Florida GOP to decide soon if it will sue Charlie Crist

by admin on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 | Comments Off

TALLAHASSEE – The Republican Party of Florida could decide by the end of the week when to release a report on the use of party funds under its former chairman and whether to embark on a lawsuit against Gov. Charlie Crist, state party Chairman John Thrasher said.

Thrasher, also a state senator from St. Augustine, reiterated in a phone interview Monday that the party is considering filing a lawsuit against the governor to recover some of the money spent on travel by the indicted former chairman Jim Greer and former executive director Delmar Johnson.

Thrasher said travel records showed Greer and Crist often traveling to the same places at the same time, and the party wants to know if Greer covered some of Crist’s expenses not related to party business. Crist, who has since left the party to run for U.S. Senate as an independent, did not hold a party credit card.

“I think the details of the report clearly link him and Greer at a lot of the places that Greer was spending an exorbitant amount of money. … Who paid for his expenses when he was there?” Thrasher said.

While Thrasher said the party would make a decision on the lawsuit and then release the audit within a week to 10 days, he said support is building for choosing a course of action by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Crist blasted the GOP for not releasing the audit and suggested the lawsuit threat was driven by the November elections, when Crist will face Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

“I think they ought to get their own shop in order first before they go after an independent candidate,” Crist said, according to the News Service of Florida. “I don’t even know what they’re talking about. As you know, they haven’t been transparent. They won’t release any of the report.”

Thrasher said the party was simply taking the necessary steps to fix the problems left behind by Greer, who was chosen for the chairman’s job by Crist.

“The whole thing has been motivated by the lack of integrity and lack of credibility by his handpicked guy, Jim Greer,” Thrasher said.

Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said she doubted voters will take much away from the back and forth between Crist and the Republican Party.

“The problem is, it probably doesn’t do anything for either one of them,” she said.

MacManus said voters are less interested in the political scuffles than in what is shaping up as the No. 1 issue in the election: jobs.

“People want to hear specifics about repairing Florida’s economy,” she said.

brandon.larrabee@jacksonville.com, (678) 977-3709