Florida Republican Chair Steps Down, Slams Right-Wing Critics
Christopher Weber
Correspondent
Posted:
01/5/10
The chairman of the Florida GOP, Jim Greer, has announced his resignation, blaming right-wing critics who he says have "turned their guns on fellow Republicans."
On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Greer said he would step down Feb. 20, the Associated Press reported.
Greer was selected to run Florida's Republican Party three years ago by Gov. Charlie Crist, a GOP moderate now locked in a tense Senate primary race against the more conservative former state congressman Marco Rubio.
Rubio's supporters, many aligned with the conservative "tea party" movement, have accused Greer of mismanaging party funds and being biased against Rubio. Greer strongly denied the accusations and lashed out at his critics during the conference call.
"They have distorted facts, they have talked about misspending of money, when the facts have been shown over and over and over that that's not true," Greer said. "They simply have two goals in mind, and if the first one fails, fall back to the second one. And the first one is remove me as chairman, and if that doesn't work, burn the house down and destroy the Republican Party of Florida."
Greer stressed that he still had the backing of the governor. Crist released a statement Tuesday expressing his support for Greer and calling on Florida Republicans "to unite behind our common values of less government and more personal freedom and...move forward together to ensure statewide Republican victories in 2010."
On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Greer said he would step down Feb. 20, the Associated Press reported.
Greer was selected to run Florida's Republican Party three years ago by Gov. Charlie Crist, a GOP moderate now locked in a tense Senate primary race against the more conservative former state congressman Marco Rubio.
Rubio's supporters, many aligned with the conservative "tea party" movement, have accused Greer of mismanaging party funds and being biased against Rubio. Greer strongly denied the accusations and lashed out at his critics during the conference call.
"They have distorted facts, they have talked about misspending of money, when the facts have been shown over and over and over that that's not true," Greer said. "They simply have two goals in mind, and if the first one fails, fall back to the second one. And the first one is remove me as chairman, and if that doesn't work, burn the house down and destroy the Republican Party of Florida."
Greer declined to respond to a question about whether a Rubio victory would hurt the GOP, according to TPM.
"No, I'm not commenting on any particular campaign," he said. "And at the end of the day, the voters will decide what the Republican Party should look like."