Politics really does make strange bedfellows.
Ladra was already uncomfortable being on the same side as car mogul Norman Braman — whose heavy-handed meddling in the county commission races we have strongly criticized — on the Miami Dolphins stadium issue.
Monday night, I found myself thanking David Custin, who has almost always been on the other side. Anyone remember former Mayor Julio Robaina‘s run for the Miami-Dade top job in the recall mayoral race?
But Custin, who is not nearly as rich as the auto magnate, apparently has put his money where Braman’s mouth is. He funded a robocall against the referendum that will allow billionaire Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to tap into around $379 million for a $350 million project (more on the math later). They started pumping last week and will continue throughout the next few days.
It goes like this:
Hello. Sorry for this call, but the politicians are at it again. Now it’s the Marlins stadium deal part two. This time it’s billionaire Stephen Ross paying $4.8 million for this election to get $310 million in taxpayer funds. Yes, a billionaire is spending money on lobbyists, consultants and advertisements to secure nearly $310 million of your public money for his private stadium renovation. Miami-Dade needs money for improvements to our infrastructure, programs that help special-needs children, vulnerable seniors and to improve our quality of life. Taxpayer money should be used to alleviate traffic congestion and reduce toll roads and SunPass lanes, not for corporate welfare. Vote no to this special election. Billionaire Ross should do what former Dolphins owner Joe Robbie did: Use his own money. Vote no on Ross’ Sun Life Stadium referendum. Thank you.
Custin said he will record another one in Spanish and that he is doing this because Dolphins owner Stephen Ross et al have funded a $1 million plus campaign and have been “unfettered” in their propaganda.
“Braman is the only one with the werewithall to fund this kind of campaign, although you can do it rather cheaply. I think he just miscalculated strategically and politically,” Custin told Ladra referring to Braman’s putting all his eggs in the Tallahassee lobbyist he hired to kill the bill there.
“Once Ross cut the $4.8 million check [to the county to cover the election costs], that’s a dead giveaway that a fix is in in Tallahassee,” Custin said, echoing what Ladra has been saying for weeks. “It’s been their tactic all along — to wait til the last week to do this so they would have three weeks of unfettered campaigning.”
We agree again. Shiver.
Custin wouldn’t tell me how much the robocalls cost him so far, but he doesn’t have to file a campaign report and can pay it as an individual if the costs are under a certain threshhold, which is between $3,000 and $5,000.
“I have ways of doing things very cheaply,” said the veteran campaign operative. “I had my election lawyer review the script. Somone who is very opposed to this did the voice. I paid the money to load the program.”
But he also admitted that he could have gone to the dark side. Weeks ago, the Dolphins were courting him through a friend who is working the Miami First campaign.
As if they didn’t have enough lobbyists already.
They never struck a deal, though. Maybe the fee offered was not enough.
Custin said he is glad it fell through. “I would have taken money and then voted against it. That would have been a first for me,” he told me. “It’s very liberating. I’m sleeping well at night.”
But it also could look like revenge or blackmail: “Don’t hire me and I’ll work against you.” That’s another message he may be sending, either intentionally or not.
And he is shopping around for someone to help fund an anti-campaign.
“I don’t think it takes much to beat it. If I had a client to hire me, I could obliterate this in no time,” he said.
From his lips, to Braman’s ears.
Political operative David Custin robos vs Dolphins stadium added by Ladra on
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