GOP activists demand 'emergency' meeting with Greer

The rebellion against Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer appears to be coming to a head. As first reported by Gary Fineout of The Fine Print, a number of GOP leaders Florida are demanding a "special emergency closed meeting'' of the state party's executive board.

Greer responded with a potentially less confrontational idea: How about a conference call tomorrow and then we can follow up at Dec. 10 quarterly meeting? Don't think that's going to fly but we shall see.

Here's the letter:

We have observed in recent weeks an unprecedented series of reports and events in the media which cast negative perceptions of the Republican Party, both to the public and to our members.  While many factors may be involved in the various circumstances, our members and the public are receiving continuing negative reports about issues involving financing, candidates, political activities and more, concerning the Republican Party.  This has been, and continues to be, extremely damaging to our Party, our candidates, and our members. As Vice Chairman, along with the Executive Board members listed below, urge you to convene a special emergency closed meeting of the Executive Board as expeditiously as possible.  We believe such a closed session, as was held during our retreat last summer, is needed immediately.  The significance of the current events are such that it should not be the focus in an open Executive Board meeting, and cannot be deferred until the December scheduled meeting.  Please convene our Executive Board to meet in Orlando, as a central location, within the coming two weeks, if at all possible.  The need for information, communication, and action by our Executive Board is urgent.

Allen Cox Vice Chairman, RPOF
Peter Feaman, Esq. Chairman, Caucus of State Committeemen and Committeewomen
Bob Starr Chairman, Caucus of County Chairmen
Clyde Simpson, Chairman CD 2
Bob Reid, Chairman CD 3
Thomas Hogan, Chairman CD 5
Jerry Braley, CD 8, Chairman Audit Committee
Bill Bunting, CD 9
Tony DiMatteo, CD 10
A.J. Matthews, Chairman CD 11
Robert Norman, Chairman CD 12
Kathleen King, Chairman CD 13
Gary Lee, Chairman CD 14
Chuck Oates, Chairman CD 16
Debbie Goodman, Chairman CD 18
Ed Kennedy, Chairman CD 20
Ileana Ross, Chairman CD 21
Fran Hancock, CD 22
Sid Dinerstein, CD 23
David Rivera, CD 25

Comments

[Erin, meet your neighbor in the unemployment line]

Greer will be gone within 30 days. Extremely damaged goods, mostly by his own insatiable need for attention and luxury.

[Greer should censure Crist]

What Crist did by reaching out to Obama was a violation of trust to the Republican Party. Where has RPOF Chairman Greer been on all this, why has he not called on Crist to apologize to Florida Republicans?.

Mr Greer needs to speak out against Crist or resign! Is Greer our GOP Chairman or is he so much in support of Crist he won't speak up. Greer must censure CRIST now.

[Wingnuts]

Most on this list are Rubio supporters!!!

[do the math]

Wingnuts is correct if for no other reason than most Republicans are Rubio supporters.

[mhdghkutyk]

Everyone on the list supports Rubio. Can't anyone see through that?

[warm up the fat lady?]

I remember when the Democrats did this to Bob Poe after the 2002 cycle. They wanted a closed door meeting to talk about the direction of the party. One exec committee member complained and was running out of the room during the meeting updating the press on what was going on inside. It was a cluster.

Poe was soon out the door. It will be interesting if Greer survives this.

[POdCM]

Get off the Rubio nonsense, fool! Crist/Greer are ruining the Party and any chance of any Republican to get elected this cycle. If we lose Florida, we are through!

[Democrats for Crist.]

If you don't like Charlie, we would welcome him into our party.

[Charlie fan]

why don't they circulate and sign a letter of no confidence?

it would be embarrassing. but not nearly as embarrassing as the Party is right now.

[GOP, the party with clap]

Perhaps Jasen Bruce can beat some sense into Greer.

[Trouble in river city]

The party has 36 members on the board and 20 members signed this letter. Thats over 50% of the board. If they are with Rubio or not, doesn't make a difference. I serve on a board of a corporate firm here in Pinellas county, and if we called a meeting like this with over 50% of us, our CEO would not be a happy camper.
I think it's time to start an office pool to see when Greer steps down or is voted out.

[NO GUTS]

Where is Bill McCollum?

[Brilliant Defense]

"Everyone on the list supports Rubio. Can't anyone see through that?"

So let me get this straight. Your argument is that the overwhelming majority of not just the grassroots, but the leadership of the Republican Party in Florida supports Rubio. And this helps make the case for Greer and Crist how exactly?

[John]

I'm from Ohio and this looks like what happened to our party a while back. Instead of focusing on elections, they focused on each other. Now we aren't in control there any more. Is that the agenda?

[Never heard of them]

Have any of these people ever elected anyone? Greer needs to go and so do they

[Crist says Greer is here to stay]

People ,People, Greer is here to stay!. The Governor made that very clear the other day and I might just add Greer has not been that bad, in fact he has done some very good things for the Party.

This meeting will be sooo embarrassing for the Florida GOP, but that's what this bunch wants!

[Pickelhaube]

John, It appears the wrong person is in charge of things. Is that what happened in Ohio?

[Its all about Crist]

This is all about Crist!!!

[Not-a-Rubio-Radical]

The problem with RPOF are its members. I've never seen 20 people able to cause so much trouble. The county chairs and executive committe could replace Greer anytime they want. These whiners don't have the votes so they're going to bring havoc to the party. It's more of this whacky burn the house down to make a feeble point strategy. Yeah, that worked real well in NY23. You have a choice, be a Republican or a Rubio Radical, being both is tearing the party apart.

[Gene]

Crist has got to go. All this - Greer's misdeeds and mishandling of money, the fact that we have a slew of primaries, ALL Crist's fault.

[CW MADDOX]

The abuses by Jim Greer are intolerable to the honest hard working Republicans who work and contribute on behalf of the Party. They deserve better than the manner in which Jim Greer as State Chairman has treated both the rank and file, his office and those Rock Solid Republicans that stood up and with a Clarion Voice and denounced the financial and back room dealings this Chairman has been known for. As a member of the Hillsborough County REC I implore this board to do it's duty and remove this Chairman. CW (Wes) Maddox

[There once was a man from Nantucket]

Greer is doing a fantastic job. His tenure as Chair has been incredibly successful. Anyone who says differently is a Rubio Wingnut who should be hospitalized for their obvious mental issues. It's either a sychosis or pure jealousy of Greer and Crist's success at building the party and laying the foundation for victory.

[J.D. Douglass]

Why don't you guys from the RPOF who are on here defending Greer sign your name to your posts?

If Greer is such a great chairman, and if anyone who opposes him is a "nutjob" then why don't you pull your skirts off, put on your man shorts, and tell us who you are and what Greer has done to deserve to remain as Chairman? I'm sick of the fat slobs who work at the RPOF spending all their time talking down to the people who actually do the work to get Republicans elected. The fact that not a single RPOF employee has the courage to come on here, or anywhere else to offer one iota of constructive and verifiable proof of Greer's accomplishments is evidence enough of the kind of circus he is running at the party.

So sack up and sign your name. We'll be waiting.

[Southern Republican]

Do not be concerned with what 'He Said, or She Said'. The idea that these 'Whiners' are RUBIO fans, or CRIST fans is still not an option. The one true fact remains. There are PROBLEMS within, and without the membership of The RPOF. It is the responsiblity of the membership, through its elected Officers to resolve the issues of concern. The idea of 'One Man, One Vote' is a powerful tool. Don't care how you attempt to 'stack' the votes, there is only so much a Governor can do. The MEMBERSHIP of The RPOF is the BOSS. Listen and take Heed. The Grand Ole Party is fixing to to have a 'Hoe-Down'. I don't think anyone else but GREER is on their dance card..... (let the music begin)

[Interesting]

Everybody knows that Jason Steele started his war against RPOF when RPOF refused to bail him out of the financial problems he caused for the Brevard County REC.

Tony DiMatteo is pulling Debra Cox-Roushe's strings. In fact, Tony DiMatteo is one of the biggest agitators of them all.

Allen Cox just wants to be chair, NOW.

Ask yourself - how and why did a letter like this, that should have been private, to the Chairman, get leaked to the press? They don't want to fix anything. They want to make it worse. They want to keep ginning up the perception that things are horrible.

If it weren't for these people screaming about how bad Jim Greer and the party is, then nobody would be screaming about how bad Jim Greer and the party is.

"Let's burn it down, blame the other guy, then claim that we are the only ones that can fix it."

Sorry excuses for human beings.

[Thank goodnees for a candidate driven process]

Greer sucks, no doubt. The problem is that most of the people on that list are life long activist losers who could manage a soil and water race.

[Thank goodnees for a candidate driven process]

Meant to say "couldn't" manage a soil and water race...

[AJDorsey]

We should have hope they can come to some sort of resolution with the Chairman where the Party can move forward with our 2010 election plan, with or without the Chairman.

I was hoping they (the executive committee and REC county chairmen) would take care of this internal haggling back at the August Quarterly... it's time to move on to the business of the Republican voter and message to every day Americans.

Chairman Greer backed down and cleaned up most of the RPOF favoritism tendencies.

I am a Hillsborough REC member, President of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans, and a Marco Rubio supporter.

I can only sit back and watch, but I'm hoping we can move on to the task that is before us sooner, rather than later; learn from past mistakes, and institute policies and methods to keep from straying from our primary responsibilities in the future.

[hostile takeover]

No matter how you look at this it's a hostile takeover with an entire network at the National level pulling the strings. This is so much bigger then just Crist/Rubio,this movement labeled "grass roots" is anything but! We have far right commentators pushing teabag parties and then lying about attendance!
I ask myself every story I see about the tea baggers,where is the opposition? We have fake photos and photo's used that have nothing to do with tea bagging,this shows a complete lack of integrity.
"News people" and high ranking party officials hosting and hawking the tea bag movement with out showing the opposition and pretending this is a "grass roots" movement is an outright lie.The tea bag movement gets advertising time with no cost,this coming from a highly organized national party hell bent on the take over of a political party.
FYI,there has been opposition protesters,propaganda protocol does not allow showing the "real" grass roots movement.
The real grass people do not want this takeover by those on the extreme far right.

[Jason Steele]

If you really want to know why Executive Committee's can not raise money. The answer is simple Jim Greer!

[Matt]

There is no way Crist can survive a Senate Campaign after he has totally destroying his own credibility.

If the majority of the Party leaders support Rubio then that's the direction their Party needs to go.

[Ohio Different From Florida]

To John in Ohio: The problem in Ohio was that your Republicans were criminals.

[Time to stop the games]

Well...how about we let the REC's hold a Confidence/no Confidence vote and see where we are..If the party is really serious about getting back on track...take it to the REC's. The December meeting may be a good place for such a vote.

[Danger! Warning! Fascism on the rise!]

Inmates taking over the asylum!

This article addresses the danger to America if these deluded wingnuts take over the GOP:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020875.php

[Fascist-Libertarians]

Greer please eject these little goose-steppers from the GOP and tell them to form their own party:

[Idiots]

It would be nice if the leadership of various RECs focused on winning elections instead of fighting the leadership THEY elected.

[duh]

The reason executive committees cant raise money is not because of Jim Greer but because they dont do anything.

[How appropriate]

Ha ha look at Rivera bringing up the rear. Rubio's buttboy.

[Rubio, divider not uniter]

"Interesting" you are 100% correct! These tea baggers are the heroin of the Republican Party. Dirty nasty sick people and Rubio has aligned himself with them. It makes me sick because I thought Rubio had a bright future now I think he is a nut job also!

[We Are The Anti-Fascists]

9:19,
Do you even know what "fascism" means?

You guys stand for:

-Government control of what we drive
-Government control of our thermostats
-Government control of our health care
-Government control of our wallets
-Government control of education
-Government control of property insurance
-Government control of private business

We stand for every individual's freedom and somehow, you call us fascists? Yeah, that makes sense. Idiot.

[CW MADDOX]

Hospitalized, psychotic, jealosy, "sorry excuses for Human beings" deluded wingnuts, Goose steppers, these are a few of the descriptions used by bloggers supporting Chairman Greers tenure. These Bloggers are of course speaking of those Republicans who are calling for Greer to step down in the midst of a primary between two candidates who represent different wings of the party. They also did not sign their names. That alone is highly suspect and leads me to conclude they are on the paid staff of the RPOF or operatives for Governor Crist campaign, after all they have alot to lose if hey admit culpability.

[Rubio = Senator Meeks]

"Once you drink in the madness, all else will fade!"

[Nothing To See Here]

Let's recap the last week or so:

-RPOF consultant who's office is inside RPOF headquarters is busted creating an "anonymous" website attacking a prominent Republican candidate.

-RPOF Field Director is busted by sheriff for creating a twitter account in the name of an elected REC Chairman and slandering him by making outlandish comments as though they were his. RPOF has to fire him.

-RPOF Executive Director is revealed to have had knowledge of the Field Director's fraudulent activity and did nothing to stop it.

-RPOF Chairman is revealed to have rejected Sansom's offer to repay personal expenses that had been charged to RPOF credit card

Image problem? What image problem?

[NANUNANU ... NANUNANU]

8:59 so it is all SOMEBODY - EVERYBODY else's fault, eh? I think that's called paranoia.

Maybe Greer (and underlings like you) should seek professional help while you all still have RPOF-paid health insurance to pay for it.

[If the jackboot fits...]

hahahaha the wingnuts are taking over the GOP and forcing them to defend themselves against accusations of fascism. This is great stuff.

[Finley]

Crist, Greer and the handful of loyalists who are still clinging to control like a cancerous tunor (which they are) are posting on this blog feverishly. They want us to think that nothing is wrong with RPOF. Everythign is fine and Jim Greer is a great Chairman.

EXCEPT:

- Crist/Greer lost Florida in 2008 because they wouldn't campaign for McCain;

- Greer has meddled in primaries where he in NO WAY belonger;

- Greer has treated RPOF as the "Charlie Crist Campaign" - which it is not. Charlie is NOT the only Republican;

- Greer has allowed staffers (Tim, Delmar) to engage in IDENTITY THEFT by opening up a twitter account to set up a member of the Committee;

- A paid RPOF Consultant started a juvenile anti-Rubio website - and got
caught;

- Greer has misspent RPOF funds for years and STILL refuses to render a true ADUDIT.

Sounds like the signatories of this letter, like the people who signed on to Cox-Rousch's letter and RIGHT ON THE MONEY. Greer needs to go NOW - in handcuffs!

[Fascist-Libertarian popularity at 0.04%]

fascist (n.) a far right authoritarian lunatic. Since the failure of Nazi Germany, forced to adopt the disguise of Libertarianism; a neo-Libertarian. See Keyes, Alan.

[Lies and Propaganda are flowing]

Give these wingnuts four more years in charge and they'll complete the corporate takeover of America. Their masters want it sooo desperately. Imagine the greatest nation the world has ever seen - run by heartless corporations. brrr...

[Jason Rodriguez]

Ladies & Gentlemen, don’t let the vitriol that is being spewed on this blog distract you from the real issue at hand. There has been a dearth of leadership at the helm of the RPOF for the past few years. We don’t have the visionary, bold leadership in the vein of prior chairs and Governors. We’ve got faux-bloggers.

Jim Greer is a distraction and has proven to be a divisive figure in Florida’s Republican circles. Greer’s administration has been marked by a squandering of the RPOF’s once-deep financial and political resources. This mismanagement resulted in the creation of Victory 2010, requiring all expenditures to be run through a co-signor. Because of his attempts at meddling in contested Republican primaries, the rank-and-file of the local Republican clubs no longer trust our state party.

After the primaries, Republicans will unite behind the victor. However, now is time for Florida’s Republicans to stand up and be counted. We need to decide whether our party is one of divisiveness and intrigue, or the party of visionary and bold leadership. In order to accomplish the latter, Jim Greer should either step down or be removed.

[Great Party Chair Indeed]

Florida GOP chairman billed party for personal expenses

State Republican chief Jim Greer, already under fire for his spending decisions during the election, charged personal expenses to the party.

BY JENNIFER LIBERTO AND MARY ELLEN KLAS
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer charged personal expenses to the state party during a fundraiser this summer, adding fresh details to growing complaints that his money management was hurting the party.

Confronted with a $5,100 bill showing he used party money on spa treatments, seafood dinners and limousines during a party fundraiser at the Breakers Hotel, Greer said he would reimburse the party for some of the expenses Friday.

The hotel bill obtained by The Miami Herald/St. Pete Times showed that Greer and his wife spent $3,600 on a dinner at the hotel's Brasserie

L'Escalier, $200 on spa services, $137 at the seafood bar and $80 on a limousine to the airport during a two-day fundraiser for incoming Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater.

A spokesman for the party said if the charges to the party American Express card were for personal uses, ``they were a mistake.''

The expenses ''should have been applied to the chairman's card [but] were mistakenly applied to the master account,'' said Erin VanSickle, communications director for the party. She later said the bill hadn't yet been paid so Greer would be able to pay his part of the bill -- $412 -- directly.

Greer, who is up for reelection as chairman in January, has been under fire for weeks about his spending decisions during the presidential campaign. Those complaints were renewed Friday, after the party said it had not exhausted its campaign cash in the final weeks of the election.

New post-election GOP filings show the state party still had $1.37 million cash at the end of a period extending from Oct. 14 to Nov. 24 with $432,000 in outstanding bills, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission detailing the party's federal election account.

Several members of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in Florida said they were told the party's federal account had been tapped dry in the final weeks, forcing them to scramble for money to buy yard signs and radio ads in Florida.

''They almost had daily rebellions at headquarters because people were begging for bumper stickers yard signs and buttons,'' said Ana Navarro, a major fundraiser for McCain's campaign.

''We had no money for food for volunteers,'' she said. ``Practically every Republican in Florida knew we had no money, so I cannot understand it other than to think they were saving it for another campaign at another time.''

VanSickle defended the party. ''The RPOF absolutely did not hold back on the McCain campaign,'' she said. ``We spent every dime the [Republican National Committee] and the campaign asked us to spend.''

Navarro said that as long as Greer has the support of Gov. Charlie Crist, he will be reelected. But, she noted, if former Gov. Jeb Bush runs for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mel Martinez, he won't tolerate ``excessive spending and inefficiencies in the party budget.''

''You better believe there will be a marked change in how things are done if Jeb Bush runs for the Senate,'' she said.

State law requires political parties to report expenses to the secretary of state's office. But it doesn't require state parties to reveal such details as hotel receipts. They tend to be reported in line items referred to as ''American Express'' payments.

Greer, House Speaker Ray Sansom, Senate President Jeff Atwater and some party staffers use credit cards paid by the state party, and state law requires them to report the statements to the Division of Elections. That way, any party official who has a credit card could be held accountable.

However, in 2005, the law changed to allow parties to file financial reports electronically, so the office stopped requiring paper statements. Now political parties lump credit card expenses together, making it impossible for anyone to track who charged what on which credit card.

Jennifer Krell Davis, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said the elections department believes it is following the intent of the law, although she acknowledged the loophole.

When told of Greer's personal expenses, former state party chairman Tom Slade explained that he often used his own personal credit card to pick up dinners that some of his colleagues argued could have been paid for by the party.

Greer has also dipped into his own pockets to pay for things that could have been arguably paid for by the party. After the election, Greer took some of his top staffers on a cruise, which he personally paid for, VanSickle confirmed.

Staff writer Adam Smith contributed to this report. Jennifer Liberto can be reached at liberto@sptimes.com