http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/16/dolphins-get-more-ammo-to-challenge-will-weatherford/
Even if Weatherford somehow lost his speakership or his seat (neither of which is particularly likely) there is no guarantee that the enxt guy would be more receptive to the Dolphins bill. Instead of going nuclear Ross probably should have just continued to lobby the guy and tried to bring the bill up again next session. The whole thing was a rush job.
It doesn't matter who the speaker is. The fact is that as long as this is left up to the voters in Miami-Dade county, it will never pass. The reality is that the majority of voters in this area oppose giving tax dollars to the Dolphins to use in renovating the stadium. The Dolphins lost the early vote and the absentee ballots in the previous vote which didn't count. I just don't think most voters down here care if the stadium needs renovations or not. The majority of the voters seem to feel if Ross wants to have a renovated stadium, he should pay for it himself. In fact the mayor of Dade County changed his mind yesterday about a tax increase he had recommended which would have allowed 400 fire department and librarians to keep their jobs. After hearing from the County Commissioners and many of the voters, the mayor decided to lay off these workers instead of going through with the tax hike. If the voters and Commissioners are willing to let workers be laid off,(especially fire fighters), instead of raising the taxes on home owners, which would have only increased taxes by an average of less than $75.00 a year on the average home owner. I don't see these same voters being willing to give millions of taxpayer dollars to a billionaire for his privately owned stadium.
So a politician gets money from companies in order to introduce them to other companies owned by family members, fellow politicians and friends and then help shapes the state laws alongside these guys, and is completely vague about the whole thing? Nothing to see here... Perhaps Ross should have used Weatherford's company for the new stadium and this would be on a ballot right now.
There will be a reason why there is a next guy. Stephen Ross will be a big part of that reason. Theres no guarantee the next guy will do anything, but there likely is a guarantee that he'll be facing serious opposition from Ross if he doesn't.
The issue is, the renovations for the stadium weren't coming from taxpayer dollars. To focus, the term "taxpayer" being citizens of Miami-Date County. General State/City/County taxpayer revenues were protected as the money was coming from the hotel tax. Any deltas were covered by the Dolphins.
Steve Ross is going to regret starting up a vendetta against specific politicians in response to what happened. He took one on the chin but he should have taken it, continued to work within the system, and then team up with the NFL to create the threat of the Dolphins moving to Los Angeles. Right now Los Angeles and London are valuable to the NFL only insomuch as they provide sources of fear to cities with teams that need public financing for stadium upgrades. But those threats are working. Steve Ross is going about this all wrong. He's vowing that he will never be the one to move the Dolphins to some other city while throwing temper tantrums at individual politicians that are, quite frankly, out of his reach. And I mean that literally. Good luck trying to find a way to prevent Will Weatherford from getting elected out of Pasco County. He ran unopposed in the last race there. Steve Ross is not exactly friendly with the Democrat side of the aisle, so any attempts to use them to more effectively combat the politicians he's targeting, will not bear fruit. It's kind of sad.
And this smear campaign from what I've seen have been so misguided and fruitless as to be laughable. The flyers he's put up, etc...they are generally poorly executed pieces of trash and if they've done anything, they've galvanized people against Ross' cause.
Exactly. Weatherford is really not the issue. The South Florida delegation, both Democrats and Republicans didn't support the bill enough. Without their support there is no incentive for Weatherford to waste political capital on a bill that most people don't care about. Weatherford may have actually done Ross a favor by not allowing the bill to be voted down by Dade County voters at a 60% clip. The whole enterprise would be completely dead if that had happened. If Ross really wants the renovation, or a new stadium, he should shut up and hope the team starts winning over the next two years. By 2015 or 2016 the major stink from the Marlins will be waning (and they might actually be pretty good and filling the place by then) and people might be more palatable to this, particularly if the economy continues to improve. super Bowl 55 is just as good as 50 or 51
I'm not sure I buy that these guys are out of the reach of Stephen Ross. There are already people announcing they'll challenge him in the primary. The worst thing for a politician is the light being shined on him, and thats exactly what Weatherford is going to get, and from all angles. Just because Ross isn't friendly with Democrats doesn't mean they won't bend over backward to get a check to finance their campaign. The smaller the election, the easier it is to influence with money.
If Ross doesn't go after him, doesn't it send the message to any other politician he tries to buy that its ok to take Ross' money and not pay up on the favor? Yes, that's travesty in every way imaginable.
The incentive for Weatherford is not having a system where anyone that opposes you is going to get millions from Stephen Ross. The guy essentially has a massive bounty on his head. It is like the wild-west out there.
If you think Steve Ross is going to successfully run Will Weatherford out of Pasco, there's nothing I can do for you.
I think enough money can run anyone out of a state seat, especially when challengers will be running to the right of Weatherford.
Weatherford is term-limited out after 2014 so a lot of this is moot. He'll be running for one of the state-wide offices in 2018 if he doesn't stay in the private sector, and that is where Ross' money or lack thereof will hurt him in a primary or general.
How much money do you imagine Steve Ross is going to pump into that race? I think you need to research that kind of thing before you let your imagination run away with itself thinking that Steve Ross is going to send multiple millions of dollars of his own money into Pasco.
And here is what I mean by making enemies and galvanizing the opposition. I don't know if this got overlooked or what. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/12/florida-senate-president-sounds-off-on-stephen-ross/ This kind of response is OK only if your threats have teeth and you can force these people to your will. So far, there's been absolutely no sign of that. All Steve Ross is doing is making enemies.
Stephen Ross heads a PAC. This isn't just his own money. He's in control of the money he puts into this, as well as what the rest of his friends give him. This includes the majority of big business in S Fla. There is a reason why so many people are now throwing their name in the hat to oppose Weatherford in the primary, and its because they see the fundraising apparatus.
Honestly...Im just tired of the drama. I wish Ross would just put the damned money up for the improvements...and move on.
Having enemies in politics means you have just as many friends. Every dollar this PAC spends against Weatherford is a dollar spent to help another politician.
That would be ideal for convenience sake, but makes no sense for Ross. The two main entities benefiting from the new stadium would be the Miami economy, and the NFL as a whole. Those are the entities that are going to have to make this happen.
And considering the percentage of his political donations that generally go into losing campaigns, he's continually making more enemies than friends, and continues to do so today.
This simply isn't true. Stephen Ross has made billions by developing real estate in one of the largest and most difficult to maneuver markets in the world, specifically by horse-trading and bargaining with politicians. Prudent to share a decent article on Ross: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120603/REAL_ESTATE/306039978
Ross was a large supporter of Romney and McCain. He held fund raising benefits for both these candidates and we all know how those elections turned out. I don't think that most voters give a damn about the hurt feelings of Ross or how much money he ends up giving to the opponents of the politicians he is going after for not supporting his bill. I think everyone of these political opponents will be reelected the next time they are on the ballot. I would like to see these Republican candidates, including Weatherford lose their next election because I disagree with many of their basic political positions. I just don't think that their opposition to the stadium renovation bill will turn the average voter against any of these politicians.
Stephen Ross has been involved in politics for over 30 years. There is a lot more to him than whats happened since he bought the Dolphins. Its not about the opposition to the stadium. The PAC is going to use anything and everything they can to defeat these people. We see that there are already scandals being manufactured against Weatherford. Also keep in mind that it isn't just Ross. Weatherford made enemies with most of big business in South Florida.
The fact is that Weatherford is already the elected House Speaker for 2014. His term in the House ends after the 2014 legislative session and therefore I don't see anything Ross is doing which will impact Weatherford in the next year. Perhaps it might hurt his chances if he decides to run for office statewide, but I doubt it. You have to remember that we have an elected Governor who was the CEO of a company which paid the largest fine for Medicare fraud in the history of the Medicare program. Instead of going to jail as he should have. Scott received a major golden parachute from this company and he used this money to pay for his run for Governor. If the voters of Florida could elect a crook like Scott to be Governor, they certainly wouldn't have a problem electing Weatherford to higher office.
Forbes came out and said that ALL 32 NFL teams ranked in the top 52 wealthiest sports teams in the world. Jax and St. Louis came in at 51 and 52. Ross....pay for your own damn stadium. You'll still have money left over to feed your family.