Norman Braman Makes It Rain in Effort to Oust Carlos Alvarez

By Francisco Alvarado Thu., Mar. 3 2011 at 8:00 AM

Tim Elfrink

Norman Braman flexes his baller status.

As the first week of early voting in the recall election of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas winds down, we decided to take a peek at the latest campaign finance reports filed with the elections department. As expected, billionaire auto magnate Norman Braman dropped some serious coin, $300,000 to be exact, to get the vote out. His new political action committee Yes to Recall has bought TV and radio ad time on Clear Channel, Cox Radio, Univision Radio, WPLG, WFOR, WSVN, and Comcast, among others.

Braman's other PAC, People Who Want Honest Government, collected another $258,000, bringing its total contributions to $718,000. The committee has spent most of its funds on DRC Consulting and G&R Strategies to produce mailers and conduct telephone banking.

Citizens for Truth, Alvarez's recall PAC, received a $46,000 infusion that went to pay for a bunch of campaign workers. Although it appears no amount of campaign cash will save the mayor, who didn't help his cause with the news that a vaguely named group of transit workers was granted paid leave to work on his recall campaign.

In the effort to remove Seijas, her PAC, Abre Los Brazos, picked up $52,000, which was all used to pay for her legal fees in her unsuccessful lawsuit trying to stop the recall. None of her reports reflects any get-out-of-the vote activity, but that should change with the next filing. The group seeking Seijas's recall, Miami Voice, has not filed a new report either.

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Tags:

Carlos Alvarez, Miami Voice, Natacha Seijas, Norman Braman

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JOE

When Braman was the owner of the Eagles he took tax dollars and benefited....then sold the team for a huge profit. He has always protested against any projects in Miami. Now all of a sudden this Billionaire is a crusader for poor people. HE JUST CARES ABOUT HIS POCKETS. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!

joeshoulddohisresearch

he borrowed the money from the city, and he PAID it back. huge differernce

FloridaFan

Joe don't know squat!

Joe Gray

There is nothing special about Mr. Bremen. He is the typical, "I hate government" except when he's taking money from it ( can you say cash for clunkers?). Is he really that different from the bankers who also took money from the government? Recall Mayor Alvarez? Why, because he had the nerve to ask the millionaires and billionaires who created the economic conditions we all now live under to aid in Miami's recovery? Do you think that this is some kind of ism? Mr. Bremen is no more than that person who goes out to dinner, eats everything on the menu, and disappears when the check comes. Smarten up Miami.

whatisitwithJOES

this is coming from the guy that cannot even spell his name correctly after just reading an article about him, its braman***