Least surprising news of the year. The Save the Tax campaign raised almost $600,000. The Vote Repeal camp almost $12,000.
Among the big corporate donors to Save the Tax, Bank of America and Wachovia with $60,000 each, Duke Energy with $50,000, light rail train car maker Siemens with $50,000, and $30,000 from CATS’ partner and light rail system designer Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Neat how money taxpayers spend on the light rail line gets routed back against them. Parsons has received at least $11 million in contracts from CATS dating back to the very start of the transit plan. Siemens has sold CATS $53 million worth of light rail cars.
A few thousand dollars to keep the millions flowing is the cost of doing business for this bunch.
Most puzzling, however, is the $6000 the Carolina Panthers gave to Save the Tax. Did someone promise Jerry Richardson a streetcar in exchange for all the surface parking his tailgating fans are losing? No wonder Bill Polian had to go to Indy to win a Super Bowl, the Panther braintrust is not very bright. (Then again we knew that from recent drafts and free-agent moves.)
Better still, here is Panther president Mark Richardson and former safety Mike Minter spouting non-sense in a Save the Tax TV ad. The take-away: Minter will soon run for local office and never go to celebrities for political advice.
There will be more details to come on exactly who supports Charlotte’s $9 billion transit plan, but it should be very clear that Mayor Pat McCrory’s “grassroots” effort to Save the Tax is as artificial as a silver, plastic Christmas tree.
Bonus Observation: Don’t forget that former Parsons Brinckerhoff exec Alan Wulkan was hired by the Save the Tax campaign to help scare old people into voting for the tax. Stay classy.
Update: Steve Harrison reports that STV, the South Blvd. line’s construction manager, also gave $30,000 while McDonald Transit Associates chipped in $5,000. McDonald operates the bus system for CATS and hires its Teamster drivers.
Update II: EarthTech is another light rail contractor. The company gave $20,000 to Save the Tax.
Update III: Tom Roussey has more details on other campaign fundraising.
