In these tough economic times, you'll be glad to know that Florida's Republican Party leaders are doing their part to stimulate the economy. In fact, the St. Petersburg Times reveals today that the party picked up the $5,100 tab for Florida Republican Party chair Jim Greer's two-day stay at the posh Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach in July. The bulk of that bill was $3,600 that Greer and his wife spent for a dinner at the hotel's Brasserie L'Escalier restaurant. No, that's not a typo. $3,600 for a dinner for two.
There have been grumblings among Florida Republicans for some time now about Greer's lavish spending habits with the state GOP's funds and his poor management of those funds. There was ongoing tension over money issues in Florida between Greer and John McCain's campaign during the presidential race. The state party kept telling the McCain campaign that it didn't have money to help the presidential candidate with this or that need, yet McCain supporters kept seeing Greer and other state party officials spending money like drunken sailors on chartered jets, sports tickets, new clothes and the like. The tensions blew into the open last month when some state party faithful issued a public call for an audit of the finances of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF).
"There are many folks who believe it's time for the RPOF to run the party with an eye toward fiscal discipline," said Brian Ballard, Florida finance chairman for the John McCain campaign. "Not a day goes by where somebody won't grab me and say you have to get control of the party -- it's out of control."
While concerns about Greer's spending have been festering behind the scenes for weeks, New Port Richey Republican Joe Aloisio brought the dust-up into the open Thursday when he sent a letter to party members calling for an audit of party finances.
He asked why the party bought tickets to sporting events such as Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees games, trips to Disney World, and spent $682,000 on chartered planes when it could have been spending on TV and radio advertising for John McCain.
"Misappropriated money from the RPOF would have easily financed Spanish language and African-American media . . . and picked up the 3 percent we needed to win for John McCain," he wrote.
(Do the Repugs REALLY think that all it would have taken for McCain to win more of the black and latino vote in Florida was more ads??? Whatever.)
Thus far no audit has been forthcoming, so the St. Pete Times and the Miami Herald have apparently decided to do some investigating of their own. The newspapers obtained a $5,100 bill from the Breakers showing that Greer used party money to pay for spa treatments, seafood dinners and limousines during a two-day party fundraiser in July for incoming Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater.
The kicker, as I reported above, is $3,600 for dinner at the hotel's Brasserie L'Escalier restaurant for Greer and his wife. This number really caught my eye. How, exactly, can two people spend $3,600 on a single dinner? Inquiring minds wanted to know. I checked out the restaurant's dinner menu, and while the food is certainly expensive ($18 for a steamed mussels appetizer, $48 for filet mignon au poivre), even if you figured that the Greers pigged out on an appetizer, soup, salad, entree and dessert, and ordered the most expensive item in each category, that "only" accounts for about $300-$350. So they must have spent the rest of the money on some REALLY expensive wine, and lots of it (the wine menu is not available online so I can only guess here).
The party's explanation for Greer's lavish spending is such lame drivel that I won't bother spelling it out, but you can read it here. Anyway, as fascinating as it is for me to try to figure out how corrupt Republicans live and spend, the outrageous restaurant bill is not the even most interesting part of this story. It's the state party in-fighting between the moderate and conservative wing that has escalated thanks to Greer's over-the-top spending of party funds.
Greer is part of the party's moderate wing, and he has the full support of Gov. Charlie Crist. When the party's criticism of Greer went public last month, Crist backed him up. The governor said he saw no need for an audit and endorsed Greer for another two-year term as party chairman. As recently as three days ago, Crist continued to support Greer despite the growing criticism, but there has been no comment yet from Crist on this latest revelation.
On the other side you've got conservatives who are increasingly calling for Greer's head, and conservative businessman Eric Miller is challenging Greer for the party chairmanship. It looks like the conservos are pinning their hopes on the newly emergent Jeb Bush to save the day for them.
(McCain campaign major fundraiser Ana) Navarro said that as long as Greer has the support of Gov. Charlie Crist, he will be re-elected. But, she noted, if former Gov. Jeb Bush runs for the Senate seat being opened by Republican Mel Martinez's retirement, he won't tolerate "excessive spending and inefficiencies in the party budget."
"You better believe there will be a marked change in how things are done if Jeb Bush runs for the Senate," she said.
So get out the popcorn, this could be fun to watch. And please let me know if you can help shed any light on how the Greers actually spent that much on dinner. I'm at a loss.