Halloween is the one day a year it’s OK for grownups to scare the bejesus out of little kids and not look like giant turds.
In his latest “Friday Funnies” Tea Party anti-rail mouthpiece David McKalip is trying to scare everyone, not just kids, into a no vote on the Greenlight Pinellas transit referendum. In an audio track he mixed with ominous Halloween sound effects including rattling chains and a cackling laugh, McKalip renames the measure “GreenFright” Pinellas.
“It’s Halloween. Look out for the scariest ghoul, GreenFright Pinellas and its highest sales tax in the state. Vote no on GreenFright Pinellas to keep this ghoulish tax from building a scary train that takes you places where you don’t want to go,” the recording begins.
“It doesn’t go to Tampa, the beaches, south St. Pete or North Pinellas. Look out, it’s corporate crony Duke Energy with $50,000 Greenlight donation treats. So, they trick you with $2.4 billion electric train boondoggle.”
McKalip is referring to a passenger rail line proposed under the Greenlight Pinellas plan that would connect downtown St. Pete to downtown Clearwater. He is absolutely correct in that it doesn’t go to the beaches or North Pinellas. There is a plan in place to connect the line to Tampa International Airport when the Howard Frankland Bridge is replaced somewhere around 2025.
McKalip has been a vocal and controversial critic of Greenlight Pinellas. Most recently he briefly published a video on his blog depicting Greenlight Pinellas supporters as Nazi soldiers. After criticism of the video popped up, McKalip immediately took it down and replaced it with an explanation of why. He did not apologize for the video, but did defend it.
McKalip has produced a number of fun multimedia on his blog. Check out the video of he and his wife getting down with some karaoke as they parody children’s songs to make fun of Greenlight Pinellas.
McKalip’s latest audio blog gets even scarier as he draws on Pinellas residents’ fears.
“Oh my, the eminent domain zombies have come to take your home and condo and businesses for the train. With GreenFright Pinellas and its 8% sales tax, the highest in the state, you may never see your money again.”
Oh, and according to McKalip, Greenlight Pinellas won’t ease traffic congestion; it’ll make it worse.
“What’s that? It’s 41 train crossings on our roads creating monstrous traffic jams all over town.”
Voters get to decide on “GreenFright” Pinellas on November 4.
