GOP Will Tout 'We Built This' In Arena Built With Public Funds

AP
Alexander Abad-Santos 5,296 Views Aug 22, 2012

"We Built This" (the GOP's "Call Me Maybe"), is the catchphrase of the season, and it'll be a major theme of the Republican National Convention at the end of this month. The irony? They'll be holding that convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, formerly the Tampa Bay Ice Palace, which was publicly financed.  The Daily Dolt, a humor/politics site pointed out the irony first and according to the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School, 62 percent of the funding that built the Tampa Bay Times Forum a.k.a. The Tampa Bay Ice Palace in 1996 came from public funds to the tune of about $86 million. Kind of kills that idea that it doesn't take a village, right? The arena's recent $40 million renovation, though, was privately funded. There's also the $20 million that the RNC is spending on renovating, which includes a $2.5 million stage for Mitt Romney. That's something they can proudly say they built.

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