Ex-FL GOP Chair: In 2009 meeting, FL GOP leaders discussed voter suppression/blocking black voters

[seafan]

Oh yes, this is the actual headline at the Tampa Bay Times.


Jim Greer denounces Florida Republican Party officials as liars, 'right-wing crazies' in deposition

By Lucy Morgan, Times Senior Correspondent
July 26, 2012

TALLAHASSEE — In a wide-ranging deposition that spanned two days in late May, former Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer denounced some party officials as liars and "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies'' as he described turmoil in the months before his resignation.

Greer said some GOP leaders were meeting to discuss ways they could suppress black votes while others were constantly scheming against each other.

.....

• Greer said "the party was in turmoil" as officials wanted to get rid of him and former Gov. Charlie Crist because they disagreed with some of Crist's decisions, including the appointment of a liberal African-American judge to the Florida Supreme Court, Crist's endorsement of John McCain for president in 2008 and the hug Crist gave President Barack Obama in 2009. "My phone lit up with people wanting me to censure the governor,'' Greer said. "The tea party came into existence. There was a feeling within the party that the tea party was just a bunch of whack-a-dos."

• After the party's budget and audit committee started asking questions about House and Senate spending, including legislators who used party credit cards for personal expenses, Greer said he wanted to open the books and credit card records, but party officials and legislative leaders vetoed the idea.

• .....

House and Senate leaders insisted that no one at the party could control their campaign finances. "We eat what we kill,'' Greer said the leaders told him. "Legislative leaders were using their party credit cards like drunken sailors and they made it clear to me I was not to interfere with their spending,'' Greer said.

.....

On voter suppression, Greer said he had just completed a December 2009 meeting with party general counsel Jason Gonzalez, political consultant Jim Rimes and Eric Eikenberg, Crist's chief of staff, when questions arose about fundraising.

"I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting. It had been one of those days,'' he said.

.....

And, by George, did they HATE Governor Crist. And they still do.



The voter ID mess subverts an American birthright

By (former Florida Governor) Charlie Crist
July 20, 2012

.....

This is just the most recent example of a mean-spirited and all-too-partisan attempt to restrict access to the rolls and to the polls. A federal court also recently struck down provisions of a law Florida’s legislature passed in 2011, which put heavy burdens on organizations seeking to help voters: burdens that the court described as “harsh and impractical,” serving no purpose other than to make it harder for Americans to participate in the electoral process.

These machinations make a mockery of the democracy we put on display every Election Day. The right to vote is the key to that democracy, giving value to the freedom of speech and making the freedom of religion and the right to assemble possible. When one takes away another’s right to vote, he is taking dead aim at democracy and undermining the very virtue that makes us the envy of the world.

Including as many Americans as possible in our electoral process is the spirit of our country. It is why we have expanded rights to women and minorities but never legislated them away, and why we have lowered the voting age but never raised it. Cynical efforts at voter suppression are driven by an un-American desire to exclude as many people and silence as many voices as possible.

Our country has never solved anything with less democracy, and we’re far better off when more citizens can access the polls — no matter which party mobilizes the most voters to them. As governor of Florida, I extended voting hours and increased the number of days people could vote. I also restored registration rights for felons, years after starting that effort in the state Senate with a member of the opposite party.

I was a Republican at the time of those decisions, which didn’t make me many friends on my side. But when you do the right thing for the people, a political party’s concerns roll off your back quite easily.

.....

My, my. SO MUCH dirty laundry.



Greer: Lavish party spending on FL GOP credit cards was status quo. (Incoming, Mr. Rubio.), September 1, 2011


St. Pete Times: Jim Greer trial may expose Florida Republican party's inner workings, September 5, 2011


Rubio's credit card hypocrisy: 'Examine everybody else's statements except mine', April 22, 2010


Thrasher blames Greer and Crist, but refuses to release Rubio's earlier GOP credit card charges., April 26, 2010


RPOF to release only 3 years of AmEx statements (2007-2009); Rubio used card from 2005-2008, April 23, 2010


Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times Editorials: 'Marco Rubio's credibility is at stake.', September 24, 2010


Marco Rubio dances around the question of fiscal responsibility hypocrisy on Face the Nation., September 27, 2010


Marco Rubio: 'No reason to release my earlier credit card statements.', September 17, 2010 (....so, 2005 and 2006 are Rubio's "little secret", which occurred prior to Governor Crist's term in 2007...)

Marco Rubio: 'No' to credit card statements release, September 24, 2010


Lavish party spending in 2006 extends to Rubio's former chief of staff, September 21, 2010



And, oh, look: Today in Tallahassee, Rubio's pals on the Florida "Ethics" Commission just dismissed the ethics complaint against him regarding his lavish use of the GOP credit card.


Must be nice for Rubio to count on his corrupt friends salted through Florida's government. His mentor Jeb Bush showed him how valuable that would be.




So, let's see....


The Florida GOP conspiring to commit voter suppression; Florida GOP members' lavish personal spending with the Party's American Express Card; a bitter GOP vendetta against Governor Crist....


It is time to clean out this nest of GOP vipers sitting in Florida's government.



Sing, Mr. Greer.


You have a beautiful voice.