Gimenez ‘Hail Mary’ stadium pass is part of planned offense

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Now we all know why Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Not So Golden Boy” Gimenez missed Dade Days in Tallahassee: He was hammering out the “framework” for the Dolphins Stadium deal that three quarters of his constituents do not want.

Ladra and a bunch of Miami-Dade electeds — including Miami-Dade Commission Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa, Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, Cutler Bay Mayor Edward “Mac” MacDougall, who has come out swinging against the public stadium financing, and others — come back from Tallahassee to learn that Gimenez, as chief proponent of the stadium deal, has ironed out the details and moved the stadium agenda quite a bit ahead.

While the mice are away, the cat plays, too, I guess.

Well, in all fairness, the mayor and the Dolphins are working against the clock. They had to find a palatable offer to make the county commission by today. Commissioners are set to vote on it, and expected to approve it, Wednesday. That is the only way it would make a May 14 ballot.

Guess the referendum part gives them all an excuse to wash their hands clean and pass the buck: “I didn’t approve the stadium deal. I let voters decide.” When we all know that there will now be a multi-million dollar public opinion campaign waged to sway the voter.

It’s telling that the details were hammered out in a series of meetings that included what the Miami Herald called a 23-hour negotiating session at County Hall that ended about 10 p.m. Monday. Hey, what’s a day spent amongst friends? But… wait a minute, that means the powwow started around 11 p.m. Sunday night? What is this? The Godfather? Guess so, since a private negotiation for nearly 24-hours behind closed doors at County Hall is practically the very definition of a backroom deal.

(And note to the mayor’s media people, who are — fancy that — same as the Dolphins media people: Kudos on that “framework” buzzword. It was repeated on every major story and puts the whole thing in a sort of positive light. You guys are good.).

So, the latest, in a nutshell, in case you haven’t heard it by now, which you must be living under a rock if that is the case, is that the State Elections Supervisor has agreed to let the rich owner of the Dolphins, who can certainly afford a public election in the state’s largest county more than he can fix up his very own stadium, pay for a special referendum to let the people decide if we want some of our tourist tax dollars to go the $400-million upgrade of this billionaire’s private property.

Oh, and they will get only 75 percent of an additional penny bed tax, totaling $7.5 million a year for 26 years. Um, where do you sign up for that?

Oh, and we have to get back, in 30 years, what we paid out, which is now estimated to be less than before. Duh. Who didn’t see that coming?

Oh, and they have to get one of the two next Super Bowl games. Duh. Didn’t they say that already?

Oh, and there are penalties for not bringing eight games in 30 years or leaving town. Duh. Didn’t they say that already?

This is one of the reasons why Ladra worries about this whole stadium train, even though people say it doesn’t have the steam to get through either the state, where the legislature has to approve the county using the bed tax, or the voting public, where it will ultimately have to be passed. Because the people behind this are slick and they know that they are only going to get one tenth of the voter turnout in a special May election than they would normally get, a measly few thousand people to decide such an important thing — and an easier number to move in your direction — that’s why.

And they have our popular mayor on their side. Damn! Gimenez is already calling the deal an “economic development grant.”

And notice how the alleged “concessions” are timed — almost planned.

Ker-plunk (read: Ka-ching). We won’t do this unless the people approve of it in a special vote. Now the people can’t complain about the lack of process.

Ker-plunk (read: Ka-ching). We got the Dolphins to pay for their own election. Now the people can’t complain about that cost.

Ker-plunk (read: Ka-ching). It won’t happen if they don’t secure a game. Now the people can’t complain about something else.

Ker-plunk (read: Ka-ching). This will also bring in more monies for us, keeping 25 percent of that extra penny bed tax, to use for whatever we want. Now the people can’t complain that we aren’t getting anything in return.

Ker-plunk (read: Ka-ching). It will only cost $350 million, not $400 million, so the public cost is only about $150 million. What a bargain!

Watch for the next shoe to drop (and listen for the cash register ring). Because this is a classic bait and switch, “dress down” campaign if I ever saw one. They give you the worse case scenario first, then start peeling away at it until it looks like they have compromised but, really, they were planning for this all along.

Ladra hopes the whole train gets derailed in Tallahassee and that the legislature stops this welfare for one millionaire in its tracks. They have to. Because if they let this happen, their doors will be beaten down by more private stadium owners wanting upgrades for their facilities across the state.

Because even though polls show that 70 percent of the people in Miami-Dade would vote against a stadium financing measure today, that was before the mayor’s pals, paid by the billionaires, fully launch what I am sure are very sophisticated campaigns that are already ready to go, ladies and gentlemen, to try to convince us all — and likely convince some — that this is, indeed, a good idea for x, y and z reasons.

And I hope that most of the electeds at the state capitol are moved by their entire constituency, not just one person, as the bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez (R-Hialeah), said he was.

“You know who has my ear? My wife has my ear,” he told Ladra during the pig roast, opening night reception he hosted, as Miami-Dade Delegation chair, at Dade Days in Tallahassee.

“She said, ‘You love the Dolphins. Don’t listen to everyone tearing them down. Listen to your heart,'” Gonzalez quoted his pillow talk partner.

Well, that was sweet, albeit stupid, and maybe he was pandering to Ladra, who is a bitch after all, but I have a better piece of advice for Rep. Gonzalez, whose ear I may or may not have: Listen to your voters.

Gimenez would do well to do that also.

Is Ladra the only one uncomfortable with the fact that he spends so much time on the stadium issue and the mayor is so close to some of the stakeholders? Is anyone else itchy at the knowledge that Ron Book is the lobbyist of record for both the Dolphins and Miami-Dade County? That sounds like a possible conflict of interest to me.

It is hard for Ladra to watch my once golden boy mayor — elected largely due to frustration over the former, recalled mayor’s Marlins Stadium deal — work so hard to make this a spoonful of sugar for us. Imagine what he could do if he focused such attention on other matters — the promised maquinita task force, absentee ballot reform or, say, homelessness, jobs, energy conservation.

Is Ladra the only one questioning the mayor’s motivation? Especially when you hear that 73 percent of the voters were against any kind of public funding for a private stadium as of the last poll done by FIU Professor and veteran pollster Dario Moreno for an unnamed private client (key word: unnamed). The poll was done last week, of course, while some of us were away in Tallahasee.

But… wait a minute. Wasn’t that number at 84 percent in a poll a few months ago?

See? The spin is already working.

Ker-plunk. Ka-ching.