Armando Gutierrez

It took a few days, but Armando Gutierrez, the South Florida transplant running for the Republican nomination to face U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, announced today he’s siding with much of Florida’s GOP Establishment and endorsing Sen. John Thrasher as state party chairman.

Thrasher was named Tuesday as the favored candidate of everyone from former Gov. Jeb Bush to incoming legislative presiding officers Rep. Dean Cannon and Mike Haridopolos to a host of GOP moneymen including Charlie Crist confidante Al Sembler. Oh yeah, and Crist also endorsed Thrasher as a replacement for Jim Greer, the former Oviedo city councilman who managed to alienate huge chunks of the party’s membership by his arrogance and his penchant for taking sides in primaries.

Said Gutierrez in a statement: “John Thrasher is a true public servant.  His experience serving on a School Board, a County Commission, in the Legislature, and running a business will serve Florida Republicans well. “John Thrasher is a solid conservative and proven leader we can count on.”

I had the pleasure of speaking with Armando some time ago and asked if he would be supporting Marco Rubio since he was from South Florida as well.  He told me that he would be supporting Charlie Crist for Senator.  So this really comes as no surprise since Charlie is supporting Thrasher as well.

This shows us that Gutierrez is not a grassroots candidate but more of an establishment pawn.