The Orlando Magic today confirmed that they paid $200,000 to Doug Guetzloe, a radio host and leader of Ax the Tax, a grass roots group that opposes tolls and tax increases for “consulting”. And by consulting, they mean hush money so that Guetzloe’s activists didn’t speak out against a campaign for a new arena.
If the Magic didn’t hire him as a consultant this year, [Magic COO Alex] Martins said, they feared someone else would pay him to attack the projects.“We were told there was an offer by those in the small minority that opposed the venues to hire him if we did not. And we felt pressured to hire him because of that fact. In hindsight . . . it was an error in judgment on our part.
Orlando Magic fans must be thrilled to find out that their ticket dollars are being used to pay a guy to shut up so the Magic can get more tax dollars out of their pockets to build an arena and jack up ticket prices. We haven’t seen anything like this since Stringer Bell paid Clay Davis $250,000 to open the faucet. (Semi-obscure allusion that should be a lot less obscure.)
Links:
[Field of Schemes]: Magic paid hush money to activist
[Orland Sentinel]: Magic: We paid Guetzloe, too
