Two days after a report by WTSP-TV's Mike Deeson claimed that PSTA used funding from the Department of Homeland Security to pay for ads promoting Greenlight Pinellas, the Pinellas County transit agency's CEO, Brad Miller, told his board members this morning that the story aired on WTSP was inaccurate, as was the original blog post bringing it to the surface that was written by Dr. David McKalip.
Miller said that there were two phases of the grant received from Homeland Security, and the television report focused on Phase One — which calls on bus passengers to alert authorities if they see anything suspicions. "However, this was not the phase that paid for the TV ads," he said. He said a brochure was produced by PSTA out of Phase One funding.
The TV ads, he said, were paid for from Phase Two of the grant, which was for a "mass media campaign to further promote security issues related to public transportation. Which is what those ads did."
But do they? Watch below.
Greenlight PInellas is the transit tax measure that will come before Pinellas County voters this fall. It calls for raising the sales tax by a penny in exchange for increased bus service and the creation of a light-rail line running from St. Petersburg to downtown Clearwater. Critics have previously accused the agency of skirting the line between running an education campaign and an advocacy one, which is against state law.
"An accusation we know is not a fact," chimed in PSTA board chair Ken Welch, who noted that a previous charge that the agency had misused taxpayer funds to advocate for Greenlight had been found to be without merit by the Florida Dept. of Transportation's inspector general.
"For those of us who have been in campaigns, this is going to happen all the way through November," Commissioner Welch added. "There's going to be misinformation from folks that aren't willing to look at this fairly. They're going to use every tactic that they have to defeat this. So we ought to be prepared for that."
Board members discussed the possibility of asking WTSP-TV to retract the story, but that idea was shot down by Welch and Miller. "Mr. Deeson is not alone," Welch said. "Many stations have a person who specializes in finding what they call government excess. And they don't report stories about good government."
Speaking from San Francisco where he is attending a conference for investigative reporters, Deeson told CL that "I stand by my story," adding that "Miller could not defend the ads in the story, even though he tried to several times."
Miller has said that DHS approved the use of the funding for the ad, referring to the fact that the agency's logo appears on the actual television commercials, and that the department "suggested to PSTA to apply for additional grant funds."
But Deeson says he asked to see documentation attesting to that fact, but was told that because of security concerns, he could not see that. "So while he said that, they've not offered one scintilla of evidence that's true. There's no stretch here." He says he's attempted to contact DHS, but have yet to respond.
Commissioner Welch said that he may address the issue by writing a letter to the editor as he did with the FDOT issue.
Miller said that there were two phases of the grant received from Homeland Security, and the television report focused on Phase One — which calls on bus passengers to alert authorities if they see anything suspicions. "However, this was not the phase that paid for the TV ads," he said. He said a brochure was produced by PSTA out of Phase One funding.
The TV ads, he said, were paid for from Phase Two of the grant, which was for a "mass media campaign to further promote security issues related to public transportation. Which is what those ads did."
But do they? Watch below.
Greenlight PInellas is the transit tax measure that will come before Pinellas County voters this fall. It calls for raising the sales tax by a penny in exchange for increased bus service and the creation of a light-rail line running from St. Petersburg to downtown Clearwater. Critics have previously accused the agency of skirting the line between running an education campaign and an advocacy one, which is against state law.
"An accusation we know is not a fact," chimed in PSTA board chair Ken Welch, who noted that a previous charge that the agency had misused taxpayer funds to advocate for Greenlight had been found to be without merit by the Florida Dept. of Transportation's inspector general.
"For those of us who have been in campaigns, this is going to happen all the way through November," Commissioner Welch added. "There's going to be misinformation from folks that aren't willing to look at this fairly. They're going to use every tactic that they have to defeat this. So we ought to be prepared for that."
Board members discussed the possibility of asking WTSP-TV to retract the story, but that idea was shot down by Welch and Miller. "Mr. Deeson is not alone," Welch said. "Many stations have a person who specializes in finding what they call government excess. And they don't report stories about good government."
Speaking from San Francisco where he is attending a conference for investigative reporters, Deeson told CL that "I stand by my story," adding that "Miller could not defend the ads in the story, even though he tried to several times."
Miller has said that DHS approved the use of the funding for the ad, referring to the fact that the agency's logo appears on the actual television commercials, and that the department "suggested to PSTA to apply for additional grant funds."
But Deeson says he asked to see documentation attesting to that fact, but was told that because of security concerns, he could not see that. "So while he said that, they've not offered one scintilla of evidence that's true. There's no stretch here." He says he's attempted to contact DHS, but have yet to respond.
Commissioner Welch said that he may address the issue by writing a letter to the editor as he did with the FDOT issue.