Month: February 2010

The Florida Republican Party is:
A. penniless
B. destitute
C. insolvent
D. All of the above.

The correct answer is D, of course. You can add to that morally bankrupt and ethically impoverished, as well.

How else do you explain that last week the state party reported $124,129 in cash and $466,978 in debt. And it has one nasty senate primary race coming up between Gov. Charlie Crist and rising right-winger Marco Rubio, not to mention the general election against a young, dynamic black Democrat who’s pretty good at fundraising (sound familiar?).

How did that happen? The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that it happened through $100 flower arrangements for the wives of party Chairman Jim “Big Jim” Greer and Gov. Crist, thousands of dollars in meals, $15,000 to charter a jet to George LeMieux’s swearing in as U.S. senator, and another $1,800 for in-flight catering services.

Now that was after Greer had made the state GOP leadership turn in their AmEx cards in a symbolic gesture to prove he was on top of the whole spending thingy. Except Greer allowed the party’s executive director, Delmar Johnson, to keep his card — you know, for incidentals. Big Jim and his sidekick Delmar then proceeded to wear the numbers off Delmar’s card, racking up more than 1 million American Express points.

Now that’s big-league spending. Those guys were not slouches when it came to emptying the party’s coffers.

But wait, there’s more:

The records also show that executive director Delmar Johnson padded his $103,000 salary with a secret, $260,000 fundraising contract and another $42,000 for expenses — at the same time the once mighty Florida GOP was having to lay off employees amid anemic fundraising.

Boy, Delmar, that 400 grand is starting to look like real money!

Members of the party had been suspicious of Greer’s oversight of the party’s accounts for many months before his ouster as chairman in December. He had repeatedly assured them that things were under control, and even let some folks look at the books, or at least some of the books … OK, he let them “spot-check” the books, but not audit them. Remember, Big Jim’s the kind of guy who knows how to hide a secret $260k contract.

The Times quoted a text message that was quintessential Greer — a trademark mixture of vague threats and illogical obfuscation:

It is in the best interest of the party and the upcoming chairman’s election to not extensively comment at this time. However, in the future I may do so to ensure the facts are known and the piling on is shown for what it is — political. I will say Delmar Johnson is a good person and a tireless and hard-working man who did a good job as ED and as a fundraiser for RPOF in hard economic times. I’m proud of the man.

Now the Florida Republican Party leadership has its collective panties all in a twist over what to do. If they conduct a full investigation, that could lead to some very public, very embarrassing revelations. If they don’t conduct an investigation, who is going to donate to the party if they can’t be certain that the party will actually spend the money on politics, not pork chops?

These Republican fat cats have been top dogs for too long, and now maybe, just maybe they are getting a taste of comeuppance. For now, we’ll just have to watch the drama unfold. Meanwhile, Big Jim’s keeping mum and Delmar has been laid off.

Urban Dictionary:

The word of the day for Feb. 10 is “Redneck Teleprompter,” defined as “Crib notes written on a public speaker’s hand in order to remind him or her what to say during a speech or interview.”

McClatchy:

The records … show that executive director Delmar Johnson padded his $103,000 salary with a secret, $260,000 fundraising contract and another $42,000 for expenses — at the same time the once mighty Florida GOP was having to lay off employees amid anemic fundraising… Internal records show heavy spending [on credit cards] continued — on Johnson’s card: $100 flower arrangement for the wives of Greer and Gov. Crist; thousands of dollars in meals, $15,000 to charter a jet to George LeMieux’s swearing in as U.S. senator, and another $1,800 for in-flight catering services. The spending helped Johnson rack up more than 1 million American Express points

WaPo:

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) expressed frustration about reports that Obama intends to put the Democratic bills on the table for discussion at the summit, which would be held Feb. 25…

Obama proposed the half-day summit on national television Sunday, but in their letter, the two GOP leaders offer their suspicion that the president is not serious about opening bipartisan negotiations on health-care reform…

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded by saying that Obama has sought Republican input since early last year, and that the president remains interested in hearing ideas that the GOP thinks will advance the reform cause.

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight:

On the top 25 issues of the day, Obama’s position appears to be on the correct side of public opinion on 14: the bank tax, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, campaign finance, the credit card bill, D.C. voting rights, fair pay, financial regulation, gays in the military, hate crimes, the jobs bill, mortgage relief, PAYGO, SCHIP, and Sotomayor. It would appear to be on the wrong side of public opinion on five issues: the GM/Chrysler bailout, Guantanamo Bay, health care, the extension of the TARP program, and terrorist trials. On the other six issues, the polling is probably too ambiguous to render a clear verdict.

Here’s a story that puts the lie to the myth of the “liberal media.” Too bad hardly anyone has been paying attention.

Sen. Dick Shelby (R-Ala.), a snarling, bloodthirsty Cheneyite neo-con, abruptly ended his attempt to force the Obama administration to approve two pork projects for his home state after being called out for taking the nominees “hostage” by New York’s center-right New York Daily News on Sunday.

Even so, it is unclear whether the administration will eventually capitulate and award the projects to Alabama.

The projects include a facility to build Air Force aerial refueling tankers and a new FBI Terrorist Device Analytical Center.

The story burbled to the surface last week when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office announced that Shelby had put a blanket hold on 70 Obama nominees, including a Defense Department position overseeing deployments to Afghanistan.

The story popped up again on Friday when White House spokesman Robert Gibbs chided Shelby for placing his political need to bring home the bacon over the interests of the nation:

“If you needed one example of what’s wrong with this town, it might be that one senator can hold up 70 qualified individuals to make government better because he didn’t get his earmarks.”

Imagine for a moment the bloody hell that would have been raised by Fox News, right-wing radio and Beltway pundits of all stripes if a Democratic senator had put a blanket hold on 70 Bush nominees for security-related positions.

Despite the mentions by Reid’s office and Gibb, Shelby’s blanket hold barely made headlines. One exception was the New York Daily News, in an editorial on Sunday titled, “Abuse of process: Sen. Shelby holds 70 nominees hostage to Alabama pork “:

Shelby’s fit of pique would be bad enough if it stemmed from some principled disagreement over a nominee or two or three. But he doesn’t actually care about the nominees or the jobs. Shelby is in a snit because he’s afraid a $35 billion Pentagon order for aerial refueling tankers might go to Boeing – rather than to a firm that has promised to build the tankers in his state. He’s also miffed, according to his staff, that a proposed FBI facility might not get built in Alabama.

Senators have long used holds as behind-the-scenes bargaining tactics; members can ask party leaders to bottle up a nominee or measure until they are placated. But nobody can recall a hold this sweeping, or one provoked by such selfishness.

This is Richard Shelby: So bent on bringing home the bacon, he’s willing to starve the rest of us.

In fact, Shelby is still holding a few hostages:

Moving forward, [Shelby spokesman Jonathan Graffeo] said Shelby has placed holds on the following nominees: Terry Yonkers, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force; Frank Kendall, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; and Erin Conaton, Under Secretary of the Air Force. Graffeo said the holds will continue until the Obama administration agrees to reexamine the air refueling tanker contract and improvised explosive device lab that led to Shelby’s controversial wider holds.

Graffeo denied Shelby had bowed to the criticism but rather declared victory for the senator, alleging that the holds had merely been meant to get the president’s attention.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we find ourselves charmed by this picture, posted by the West Wing Report, of a chance meeting of former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.