FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
No Dissent Allowed: St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee
St. Johns County, January, 21, 2010 — The leadership of the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee (SJCREC) dealt a blow to the grassroots and derailed recent attempts to reconcile long standing differences with the Republican Liberty Caucus of Northeast Florida (RLCNEF) Thursday night when it refused to allow RLCNEF members access to a meeting where State Committeeman Jon Woodard stepped down and State Senator John Thrasher was elected to Woodard’s position. The election of Thrasher to Woodard’s State Committeeman post clears the way for Thrasher to run for the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) Chair position to be vacated on February 20th by Jim Greer. There is a level of excitement within the party that has not been seen in a long time surrounding the race to succeed Jim Greer. Greer’s re-election a year ago has resulted in a leadership implosion within the RPOF. Thrasher, a sitting Republican State Senator, is seeking to lead the Republican Party out of its doldrums. Unfortunately for Thrasher, the SJCREC appears to have added fuel to an internal firestorm.
The latest in an unfortunate series of events occurred when the majority of the SJCREC members were not given notice the meeting would be closed in Executive Session, and only received the news upon their arrival at the meeting that night. To further exacerbate matters, SJCREC officials – allegedly in preparation for the vote on Senator Thrasher – performed a “purge” of the membership list for the stated purpose of removing members who had missed three consecutive meetings pursuant to state bylaws.
The purpose and accuracy of the list purge is in question, however, as RLCNEF member Cliff Johnson who is also a sworn member of the SJCREC and who had not missed three consecutive meetings, was told that he was not eligible to attend the Executive Session or vote in the Special Election.
While SJCREC leadership claimed that access to the Executive Session was limited only to SJCREC members, at least four members of the Duval County Republican Executive Committee who support Thrasher were allowed inside while known opponents of Thrasher and supporters of Sharon Day – also a candidate for State Chair – were told they must stay outside.
In a protest against the double standard and blatant cronyism on display, RLCNEF Chair John Stevens entered the meeting despite being told not to do so. Stevens was then asked to leave and refused. SJCREC officials called police and Stevens was escorted from the meeting. No charges were filed.
Chairman Stevens desired to attend the meeting to ask Thrasher what position he would be taking on Orange and St. Johns County REC members removed by Greer through the never-before-used grievance process last year. Stevens commented regarding the incident, “It was unfortunate that it had to come that. The RLC is working for accountability within the Party and we would prefer to do so quietly from within; but if members are being locked out and denied an opportunity to be heard then we are left with no option but to make our voices heard publicly.”
This incident in St. Johns is eerily similar to a situation that occurred last year in Orange County where Orange County Republican Executive Committee (OCREC) Chair Lew Oliver prevented members of the OCREC from voting in the election for Oliver’s seat; the people barred from voting were supporters of his opponent, Deon Long, who is now running for the 24th District of the U.S. Congress.
Many of the registered voters of Florida agree with the message of the Republican Liberty Caucus. The
RLC’s message has begun attracting large numbers of people statewide. Support has poured out from around the state as this struggle with the corruption within the party has continued. Many of the recent changes in the RPOF leadership started at the grassroots level with large groups of dissenters, such as the RLC, calling for honesty and transparency in our elected leaders.
About The Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida:
The Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida is a coalition of traditional conservatives and liberty minded Republicans working within the Republican Party to promote individual liberty, smaller government, state and national sovereignty and the Constitution. The caucus advocates the return of our nation to the values and intentions of the Constitution and our founders.
(i) www.rlcfl.org
(ii) www.rlcnef.org
CONTACT:
Frank Zilaitis
Email:
Phone: (321) 480-7597
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January 25th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
I find it amazing that good people like John Stevens are treated like this. If the Republican party truly wants support a return to the Constitution then John should be welcomed with open arms not removed by the police.
John I truly hope that you are successful showing the Republican party the correct path. A path of Liberty and Freedom for All Americans.
Semper FI
Alexander Snitker
January 24th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Actually I missed only 2 meetings. I attended September 2009 for the State Senator debates. October and November I did not attend. December meeting was canceled. The meeting that this incident took place was the January meeting, which obviously I attended, or at least sat on the porch as instructed. I’m not sure where this Randy fellow is getting 4 meetings from. I would like to see the minutes, member roster and all sign in sheets for all meetings from September, October, November, (December-if there were a meeting) and January.
January 24th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
If you were not going to dignify it with a response, why did you respond? By the way, That 70 year old member of the REC that I heard you say that to also happens to be a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.
First rule of holes John – stop digging!
January 24th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
“The disgusting display by John Stevens, including telling a 70 year old member of our REC to “f##k off””
Another lie from someone associated with the SJCREC. Not even going to dignify it with a response.
But I do have a question…
Why would the nomination and election of a State Committeeman need to be done in Executive Session anyways? This is an election that has state-wide implications. Senator Thrasher may very well be the next State Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. If there were county Republicans who wanted to witness the nomination/ election and (heaven forbid) ask a question, is that not a good thing? What is so private and secret about the process? There was enough room for all members and guests to participate, but yet you forced 10-12 people to wait outside. Why? What was the logic?
January 24th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Despite your claims by Cliff Johnson that he did not miss three consecutive meetings, his own words posted on this issue at jaxpolitics.com, confirm he did in fact miss 4 consecutive meetings.
As to your suggestion that the “purge” was initiated to stack the deck in favor of Senator Thrasher, this process was begun with a letter in December addressed to those subject to having their voting status revoked, before Jim Greer even announced his planned resignation and before anyone on this Board had any inkling of the fact of Chairman Greer’s Resignation and the planned resignation of Jon Woodard as State Committeeman.
As is usual, you have chosen to withhold facts to slant opinions to support your (as usual) baseless allegations. Many among you speak of holding the Party to the highest standards (Messr.Setzer). Unfortunately , I have yet to see any display that you have an understanding of what that means to the common sense man. You cannot call yourself the conscience of the party when you have none of your own.
The disgusting display by John Stevens, including telling a 70 year old member of our REC to “f##k off” while displaying a very aggressive stance to that same man makes clear there is a strong streak of cowardice and a complete lack of manners evidencing extremely poor upbringing.