Whack-A-Doodle-Do: Former Right-Wing Crazies Chairman
As he awaits a criminal trial that was recently postponed until after the general election, former Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer has been answering lots of questions from the lawyers of RPOF members he's suing to collect money they promised him when he resigned.
In depositions, Greer says members of the party were "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies'' and that they held meetings to discuss voter suppression, specifically black voters:
In a wide-ranging deposition that spanned two days in late May, former Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer denounced some party officials as liars and "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies'' as he described turmoil in the months before his resignation...
...Greer's testimony offers a window into the level of animosity that exists between Greer and the party he once ran.
• Greer said "the party was in turmoil" as officials wanted to get rid of him and former Gov. Charlie Crist because they disagreed with some of Crist's decisions, including the appointment of a liberal African-American judge to the Florida Supreme Court, Crist's endorsement of John McCain for president in 2008 and the hug Crist gave President Barack Obama in 2009. "My phone lit up with people wanting me to censure the governor,'' Greer said. "The tea party came into existence. There was a feeling within the party that the tea party was just a bunch of whack-a-dos."
• After the party's budget and audit committee started asking questions about House and Senate spending, including legislators who used party credit cards for personal expenses, Greer said he wanted to open the books and credit card records, but party officials and legislative leaders vetoed the idea.
• Greer said he warned others at the party that the budget committee was made up of "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies'' who were trying to take over because of continuing disagreements with Crist and legislative leaders. House and Senate leaders insisted that no one at the party could control their campaign finances. "We eat what we kill,'' Greer said the leaders told him. "Legislative leaders were using their party credit cards like drunken sailors and they made it clear to me I was not to interfere with their spending,'' Greer said.
Thrasher, who succeeded Greer as party chairman, called Greer's suggestion of voter suppression and other accusations "absurd, absolutely absurd'' and said Greer is making "baseless accusations on other people in an effort to divert attention from himself.''
Absurd? Actually it seems perfectly plausible considering the massive voter purge currently being conducted by Florida Governor Rick Scott.
Plus, Greer would know. This isn't the first time he's made racist accusations against his party. In fact he participated right along with them back in 2010:
Before Greer was arrested for those things, he became famous for trying to scare parents and their children by claiming that a speech President Obama would be giving in schools would “use taxpayer dollars to spread his socialist ideology,” and that Obama would be “indoctrinating” children. His claims so alarmed parents that many of them kept their children home from school that day, rather than being forced to watch the speech. What was the scary socialist speech about, you might ask? It was about the importance of education, attending school, and inspiring children to be good students.
Greer later had a change of heart, and said he wanted to "set the record straight:"
“In the year since I issued a prepared statement regarding President Obama speaking to the nation’s schoolchildren, I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served,” Greer said in a written statement. “Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views and I apologize to the President for my opposition to his speech last year and my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our party today. My children and I look forward to the president speech.”
As for his claims that members of the GOP are "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies,'' well that goes without saying. Since the Tea Party wing of the GOP came along, it's been an all out race to the bottom, from racist views, charges of "big government intrusion," (except for taking away their Medicare, of course) their stance against evolution and global warming, and of course, wanting to "take their country back" to the days when people of color and women "knew their place," just to name a few.
It's probably no wonder they got Greer's criminal trial was postponed until after the general election. One can just imagine what other secrets of the Republican Party of Florida will come out during the trial that we aren't already aware of.
