The Revelation
Much of the political world was shocked recently when it was discovered just how corrupt Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) Chairman Jim Greer’s reign had been. Only a small handful of Republicans within the state had dared question him, many of whom were removed by the new and draconian use of a “Loyalty Oath.” This oath did little to quell the dissention in the ranks, and likely the use of it helped to provide further motivation for looking into just what was going on in the background.
The findings were pretty much what you would have expected, if you’d placed a corrupt dictator-wannabe in power. Improper use of credit cards and party funds; use of the Loyalty Oath to remove members from the party who spoke out; attempts to use RPOF rules to influence elections (such as an attempt to use the (in)famous Rule 8 to prevent Marco Rubio from running for office)… these are just a few of the wrongs that Greer had done.
But Jim Greer had the governor in his pocket, and that would work to his favor. At least, that is, until the governor lost favor with the people.
John Thrasher: The Anti-Crist
Once the public caught the Jim Greer story, it was time to do full damage control for the RPOF. Damage control, in this case, consisted of a group of men making a deal with Greer for him to resign. That deal included replacing him with State Senator John Thrasher, as well as paying Greer to remain as a consultant and agreeing that the RPOF would paint his time as chairman with plenty of nice, happy comments, all suggesting that Greer was the best chairman we could have hoped for, and that everything done in Greer’s chairmanship would be considered legal and on the mark.
With this deal in place and some other dealings (such as a swap of state committeeman in the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee to even make Thrasher eligible for the position), Thrasher took over as RPOF Chairman. It wasn’t long before he had to admit what the public already knew: Jim Greer was a crook and several members of the Republican Party of Florida had misspent party funds.
This, of course, blew the lid off of a number of things, as Greer went after the RPOF for breaking its agreement with him. But it was along another blow against someone else who had recently found himself losing support among the people: Governor Charlie Crist. Crist had appointed Greer to his position. Crist’s support had been dwindling with the voters as Marco Rubio’s poll numbers started to show him pulling away from Crist in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The RPOF, spearheaded by Thrasher himself, saw the writing on the wall for Crist, and after months of making excuses for him they decided to go into a full campaign against Crist.
The tension between Crist and Thrasher came to a head when Crist vetoed SB6, which Thrasher had fully supported. In the end, Thrasher issued a warning that should Crist run as an independent in the Senate race, the Loyalty Oath would likely be used against any member of the RPOF who supported his efforts.
Crist’s Second Coming
Crist knew that he’d worn out his welcome with the Republican Party. There was no help for him left either in Florida or on the national level. But a new option emerged for him. Several polls showed that he had a reasonable shot at winning the general election running as an independent, whereas he would likely lose the Republican primary and then have no chance to even run in the general election. Knowing that was his best option, Crist made the announcement on Thursday, April 29 that he would run for Senate as an independent. On Wednesday, May 12, he changed his voter registration from Republican Party to independent.
The fallout, even in the short time since these announcements, has left a lot of questions. First was the issue of donations to Crist’s Senate bid, many of which were made under the assumption he would run as a Republican in the general election. There are no laws that state Crist has to return that money, and indications now are that he’ll keep the money and use it in his bid as an independent, preventing those donors from spending that money to help the eventual Republican nominee win the general election.
Another important question that emerged was what would happen with the ten appointments that Crist made to the RPOF executive committee as governor. While the appointments were made while Crist was still a Republican, his recent complete move to independent leaves it hanging as to what to do with the appointed members. Are they loyal to the Republican Party, or to the man who appointed them and is now working against the RPOF?
RPOF’s Apocalypse – What will happen?
The Republican Party of Florida is currently reeling from the recent blows. From a corrupt chairman and party members using money improperly to a shady deal for a new chairman, a major member moving to independent to run against the party’s candidate using Republican money, and a number of other issues, the RPOF is a house in disarray.
At the heart of it all is the party’s unquestioning support for so long of Charlie Crist, who’d proved his political ideology was not in line with the Republican Party. The RPOF supported Crist in order to back “a candidate who could win,” and all of the fallout resulting is a direct consequence of that choice. Crist appointed Greer to RPOF chairman, and continued to vote along his own ideological lines while receiving support from the party.
In a similar move, the party gave its full backing to John Thrasher for State Senate District 8, while knowing of his former issues and that he did not represent the party’s ideals well. They backed him as “a candidate who could win,” and someone who could get plenty of money to fund the party, not bothering to question where the money might come from or at what cost. Thrasher’s ascension to chairman, from the deal he worked out with Jim Greer to the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee’s attempted roster purge before his election to state committeeman, has been as questionable as Crist’s dealings, and sets up the question of whether the party had learned anything.
The RPOF’s house is nearly burning to the ground. It is in full emergency mode, hoping to control the damage before it collapses completely. If they can learn from recent mistakes and move in a direction of supporting principled candidates and keeping their house in order, the RPOF has a chance to rise from the ashes more powerful than it has been in recent years. If it continues along its current course instead, it will be its own undoing, as the Democrats stand by and watch, excited that they had to do nothing more than be “not Republicans.”
The Republican Party of Florida is a microcosm of the entire Republican National Committee, and the problems we face in Florida are the same as those occurring around the nation. If the Republican Party moves back to candidates who follow the ideals of limited constitutional government, it can survive and take the nation back and begin fixing it. If it continues to support candidates regardless of principles, such as Scott Brown who has been a deciding vote in favor of more than one piece of legislation the Obama administration was hoping to pass, then the Republican Party will completely lose the trust of the American people and become extinct over time.
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Mon, May 17, 2010
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