From Monroe County: As your elected Republican Party State Committeeman and committeewoman, it is our primary obligation to keep our REC precinct members informed of and aware of the needs, plans, activities, and circumstances affecting the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF). In view of that obligation, we have much at [...]
December 21, 2009
State Committee Members,
I feel compelled to respond to the recent criticisms from some members of the state executive committee and calls for my resignation or removal.
First and foremost, to remove any doubt about my intentions, I will absolutely not resign my position.
At the December 2009 RPOF board meeting, [...]
Republican attorney general candidate Holly Benson appeared on Political Connections on Bay News 9 Sunday, touting the importance of tort reform (rival Jeff Kottkamp was a trial lawyer) and standing up for Charlie Crist's endorsement of the federal stimulus package: "The budget challenges facing the Legislature were significant, so the [...]
A letter to Florida Republicans from Allison DeFoor, former vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and nominee for Lt. Governor in 1990:
The two party system has served America well for many years. There is no requirement that the Republican Party be one of the two. The Democrats are doing a [...]
There's not a lot of rock solid information to be had about the status of embattled Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer, and loads and loads of chatter of varying reliability. Here's our best sense of the landscape:
What had sounded late Friday and early Saturday like a looming exit for [...]
Winner of the week: Marco Rubio. Last week’s loser this week was blessed with two new polls showing that Charlie Crist’s once vast, 40 point lead has dwindled to single digits. Crist’s inevitability argument is shot, and Rubio’s fundraising is sure to get a [...]
Beth Reinhard reports that Charlie Crist seemed lost talking to the Miami Herald editorial board yesterday.
[...]"The governor has told me I'm not to consider resigning,'" state GOP chairman Jim Greer told Steve Bousquet today. And it's easy to see why Crist would see Greer's departure as a major political blow, considering how firmly he's standing behind his embattled chairman.
"People have a specific political agenda - [...]
One person who won't be coming to the defense of FL GOP chairman Jim Greer? His former executive assistant, Jaimee Colley, who told Buzz she spent a very unpleasant three months working for Greer in 2007. (The party said she was fired within her 90-day probationary period for poor performance).
"I was expecting [...]
Another prominent Republican and business leader, former Associated Indsutries president Jon Shebel weighs in on embattled Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer:
When Republican stalwarts like Tom Slade and Al Hoffman call for the resignation of a Florida Republican Party Chairman, he should step down immediately…….these gentlemen have been the heart [...]
A defensive Charlie Crist faced at least five minutes of questions from the Sun-Sentinel editorial board about his close association with his political benefactor and alleged Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein. "Should we distance ourselves from people because there's a lot of talk? Is that a fair standard?,'' Crist said. "I [...]
Look for the pressure to continue mounting on Jim Greer to resign as more and more significant Republicans come forward to call on him to step aside. If he doesn't, there will be special meeting in January. But what's not certain at all is whether anyone actually has the authority [...]
Here is the Florida GOP's 2009 financial statement for the state party's core operations (the administrative side, as opposed to the political side). Chairman Jim Greer suggested it was an outdated document that doesn't reflect reality.
UPDATE: And the state GOP sent this statement in response: The attached document is one [...]
Add another prominent Republican voice calling for Jim Greer to step down as Republican party chairman: Ken Plante, the lobbyist and former Senate minority leader:
"There's a group of us that are working to see what can be done ... I think what he really needs to do is go [...]
More from that AIF/Zogby poll of likely Florida voters (with a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent): Read the ballot language for the FairDistricts amendment calling for compact districts not drawn to favor any party or candidate; 36.9 percent said they strongly support; 18 percent said somewhat support; 1.9 percent [...]
More from that Associated Industries/Zogby poll of likely voters. The poll, taken from Dec. 7-11, looked at GOP primary races and has a margin of error of 5.7 percentage points.
In the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, Gov. Charlie Crist (45 percent) still leads Marco Rubio (36.4), with 16.4 percent not sure.
The Republican [...]
Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, appeared on Political Connections on Bay News 9 Sunday. The full interview can be seen on Ch. 342, Bay News 9 on Demand, but here's a snippet:
*
[...]It's a question we hear all the time lately, and nobody seems to have an answer. "I have no idea,'' said former GOP Chairman Tom Slade. "I'd like to see the pictures Greer must have."
Gov. Crist, after all, is not a guy known to stand by pals through thick and thin. Just [...]
Picking up a line of attack begun months ago by the Florida Republican Party, Bill McCollum is accusing his Democratic rival for governor, Alex Sink, of "deceptive loan practices'' while she was a top banker.
It's a risky political strategy, considering McCollum's history with the mortgage industry. As a member of [...]
Rasmussen Reports this week is the gift that keeps on giving to Marco Rubio. In addition to a tied Rubio-Charlie Crist primary, the pollster finds Rubio beating Democrat Kendrick Meek in a hypothetical match up 49 percent to 35 percent. Crist topped the Miami Democrat 42 percent to 36 percent:
Crist’s [...]
Within hours of us posting state GOP vice chairman Allen Cox's criticism of Chairman Jim Greer's fiscal managment, Greer expelled Cox from the budget committee he chaired for seven years. A party spokeswoman said Greer made the decision because he was told by [...]
A bitter battle is heating up to oust state GOP Chairman Jim Greer, with leading Florida Republicans accusing him serious financial mismanagement that could jeopardize Republican campaigns in 2010.
"Maybe Jim Greer would be more comfortable in congress where deficits and excessive spending don’t seem to matter, but that’s not the [...]
Whether or not you believe the Rasmussen poll showing Charlie Crist tied with Marco Rubio, the governor's inevitability argument is gone. (We're hearing about another poll showing Rubio 9 points down.) The closing poll numbers come despite Crist's extensive radio ads touting his conservative stances and a fair amount of [...]
About three dozen people showed up for breakfast with Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum this morning at a Perkins restaurant in Tampa. Stuff that stood out to us:
1. McCollum is maybe the only top-tier candidate making water a pivotal issue in his campaign. "Water is the longterm biggest issue in the state..We've [...]
Rasmussen Reports, which in October had Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum leading Democratic CFO Alex Sink by 11 points for governor, now shows him ahead by 5: McCollum leads by nine points among male voters and breaks roughly even with Sink among female voters. The Republican carries voters not [...]
Howard Troxler: ...In short, the ethics-violating business is booming, and the wrong side seems to be winning. The Legislature should allow the Florida Commission on Ethics to be able to open its own cases by an extraordinary vote in clearly worthwhile cases.
[...]Bill McCollum (who in Congress was mighty friendly with the banking and credit card industry) for the first time is attacking Alex Sink's background as a banker. It's a line of attack that Florida Republicans had started and then stopped earlier this year. A Statement from McCollum [...]
Addressing a hometown crowd at a Pinellas Republican Party meeting Monday night, the governor, facing a tougher-than-expected [...]
We're confident the following news will elicit nothing but kind-hearted well wishes in keeping with the season. Or not.
The Sarasota Republican Executive Committee awarded Charlie Crist its “Statesman of the Year” award last night, citing his accomplishments as governor.
“Charlie Crist, as the head of the Republican Party of Florida has [...]
A draft Jennifer Carroll for Florida Republican Party chairwoman movement has sprung up. But organizer Armando Grundy of Gainesville stressed to the Buzz that he's talking about electing her in 2011 and this has nothing to do with the movement to oust current chairman Jim [...]
Will the State Board of Administration, overseen by trustees Gov. Charlie Crist, Chief [...]
State GOP Chairman Jim Greer, a magnet for criticism from local party leaders and major donors alike, got an official and overwhelming vote of confidence from his executive committee Thursday. But don't think for a moment that means his job is secure.
Key party leaders and activists are racking up votes [...]
Winner of the week: Jeff Atwater. The prognosis looked iffy at first, but the Republican Florida Senate President and Chief Financial Officer candidate managed some finesse and head-banging to overwhelmingly pass a package of passenger rail projects. State Democratic leaders can’t even find a semi-credible [...]
We used to assume no other top politician in Florida was less cool than Bill McCollum. Now it turns out Alex Sink may be. When Gary Fineout asked her about a posthumous pardon of Jim Morrison, she was flummoxed. Jim who? Maybe back in her college days was more in tune [...]
Buzz caught up with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele as he raised money in Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando for our periodic 5 Questions segment. The RNC chairman expressed full confidence in state GOP chairman Jim Greer and was steadfastly neutral in the GOP Senate primary featuring Marco Rubio and [...]
Against the backdrop of the climate change summit in Denmark this week, U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is hammering rival Charlie Crist's "cap-and-trade scheme'' — though he voted for a bill backed by the governor requiring state officials to devise such a plan.
As the leader of the Florida House [...]
Did Rubio really change his position in saying he would have accepted some of the federal stimulus money? Not seeing it.
From everything I've seen Rubio has been consistent in criticizing Charlie Crist for campaigning for the stimulus package - not for accepting the money and spending it. ("It's one [...]
Al Hoffman, a top fundraiser and former finance chairman for the Republican National Committee, is asking Jim Greer to resign as chairman of the Florida Republican Party. As the GOP holds its quarterly meeting this afternoon in Tallahassee (friendly, home turf for Greer) Hoffman said [...]
We've struggled lately to get a clear answer from Marco Rubio on whether as governor he would have accepted money from the federal stimulus package about which he is so critical. Keith Cate on Tampa Bay's NBC affiliate got a clearer answer:
"Ultimately I would have accepted those portions [...]
We neglected to post this yesterday, and one of Kristy Campbell's many fans is nagging us to put this on the blog: Kristy Campbell, a veteran Jeb Bush aide and former Mitt Romney flak in Florida, is the new communications director for Bill McCollum's gubernatorial campaign. She'll be working under campaign manager [...]
Charlie Crist and the Florida GOP didn't get too far trying to push Deveron Gibbons to be elected as the black Republican mayor of St. Pete. But on Tuesday Gow Field was elected mayor of Lakeland, giving the Florida GOP another prominent African-American in office.
"Across [...]
Anyone else notice how quiet state GOP Chairman Jim Greer - and his critics - have been lately? So quiet that it sounded plausible yesterday when Jordan Raynor spread the rumor via Twitter that Greer was poised to step down.
State party spokeswoman Katie Betta says [...]
Our latest Five Questions installment features RedState.com's Erick Erickson, 34, who has emerged as one of the leading new voices for the grassroots activists. We talked to him about Crist vs. Rubio, Jeb Bush, the 2012 presidential race, and smacking the GOP establishment in 2010.
[...]
Sometimes we wonder whether Charlie Crist's finance team ever does any serious checking into the people raising money for the campaign. Here's an invite featuring Joseph Cobo, who happens to be under investigation by Broward prosecutors for hospital district doings. Asked about that, [...]
We made a stupid error the other day and owe a sincere apology to radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge. In noting a Charlie Crist fundraiser at the Tampa home of Stephen Diaco, Sponge's attorney, we noted that Bubba had once asked Crist about his sexuality. Wrong.
Crist has often [...]
