"Mr. Braman is going to take the weekend to think about what he is going to do."
That was the word out of auto dealer Norm Braman's office late Friday afternoon. Braman had pledged to consider financing a recall of any Miami-Dade County Commissioners who voted for the county budget that called for a increase in property tax.
And by the way, he was set to take out the Mayor, who was all for it.
Late Thursday on a 8-to-5 vote the Commissioners did indeed pass the budget. Property taxes for a good portion of the county tax payers would go up, as much as 14% in some cases.
The Mayor, Carlos Alvarez, was delighted. Norm Braman, not so much.
So what is Norm going to do?
"Mr. Braman is going to have a press conference Monday morning at 10 at the dealership," said a pleasant assistant. She's probably been down this path before with Norm Braman. This isn't Norm's first barbecue when it comes to taking on elected officials.
The really rich Braman killed a 1982 Miami City sales tax proposal that would have renovated the Orange Bowl for the Miami Dolphins. He was all over a 1999 one-cent sales tax that would have improved mass transportation. Yet he lost out when he battled, in court, the Florida Marlin's public/private financial scheme to build a ballpark in Miami's Little Havana.
But that defeat could propel a likely campaign to recall the commissioners and the mayor.
When the exotic financial plan to build the Marlins stadium was finally hammered out, it was on the assumption that the Marlin's ownership was losing money operating the team and needed heavy public funds funneled into the stadium project. Team President David Samson and team owner Jeff Loria feigned poverty.
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The deal was struck, and only after the stadium construction job was well underway did documents surface that showed the Marlins were not 'po boy at all. The county commissioners who approved the stadium deal apparently never saw the Marlin's books. The Marlins were money makers. The whole deal stunk.
Package up the tax increase, the Marlins caper, and a steady stream of stories in the local paper about county perk and salary increases in tough economic times, toss in Norm Braman's bucks to fund a recall and you have an scenario that just might get legs.
Remember the voters never got a shot at approving the Marlin's stadium financial package. No one really asked the voters if they wanted a stadium. A recall vote might just be that vote and the end result might not be pretty.
Who is on the Braman hit list? Who voted for the tax increase? Dennis Moss, Barbara Jordan, Katy Sorenson, Natacha Seijas, Dorin Rolle, Sally Heyman, Audrey Edmonson and Bruno Barreiro. Do not forget the Mayor.
All will argue that they are preserving public services including Police and Fire protection by upping the property tax rate. Will that argument fly during a recall election with a very restless public?
Braman and his supporters would have to come up with 48,000 signatures to get a recall on. If the signatures are certified the County Commission would have to call for a special election. Braman says he'll collect signatures during the November general election.
Game on? We will know Monday morning. Braman's press conference is set for 10 a.m.
