Norman Braman Endorses Manny Roman for Miami-Dade GOP Vice Chairman

In an exclusive interview with Sunshine State News, multibillionaire Norman Braman -- owner of Braman Honda car dealerships, former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, and lead public opponent of "corporate welfare" for the Miami Dolphins' Sun Life Stadium -- has issued a strongly-worded endorsement of liberty-activist Manny Roman for the No. 2 position at the Miami-Dade GOP.

Braman tells SSN:

"I like Manny Roman, and I'm happy to support him. I'm very impressed with him; hes a quality young man. He does good work, he's responsible, he believes in our free enterprise system, and I know he doesn't agree with corporate welfare.

"[Roman's] a fresh breeze in stale air. He's up-and-coming. ... [He] gives me a wonderful feeling as far as the future is concerned. Roman is a successful business person and he would be a great asset as vice chair of the party."

GOP neophyte Roman, 27 -- who successfullyspearheaded the effort to get the Miami-Dade County Republican Executive Committee to condemn the ultimately-failed attempt by some South Florida GOP lawmakers to secure taxpayer funding for Sun Life Stadiumrenovation, and nearly succeeded last December in orchestrating a takeover of the local party by libertarian-leaning Ron Paul supporters -- is running against lifelong Republican Bryan Avila, 28, for the vice chairmanship. The election will be held Thursday evening.

Braman's comments are the latest in a string of endorsements for the young activist. Roman's candidacy is also being supported byJ. Marc Lewis, founder of Tea-by-the-Sea, one of South Florida's most active tea party groups, and by the College Republican chapters of the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Barry University.

For his part, Avila, an English professor at Miami-Dade College who sits on the Planning & Zoning and Scholarship boards of the city of Hialeah, tells SSN the only endorsement that matters to him is that of the Republican voters of his Hialeah district, who elected him to one of the region's two REC seats last August. (Roman,manager of financial planning and analysis for the Burger King Corp.,was elected by fellow REC members to the second seat when it subsequently became vacant.)

The Miami-Dade REC is one of the Republican Party of Florida's largest county affiliates.

More to come ...