Democrat County Commissioner Pat Kemp Gets 4 Pinocchios For Claiming the ONE PERCENT AFT 2.0 Rail Tax Do-Over is a ONE CENT Tax Hike

On April 15, Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp, a Tampa Centric Democrat, spoke at Cafe Con Tampa. 

Kemp spoke about the proposed AFT 2.0 $18 Billion rail tax do-over. She already knew the Tampa Centric 5 Democrats (herself, Kimberly Overman, Mariella Smith, Gwen Myers, Harry Cohen) would put it on the November ballot. Kemp had to catch herself several times as she spoke because the actual vote to put it on the ballot had not yet taken place.

At Cafe Con Tampa Kemp admits what we already have said - AFT 2.0 is almost the exact same as AFT's illegal 2018 rail tax. She touted that AFT 2.0 mandates 45% ($8.2 BILLION) of the $18 BILLION tax be DEDICATED for transit. 

Kemp never said a word about DEDICATED funding for new auto/vehicle lane capacity....because AFT 2.0 has NONE. 

Just like AFT's illegal 2018 rail tax, the $18 BILLION AFT 2.0 rail tax provides ZERO funds dedicated for much needed new auto/vehicle lane capacity, especially in South County.

Kemp gets into real trouble on April 15th when she calls AFT 2.0 a ONE PENNY tax - go to about 8:10 in the video. 

Someone in the audience pushed back on Kemp that it is a ONE PERCENT (NOT ONE CENT) $18 Billion tax on the ballot. Kemp doubled down and insisted AFT 2.0 was a One Cent, One Penny tax.

Of course that is false aka a lie. Kemp was attempting to spread disinformation to obscure the truth of how massive the $18 BILLION AFT 2.0 rail tax is.

Five days later on April 20, Kemp voted at the public hearing to put AFT 2.0 on the November ballot. She voted for the County Ordinance and ballot summary language (see below) that clearly states the AFT 2.0 rail tax do-over is a 30 Year ONE PERCENT sales tax hike.

"One Cent" and/or "one penny" is nowhere to be found in the Ordinance and ballot summary language. 

Kemp's actions speak louder than her words. 

Kemp understands the burdensome funding buckets and restrictive earmarked funding percentages within the rail tax. She knows AFT 2.0 is a massive ONE PERCENT tax because that is what she voted for.

We know AFT 2.0 is an inflationary 13.3% tax hike from 7.5% to 8.5% - the highest in the State. It will add to the raging inflation rate of almost 10% in Tampa Bay. 

Kemp misrepresented AFT 2.0 as a One Cent tax - to obscure the truth that the rail tax do-over is a massive 30 year ONE PERCENT $18 BILLION tax hike.

Kemp gets Four Pinocchios for trying to spread disinformation.

As Their Constituents Struggle, Tampa Centric 5 Puts Inflationary $18 Billion AFT 2.0 Rail Tax Do-Over on November Ballot That Benefits Wealthy Special Interests Donor Base

It's On! 

The Tampa Centric 5 Democrat Hillsborough County commissioners put AFT 2.0 30 year ONE PERCENT (NOT ONE CENT) $18 BILLION rail tax do-over on the November ballot. 

Taxpayers have not been refunded one cent of the $562 MILLION of unlawfully collected 2018 AFT rail tax dollars. No problem, just put AFT 2.0 on the ballot.

The ONE public hearing (historically always 2 public hearings were held about sales tax referendums) last week was just a required checkbox in the process. Forty-four people made public comment at the hearing almost evenly split between 40 who opposed and 44 who supported. 

However, there were more people who opposed protesting the rail tax outside County Center before the hearing who did not make public comment.

Beware of "Deceptive Divas" As the Burdensome AFT 2.0 $18 BILLION "Old Path Backwards" Rail Tax Hits the November Ballot

The Tampa Centric 5 county commissioners will vote tonight at the Hillsborough County public hearing to put the AFT 2.0 30 year ONE PERCENT (NOT ONE CENT) $18 BILLION rail tax do-over on the November 2022 ballot. 

After the Florida Supreme Court threw out AFT's 2018 rail tax as illegal and unconstitutional last year, AFT's largest donor Jeff Vinik said "While today’s court ruling is a setback, we must look ahead and forge a new path forward for 2022..."

But the "new path forward" in 2022 is the "old path backwards" from 2018.

Cannot Trust Those Closely Intertwined With All for Transportation Especially As AFT 2.0 $18 BILLION Rail Tax Do-Over Is Put on the Nov. Ballot

The local rail cartel includes elected officials, unelected bureaucrats, transit activists, some local media allies, lawyers and wealthy special interests who keep funding rail tax boondoggle referendums. 

These people are closely intertwined with the pro rail All for Transportation (AFT) Political Action Committee (PAC) funded by the wealthy special interests. Their collusive behavior and cozy relationships breeds distrust.

They work together, whether ethical or not, and have stacked transportation decision making positions in Hillsborough County with themselves. The result is they reside within their own group think bubble they rarely venture out of.

Politics Has Taken Over HART Board, Start Regime Change by Removing the 2 AFT Board Members Who Inflicted a Big Legal Mess on Hillsborough County

The All For Transportation (AFT) 2.0 30 year 1 PERCENT (NOT 1 CENT) $18 BILLION rail tax do-over is all but assured to get on the Hillsborough County November ballot. The rail cartel's Tampa Centric 5 Democrat county commissioners have the votes to do it. 

HART's dismal ridership is less than 2% of the total population in Hillsborough County. No worries...With AFT 2.0, taxpayers will be forced to hand 45%, or about $8.2 BILLION, of the massive tax to transit agency HART. 

HART will use the new Billions, in addition to HART's current .5 millage rate property tax revenue and other revenue sources they receive, to pay for costly rail projects in Tampa that benefits wealthy downtown special interests. 

Who governs and provides oversight of HART? Who would be overseeing any new Billions to HART?

The HART Board. 

And who sits on the HART Board?

With Every Word They Say, Every Game They Play - We'll Be Watching the 5 Democrat Commissioners Focus on Tampa Rail/Transit Not Needed New Road Capacity

We are right again! 

Hillsborough County commissioners Kimberly Overman, Mariella Smith, Harry Cohen, Gwen Myers and Pat Kemp are the Tampa Centric 5 county commissioners. All five are Democrats. Overman, Kemp and Smith are countywide commissioners whose focus is the urban core of Tampa, not unincorporated Hillsborough where most of their constituents reside. 

The Tampa Bay Business Journal (TBBJ) article confirms this in their March 23rd post about the motion by Myers for a do-over AFT 2.0 30 year ONE PERCENT (NOT ONE CENT) $18 MILLION rail tax on the November ballot:

The motion was spearheaded by Commissioner Gwen Myers, who threaded the line between the commissioners looking out for unincorporated Hillsborough County's interests (Stacy White and Ken Hagan) and the Tampa-focused commissioners (Pat Kemp, Kimberly Overman, Mariella Smith and Harry Cohen).