Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has not given up on getting public financing for some of his planned $350-million in upgrades to his privately-owned SunLife 
Stadium, even though efforts to do just that this year were thwarted in the Florida legislature.
“Have I given up? The answer is no,” he said earlier this month. “The importance of the team, the importance of bringing marquee events to Miami is paramount.
“We’re exploring everything,” Ross said.
That includes putting people in office who will vote his way.
Not only has Ross, through his non-profit Super PAC called Florida Jobs First, sent mailers attacking Tallahassee’s Republican foes of his legislation. He is now apparently interviewing candidates to run against them.
At least two Republican candidates have been in talks with Florida Jobs folks about running in 2014’s primary against State Reps. Michael “The Charter Churner” Bileca (R, Pinecrest) and Carlos “El Cocodrilo” Trujillo (R, Doral) — because just look at that smile! — who pretty much spearheaded the anti-stadium sentiment on the Hill.
Predictably, they are the same candidates that ran against the two legislators and lost in last year’s primary.
Eugene “Geno” Perez, a former high school teacher and corrections officer, and “Captain” Paul Crespo, a perennial candidate, are each mulling another campaign.
And Florida Jobs First spokesman Eric Jotkoff confirmed that they had a series of meetings to possibly take out the the legislators.
“We have been approached by a range of potential candidates who have approached us. They see their lawmakers, people like Trujillo and Bileca, as being out of touch with the people,” Jotkoff told Ladra.
Perez confirmed that the Republican had met with Jotkoff and another representative, Ashley Walker — both of the Obama Florida campaign — weeks ago about running again. But this time, the West Kendall resident who owns property in Sweetwater is mulling a challenge to Trujillo.
He says Trujillo has been on the wrong side of a number of issues – sponsoring the parent trigger bill, voting in favor of Citizens Insurance rate hikes and, yes, the Dolphins stadium bill.
“Yeah, I’m pro the stadium deal,” Perez said. “It really wasn’t going to cost the taxpayers anything. And it was going to bring jobs to the area.
“As Genting would,” said Perez, referring to the company that wants to bring a casino resort to downtown Miami and another possible donor to a future race — a project Perez once opposed, but that was when he was running against School Board Member Carlos Curbelo, who has lobbied for Genting.
Perez said he was the one who contacted the Dolphins people.
“I reached out to someone else who pointed me in their direction,” he said, adding that, while figures were discussed, no financial commitment was made.
“Nobody’s promised me any money,” Perez told Ladra. “I did give them some numbers I would need to win. It looks like they’re going to support me.”
Capt. Paul Crespo, who has run for office a number of times, would not say that he met with the Dolphins PAC people. But he would not say that he didn’t.
“Unless they give me permission to talk, I can’t confirm or deny that,” he said when asked about the meeting. “I’m not in the habit of publicizing private meetings.”
But if they did talk, the Florida Jobs First PAC will have to convince one of the men to run in a different seat – likely against Bileca or State Rep. Jose Felix “One More Pepe” Diaz (R-Kendall) (and I wonder if anyone’s called former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan). Because Crespo is considering a rematch of his challenge to Trujillo last year.
He said he has been thinking about it for a while but that the arrest of Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño — who has been considered one of Trujillo’s allies and his main soldier in the AB campaign in Sweetwater — fueled the fire.
Would he switch seats? “That is where I ran the last time and got close,” Crespo said, and it’s hard to believe he is referring to that 61 to 29 percent thrashing.
“But my name recognition is fairly considerable anywhere in the county. I could run anywhere.”
Perez, too, is not sure where he might run. Though he is not eager to face Bileca again, after the rep got the Republican Party to back him with funds aggressively last year.
“Everybody knows he has a ton of money,” Perez told Ladra.
But Ladra is sure one of them will change rather than divide the anti-Trujillo votes among themselves.
Meanwhile, Trujillo is not very worried.
“I don’t think they are serious. I think they want to use this threat as leverage,” he said.
“If they want to come back next year with any kind of proposal, as I believe they do, then it wouldn’t make sense for them to be running people against the people they need to convince,” Trujillo added.
People close to the Dolphins campaign say that they don’t believe Trujillo is open to changing his mind. “He has not indicated that he is approachable, so what’s the difference?”
And don’t dream that State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez (D-Little Havana) is safe just because he is the sole Democrat not to support the scam, er, I mean “unprecedented deal” brokered for us by our Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who may or may not be helping to recruit potential candidates through his network of G-men and lobbyists.
Someone close to State Rep. David Richardson told Ladra that the legislator was out of town when the Dolphins people called his office to see if he could help them identify a Democrat candidate to pit against Rodriguez in the 2014 primary.
The source said that when Richardson was told about it, he scoffed.
“No way he’s going to do that.”
Jotkoff and Ross should call former State Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who took his 54-46 percent loss to Rodriguez last November pretty hard.
He’s big on revenge, too.
Dolphins stadium owner looks for candidates to run added by Ladra on
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