Miami GOP bashes Dolphins' owner as stadium deal seems closer

After weeks of debate, the Florida state elections office ruled in favor of a referendum to be held in Miami-Dade County to decide on county subsidies for the Dolphins, the Miami-based NFL team. The debate had been about the financing of the referendum, which is expected to cost between $3 and $5 million, as Stephen Ross, owner of the Dolphins, had proposed to pay for the special election himself.

The legality of Ross's proposal was challenged by a 1980s law prohibiting private funding for an election in Florida, but a 1992 opinion requiring a deposit to be made by pari-mutuals to cover local referendums was enough to overturn the law, according to a state official.

While this is a step closer to reaching a deal on the controversial subsidy plan for the $400 million-renovation project of the Miami Gardens Sun Life Stadium, the week has not been entirely positive for the football team and its owner, Stephen Ross.

Hours before the end of the negotiations at the State Department, the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County issued an official statement condemning HB165, the House bill authorizing both a state subsidy of $47 million and a county subsidy of $120 million, as "corporate welfare for billionaires".

The strongly-worded resolution was passed by the Republican Executive Committee on Thursday night after a close vote of 37 committee members favoring the resolution against 34 opposing it. The vote shows the current division being displayed within the local GOP, which has experienced for the past few months a growing divide between Establishment leaders and the new wave of young constitutionalists and self-described liberty activists.

The Dolphins' spokesperson Anthony Bustamante quickly responded by calling the resolution only symbolic as it will have no impact on the eventual outcome of the deal. But Manny Roman disagrees.

Roman is the Republican committeeman who spearheaded the fight to pass the resolution, despite the leadership's wishes. "[The resolution] leaves me confident that Miami-Dade registered Republicans will follow suit by voting against the deal if it ends up going to referendum county-wide," he said in an e-mail interview with the Examiner.com.

Manny Roman is currently running for the vice-chairmanship of the Miami GOP and is being encouraged by such strong figures as Norman Braman, the billionaire who has started a media war against Stephen Ross's demand for public subsidies. Braman and Roman have already met and the former is expected to support Manny Roman's fight for a more liberty-minded Republican Party in South Florida.

As to the 34 dissenting voices, it is believed that most of them did not support the corporate welfare idea in general. Rather, they opposed the strong wording of the resolution and wouldn't vote to bash those Republican representatives in Tallahassee sponsoring HB165.

According to an anonymous source within the Republican Executive Committee in Miami-Dade County, however, the local party's leadership has had an interest in trying to bring down the resolution. According to the source, "Several Committee members heard one senior Party official state that Stephen Ross is a financial supporter of the Republican Party and we shouldn't anger him."

And indeed, the leadership did try to bring down the resolution by opposing the calling of a vote. Republican Chairman Nelson Diaz, a controversial figure who was elected a few months ago, opposed bringing up the matter on Thursday.

“The local parties are not policy-oriented; the local parties exist to elect Republicans,” he told a Sunshine State News reporter. “It's one thing to discuss policy; it's another thing to pass resolutions embarrassing fellow Republican legislators.”

While this kind of rhetoric is the very reason why so many voters are losing their trust of the Republican Party (a party that seems to protect elected officials and special interests over principle), Nelson Diaz was defeated not only in his attempt to bring down the vote, but also in bringing down the resolution.

"I don't care whether the stadium is built or not," Luis Rivera, another GOP committeeman who voted for the resolution, said over the phone. "I care about the free market and if the stadium is renovated under a free market system without subsidies, then so be it!"

This view is a good summary of the argument made by those opposing Stephen Ross's corporate welfare. Virtually no one opposes the renovations. What is being fought against is the use of taxpayers' money and tax rate increases to fund a more-than-wealthy private enterprise.

As the Republican Party of Miami-Dade shows its muscle to fight corruption and corporate welfare in South Florida, as local leader Manny Roman is building up a strong base with Norman Braman, and as the Dolphins are being asked more and more, it is safe to say that Stephen Ross's week has been far from successful.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.