great the need for revenue beyond its donor base, such sponsored "research" cannot be worth the obvious risk to this unique Florida institution.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.