Appearances so often are the enemy of good guys

TROXLER E-mail: Click here Archive

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 2, 2001

Florida TaxWatch Inc., the non-profit watchdog group in Tallahassee, has mostly enjoyed a good-guy reputation.

Each year, TaxWatch releases its list of "turkeys," or pet projects in the state budget, that it says should be vetoed. The "turkey hunt" always gets headlines and carries a lot of credibility.

Last year, for the first time, TaxWatch's image was a little tarnished. This newspaper revealed that Florida TaxWatch had been taking contract money from the same state government that it was supposed to be watch-dogging -- $436,000 over four years. TaxWatch's board wisely voted to stop the practice.

But here, now, is an interesting new question about Florida TaxWatch. You might read the facts and decide, this arrangement is perfectly fine. Still it bears raising.

Walt Disney World is in the middle of paying $40,000 to TaxWatch, in two annual installments of $20,000, to establish a "Center for Tourism" inside the organization. TaxWatch already has centers for local government, education and "competitive studies."

TaxWatch, meanwhile, strongly supports spending more state tax dollars to promote tourism. TaxWatch is on record as saying that Florida should spend at least $5-million to $10-million more a year on tourism.

Of course, promoting tourism in Florida is apple pie stuff. Who can be against it?

But this is new territory. Our watchdog is now recommending to us where we should spend more of our tax dollars -- while getting paid by somebody who would especially benefit from that very spending.

On Sept. 27, after receiving the first $20,000 installment, TaxWatch president Dominic Calabro wrote a letter of gratitude to William A. O'Toole, Disney's vice president for government relations. (O'Toole also sits on TaxWatch's board.)

"I am enclosing a copy of our Budget Watch which was released today ... and will be published shortly," Calabro wrote. "The Budget Watch includes recommendations to revitalize Florida's economy, including recommending the Legislature increase our state-funded tourism promotion by 50 percent."

As it happens, the budget bill passed by the Legislature last week -- the bill that cuts $800-million in spending from education, social services, criminal justice and general government services -- has an increase of $20-million for tourism promotion.

I asked Calabro about this on Thursday. He made several good points in reply.

"We have recommended this long before Disney or anybody considered giving us any money," Calabro said. "It's been a consistent policy of Florida TaxWatch."

Promoting tourism is good for Florida taxpayers, Calabro said. Not only do tourists pay sales tax, but they create jobs. We need to promote tourism now more than ever, he said.

Yes, TaxWatch gets a lot of its money from corporate sources -- more than half, in fact, comes from corporate donations. (Even the St. Petersburg Times has been a donor.)

But that does not affect the integrity of the group's stances, Calabro said. Routinely, TaxWatch takes positions exactly the opposite of its donors' interests. In fact, just before we talked Thursday, Calabro held a news conference calling on Gov. Jeb Bush to veto the budget bill (and the tourism money) because overall, the bill is bad public policy!

Remember, Calabro concluded, TaxWatch already has sworn off taking any government money. "If we can't take money from the private sector," he said, "then we'll have to rely on pennies from heaven."

All of this was well-said. Who can doubt his sincerity? So maybe many people will see nothing wrong with it.

Yet the relationship remains: Disney pays TaxWatch to endow a Center for Tourism. TaxWatch uses its role as an "independent" voice to advocate more tax dollars for promoting tourism. So I raise the question in an abundance of caution. It is much better to be an "independent watchdog" than an "industry-funded advocacy group." It also is hard to get back once you've crossed over.

-- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.

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