Earlier this year, Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford stirred up a hive. Now, he’s running from the bees.
According to the Miami Herald, Weatherford objects to the decision of Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to launch a Political Action Committee that has targeted those who opposed efforts to partially fund upgrades to Sun Life Stadium with taxpayer money.
“No matter where you were on that bill, for it or against, it, it doesn’t matter to me,” Weatherford said at the Miami-Dade Republican Party’s Lincoln Day fundraiser. “But the fact that there are people who are attacking members of your community, your representatives, because they stood on principle, is wrong. And I’ve got their back, and you should have their back, too.”
Ross currently has focused on a trio of representatives from Miami: Michael Bileca, Jose Felix Diaz, and Carlos Trujillo. Weatherford presumably will be targeted, too, even though he comes from a different area of the state.
His comments miss the mark. Politicians routinely are attacked for standing on principle, if they stand on a principle with which others disagree. In this case, anyone who opposed the Dolphins knew or should have known that efforts could be taken to knock them out of office.
Weatherford is likely the man Ross will be the most motivated to topple, given the belief that Weatherford reneged on a promise to put the funding bill to the full House of Representatives for a vote -- and in light of the obvious statewide aspirations that Ross believes Weatherford tried to boost by opposing the stadium renovation effort.