Several members of the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) attended the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) annual meeting January 8th and 9th. With factors such as the recently announced resignation of RPOF Chair Jim Greer, the growth of the RLC, the emergence of Tea Party movements and the influence of the “We Surround Them” (912) groups, we had high hopes for a new direction for the RPOF.

New opportunities were opened with the anger and energy of these activist groups, and the RPOF state committee recognized this with a resolution to encourage county executive committees to reach out to “Tea Party people.” This would have given the RPOF a solid boost heading into the 2010 elections. But they failed to understand that those “Tea Party people” want principled leadership and bottom-up representation, not the party-first top-down mentality currently in place.

At the annual meeting, the RPOF leadership demonstrated that they still don’t get it. Chairman Greer received a standing ovation from party leadership when he exclaimed at the conclusion of his speech, “It’s about the party, party, party”. The cries heard at a Tea Party or grassroots function, however, are for “principles, principles, principles.”

Rank-and-file Republicans are clearly angry over the unprecedented growth of the federal government in 2009. They are also disgusted at our Governor Charlie Crist’s display of support for Obama’s stimulus package. Yet, when Crist addressed the RPOF at the meeting, he stated that “Florida needs to get her fair share,” and added that he would “not apologize for supporting the stimulus.” Such a statement would be met with scorn from the majority of voters of the Republican Party and Tea Party attendees, but was met with a standing ovation by party leadership.

The first person to speak on policy was Jeff Kottkamp, candidate for Attorney General. Kottkamp did not talk about reducing the size and scope of government, cutting spending, or removing regulations and encouraging free enterprise. Instead, he focused his remarks on expanding the Defense and Space industries in Florida. Grassroots Republicans are pleading for leadership that understands the core issues of fiscal responsibility and limiting the size and scope of government, but RPOF leadership offers only promises to protect special interests.

Most discouraging of all, however, was the apparent coronation of Senator John Thrasher to replace Jim Greer as Chair of the RPOF. In much the same fashion Jim Greer was chosen, the word is that Thrasher had been chosen before the conference call announcing Greer’s resignation had even ended. Many in leadership have rallied around Thrasher because of his ability to raise large sums of money, something the RPOF is in need of. What the RPOF needs more than money, however, is to discover its principles and to get candidates who truly understand those principles elected to office.

A Sign of Hope

In spite of the leadership’s general disconnect with the grassroots, there was a significant sign of hope. There appears to be some serious resistance to the leadership-led coronation of John Thrasher as the new RPOF Chair. Sharon Day, who currently serves as national committeewoman for Florida, stated that she too is running for RPOF Chair in the election that will take place at the February 20th special meeting in Orlando. “I’m running to give the RPOF members a choice, because there should always be a choice,” Day said when she addressed the state committee Saturday morning.

The RLC applauds those in the RPOF that are supporting the courage of Sharon Day and others that seek to offer a voice to the rank-and-file Republicans. We hope that more in party leadership will stand against the top-down approach taken by many in the RPOF.

Source: RLC Website

ORLANDO — Cheerfully shouting “onward to victory,” Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer told applauding members of the GOP state committee tonight that they need to unite if they’re going to defeat Democrats next November and in 2012.

Greer announced his resignation last Tuesday, effective Feb. 20, defusing a long-boiling controversy over his spending of party funds, raising of campaign cash and his avid support of Gov. Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate primary. The Republican State Executive Committee had a specially called meeting this weekend, in addition to its regular annual meeting, to discuss a rising tide of demands for Greer’s resignation.

Jim Greer

Today I received an email from the Hillsborough Republican Executive Committee.  This email has been a long time coming.  If our readers recall a few months ago the Republican Leadership was to have a vote of no confidence in Chairman Jim Greer.  Much of this is due to his association with Charlie Crist and the party purge effort underway by the Republican Party of Florida.  Many Ron Paul supporters have fallen prey to this party purge effort.  With out further ado I give you the email:

November 5, 2009

Dear Chairman Greer,

It has become apparent to us that you and by extension the RPOF have failed to recognize the significance of the resolution passed earlier this year by a majority of the County Chairs and members of the State Executive Committee in our state, particularly with respect to following Rule 8 of our Constitution.

As recently as today, we’re being informed that an operative of the RPOF used a false “twitter” account to disparage a duly elected county Chairman.  Add this incident to the recent revelation that a contract employee of the RPOF, and “Senior Political Advisor” to Governor Crist, Mr. Rich Heffley, initially denied, then admitted,  that he was the author of an “anonymous” website set up to attack the record of a US Senate primary Republican candidate. Both of these compound the earlier allegations that your early and vigorous endorsement of Charlie Crist in his candidacy violated Rule 8 and resulted in the aforementioned resolution by a significant majority of the members of the State Executive Committee asking you to cease and desist the violation.

The fact that Charlie Crist’s U.S. Senate campaign has the same building address as the Republican Party of Florida is also of concern to many of our grass-root activists and members who are voicing their complaints about the appearance of coordination. Your repeated public appearances with U.S. Senate Candidate Charlie Crist as he is campaigning for the US Senate seat at  fundraisers, political events, and impromptu REC visits is being perceived by members as an endorsement, again in violation of Rule 8.  In fact, many of our members have voiced their concerns that if their donations to the State party are being used in any measurable manner to support a Federal candidate, it is in violation of Federal Election Commission rules and subject to investigation.

Our members are also fully aware that due to the lack of accountability in expenditures of RPOF resources, the Victory 2010 Committee was created with Speaker Allan Bense as a co-signatory on all checks issued to ensure your compliance with GAAP standards.  We believe, however, that since a significant portion of funding for the RPOF came and will come from the voluntary contributions of our grass-root members, the RPOF should be held to a higher standard than just GAAP standards. In fact, RPOF should be held to the highest standard of fiscal and ethical accountability.

It has been revealed that Mr. Heffley received $250,000 in consulting fees in an off-election year. He has now admitted responsibility of the amateurish attempt to discredit a fellow Republican and qualified Primary candidate.

Given Mr. Heffley’s proximity to you and to Governor Charlie Crist, US Senate Candidate and the long list of undisputed facts I mention above, it appears that the RPOF leadership continues to be in violation of the Party’s Rule 8, and choose to ignore the admonishment by a majority of the members of the State Executive Committee for you to comply with Rule 8 and to remain neutral in all Primary races.

Chairman Greer, your actions have consequences.  The consequences are being felt by us locally by the reduction of donations to the local parties and the growth of third-party associations and groups which are attracting voters that belong to the Republican Party.  In our respective counties many of our members are blaming the local leadership for the appearance of favoritism and endorsements of Primary candidates.  This is fundamentally severing the trust that exists between the local communities and the local leadership of our Party, this being the foundation for turnout on Election Day, and the ultimate goal of our Party.

We can assure you this is not in support or non support of any candidate but about the perception of the Republican Party of Florida as seen by our Florida Republicans.

We are demanding that you and RPOF cease and desist your interference in Republican primaries and discipline any employee or contractor that fails to follow this directive.  If you haven’t already done so, Mr. Heffley’s contract should be immediately terminated and you should demand a full internal and transparent independent investigation into who else might have collaborated with Mr. Heffley.  If other employees of the RPOF are discovered to have been assisting Mr. Heffley, they too should be terminated.  You should publicly give your personal guarantee to all Florida Republicans that you and your leadership team will follow the tenets of our Party’s constitution, particularly as it relates to Rule 8 and will not allow your personal ambition to allow employees or contractors to use wrongful means to slander or disparage any elected member of the State Executive Committee that may disagree with you personally.

Chairman, you have a choice to make.  Are you going to lead the broad and inclusive coalition that makes up our party and its supporters to victory or are you simply going to use your power as Chairman to impose your choice of who should become the Republican nominee for the United States Senate and violate every tenet of our Party?

We, the undersigned, hope it is the former.

Sincerely,

Deborah Cox-Roush
Deborah Cox Roush
Chairman Hillsborough County Republican Party

Agreed upon as written by the following:

AJ Matthews, State Committeeman HCREC
Tina Pike, State Committeewoman HCREC
Randy Maggard, Chairman Pasco County
Bill Bunting, State Committeeman Pasco County
Sid Dinerstein, Chairman of Palm Beach County REC
Tony DiMatteo, State Committeeman of Pinellas County REC
Peggy Simone, State Committeewoman of Manatee County REC
Virginia Bromford, State Committeewoman of Seminole County REC
John Salak, Bay County Chairman REC
Carol Carter, Former State Committeewoman HCREC
Art Wood, Vice Chairman HCREC
Robin Lankford, Secretary HCREC
Ken Lawson, Treasurer HCREC
Josh Burgin, Executive Director HCREC
Teresa Eaton, President Bay County Republican Roundtable
Matt Fleming, President New Tampa Republican Club

A pair of Orange County Republican party leaders have been suspended by state party Chairman Jim Greer, and Brevard County GOP chief Jason Steele has been put on probation as part of a wider raft of punishments recently handed out to members who have been critical of the Florida party’s current leadership.

Orange Republican executive committee members Nick Egoroff — suspended for four years — and Ax the Tax activist Doug Guetzloe — suspended 13 months, two years of probation — both plan to file legal appeals to overturn the sanctions.

“This is nothing but trying to take out the groups opposing Jim Greer’s leadership,” Egoroff said.

Egoroff said a a host of other Greer critics from all over Florida suffered the same fate, accusing them of supporting non-Republican candidates or just being “detrimental” to the party. He expected that same group to file a class-action lawsuit against the party to get the probation and suspension terms killed.

Some in this singled out group have come to call the whole episode a Florida Republican Party “purge.”

“This is clearly a party purge,” Guetzloe said. “Party purges were popular with Stalin, Hitler and now Jim Greer all denying free speech.”

Guetzloe said he will tap long-time legal advocate Fred O’Neil to file a First Amendment lawsuit against Orange Chairman Lew Oliver, and possibly other local GOP officers.

“This is just really painful to me, because I’ve put a lot of work into this party,” Egoroff said.

Egoroff and Guetzloe have been at odds with current Orange GOP Chairman Lew Oliver, who filed the grievance complaints against the two dissidents. Another Oliver critic, Deon Long, had already been removed from his party post by the state.

Steele relested this statement:  statement said the probation was a price he was willing to pay for standing up for his principles.

Later by phone Steele said that if the state party hoped to “stifle” his activity with the official punishment, “that’s just not going to happen.”

“We can’t be stifled in Brevard County,” Steele said. “It’s unified the party here.”

Tallahassee–Tony DiMatteo, Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida’s Grievance Committee, released the following statement regarding the RPOF Grievance Committee Hearing held today in Orlando.

“This weekend’s Grievance Committee Hearing has received a significant amount of publicity at the hands of those involved with the individual grievances. Though the grievance process is an internal party matter, I believe it has become necessary to explain the proceedings and the Grievance Committee’s role within Republican Party of Florida.

“The Grievance Committee is comprised of members of the RPOF State Executive Committee. Our involvement with the RPOF is in a volunteer capacity. Grievances are a formal complaint from one member of the Republican Party of Florida’s county leadership structure to another member of the county leadership structure. All grievances originate at the county level and are filed with the State Party and then referred to the Grievance Committee.

“All parties involved are informed that a grievance as been filed, and given ample time to prepare for the Grievance Committee Hearing. At the hearing, the petitioner and the respondent are given an opportunity to present their arguments.  In the weeks following the meetings, the committee members compile a recommendation for final resolution on each grievance and then present the recommendation to Chairman Greer.

“Several recent news stories have mentioned a “purge” of certain members of county Republican Executive Committees. There is no ‘purge.’ To date, Chairman Greer has only removed one person from the leadership structure of the State Party. The removal came at the unanimous recommendation of the Grievance Committee. Contrary to what has been reported, there have been numerous circumstances when the committee has recommended removal and the Chairman has chosen not to remove a member.

“Additionally, the grievances in question do not “kick-out” members of the Republican Party. The parties involved with the grievances are members of the Republican Party of Florida’s leadership structure. Like any organization, we have an obligation to our members to ensure that our leadership abides by the rules of the organization. Our formal grievance process is the mechanism for this review of the conduct of Republican leaders. A removed member is still a Republican and eligible to participate in Republican activities, but prohibited from holding a leadership position for a set amount of time.

“The RPOF Grievance Committee heard two grievances today. The private meeting was closed to the media for the benefit of those involved, as well as members of the grievance committee, who are all private citizens serving in a volunteer capacity. Like any organization, we have a right to conduct this internal party business in private. This is a political party, not a public entity. As private citizens with full time jobs and lives outside of politics, the members of the grievance committee request the courtesy to conduct this private political business without having our images spread all over television and the newspapers without our permission. Over the past several weeks, the State Party has been more than willing to speak to media outlets about this process, while keeping the specific details of the grievances private for the sake of those involved; however, today’s meeting was private, and it would not have been appropriate to discuss the proceedings.

“I think it is worth reiterating that these grievances originate at the county level. The State Party is involved only in order to facilitate the formal mechanism for maintaining organization within the ranks of our county leadership.

“In closing, this process and the publicity it has received at the hands of those involved, certainly detracts from the true business of the RPOF, which is getting Republicans elected.”