GOP Infighting Goes Public

Abel Harding

Infighting within the Republican Party is now garnering statewide press, thanks to two election-related fraud complaints filed by Orange County Republican Executive Committee member Kevin Recine.  Recine's complaints allege that Orange County Republican Chairman Lew Oliver committed "fraud" by not properly accounting for expenses and by setting up a secret fundraising account without approval from the Executive Committee.

The St. Pete Times is reporting that GOP State Party Chairman Jim Greer is at the center of the controversy, particularly his efforts to purge the Republican Party of the individuals who have become known as "Ron Paulites."  Greer is being criticized by activists within the party for quietly instituting a change in the party's loyalty oath that disqualified numerous Executive Committee members around the state.  According to the Times, after changing the loyalty oaths guidelines, Greer went public with his support of Charlie Crist in the GOP Senate primary, further angering Marco Rubio supporters within the party.

The controversy is not limited to central Florida.  Brevard County REC Chair Jason Steele is facing party sanctions for asking the party to remain neutral in GOP primaries.  In St. Johns County, builder Will Pitts, the Chairman of the Florida Republican Liberty Caucus, will face a hearing called by state party chair Jim Greer on July 25 that could ban him from holding any future leadership positions within the party.

Much of the infighting is related to ongoing resentment between the long-standing coalition of business and social conservatives within the party and libertarians who were drawn to the party in support of the 2008 Presidential campaign of Rep. Ron Paul.  In many counties, Duval and St. Johns included, libertarians (or "Ron Paulites") attempted to gain control of the local party's executive committee by flooding the committee with libertarians who would then work to elect like-minded individuals to leadership positions.  The state party has been rather successful up to this point in preventing that scenario from playing out.  And, based on the new rule changes from Jim Greer, the party has no intentions of leaving future takeovers to chance.

Despite the unfavorable press, party infighting is not always a bad thing.  After all, the Democratic Party of 2002 was a rather demoralized, dispirited bunch.  They seem to have recovered rather nicely by 2006.

Tags: Charlie Crist, Hillsborough County Republican Party, Jim Greer, Kevin Recine, Lew Oliver, Marco Rubio, Orange County Republican Party, Republican Party, Republican Party of Hillsborough County, Republican Party of Orange County, Ron Paul, Will Pitts

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 6:14 AM and is filed under Local Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.