When House speaker Will Weatherford last month blocked a bid for taxpayer-supported renovations at Sun Life Stadium, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross all but promised he'd find a way to have the politician's job, ominously predicting that "this decision will follow Speaker Weatherford for many years to come."
Now it looks like Ross is putting his cash where his mouth is. The Fins owner has started a PAC that will aid Gov. Rick Scott's re-election campaign and "go after incumbents in all parts of the Sunshine State," Politico reports.
Ross has already begun pouring money into the new PAC, called Florida Jobs First, which he's tied to Scott's re-election campaign.
"[Scott] has been a pro-jobs governor, and we want to ensure he is re-elected with a friendly legislature that will support his pro-jobs agenda," a source tells Politico.
Though that source declined to talk about what other races Ross will take aim at, they did promise a "nonpartisan" focus on primaries around the state.
It doesn't take a political genius to connect the dots that, for Ross, a "friendly legislature" doesn't include Weatherford. The speaker helped torpedo an effort that Ross spent more than $10 million promoting and likely cost Sun Life Stadium the chance to host a Super Bowl. Ross later accused Weatherford of "lying" to him after the speaker tanked the measure.
Of course, the Fins owner might consider pouring some of his cash into swinging the public behind his vision of a taxpayer-funded Sun Life Stadium renovation.
Polls released after his bill died in Tallahassee showed that early ballots cast in the corresponding public vote for the deal were against paying for stadium fixes by a nearly 60-40 margin.
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