A joint statement by Deborah Cox-Roush and Dave Bitner -- candidates for state Republican Party chairman -- suggests that the two have more in common than their professed distaste for political mudslinging.
Both Cox-Roush and Bitner have been targets of back-channel attacks: Cox-Roush for her 2004 DUI arrest and Bitner for a 1999 domestic-abuse complaint.
Though the news tips surfaced anonymously and belatedly, neither Cox-Roush nor Bitner has denied them.
And while Bitner's wife, Wendy, said she withdrew her abuse complaint, the Bitners failed to disclose an earlier divorce filing -- an omission that could stoke the party's simmering political bonfire.
Cox-Roush, who serves as vice chairman of the state party, and Bitner, a state committeeman from Jefferson County, remain peeved about the inconvenient truths.
In a joint statement issued this week, the two wrote:
The latest anonymous mailer sent to voting members of the Republican Party of Florida is reprehensible and goes over the line. There is no place for personal attacks in this election and those responsible are engaging in actions beneath all that the Republican Party symbolizes and represents.
"This election is about the future of our party and nothing more. We condemn any candidate embracing the politics of personal destruction and invite everyone running to publicly pledge to stick to the issues and sharing ideas that will further the success of our party.
Seemingly more concerned about the messengers than the message, Cox-Roush and Bitner imply that one or more of their three rivals in the GOP field may be responsible for "the politics of personal destruction."
The three other candidates -- Joe Gruters, Sid Dinerstein and Tony DiMatteo -- deny any involvement. Some party members suggest that the anonymous information came from outsiders, perhaps even from the Democratic Party.
According to sources who spoke confidentially to Sunshine State News, Cox-Roush and Bitner have "an arrangement" going in to Saturday's RPOF elections. The agreement stipulates that the winner will support the other for vice chair.
Cox-Roush rejected that scenario on her part, saying, "I am not a candidate for vice chairman."
"I know Dave well, we've worked together before. But this is about our party moving forward," she said.
Bitner was not available for comment.
BITNER BRINGS MORE OLD BAGGAGE
While Cox-Roush and Bitner strive to take the offensive, Sunshine State News has learned about further potentially damaging revelations in Bitner's past.
Two years before filing the domestic-abuse complaint, Wendy Bitner filed for divorce in 1997, according to Lee County court records.
Although Mrs. Bitner downplayed the domestic-abuse issue as "a heated moment," neither she nor Bitner disclosed the existence of the earlier divorce papers. Both filings were withdrawn.
If the divorce had gone through, it would have been split No. 5 for Bitner, a former state legislator and lobbyist.
Clearly, there was tension on the home front.
In a 1992 letter to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, during Bitner's first run for the state House of Representatives, Jennifer Blackburn painted a less than harmonious picture of life as Bitner's only child.
The letter, titled "I Wish I Could Vote for My Father, But I Can't," describes a strained and distant relationship:
"My mother and father were divorced when I was 2 years old. I lived with my mother (and my stepfather) in Port Charlotte. My father moved up the road to Venice, but it might as well have been Venice, Italy.
"From the time I was 2 until I was 14, we rarely visited and he almost never called. Sometimes he would make appointments to see me and not show up. When he did show up, he always had a girlfriend with him," Blackburn wrote.
As a legislator, Bitner was criticized by the Florida Lawyers Action Group. In a report titled "Bitner's seat for sale," the group linked Bitner's pro-tobacco and pro-gaming voting records with contributions he received from cigarette makers and race tracks.
After leaving the Legislature and becoming a lobbyist, Bitner garnered more negative publicity in 2003.
Hired by Charlotte County to lobby the governor and the Cabinet during a budget showdown with Sheriff Bill Clement, Bitner was excoriated in a Herald-Tribune editorial, which noted:
"In a shadowy arrangement, [Bitner] parlayed the favorable decision on the sheriff's budget matter into a lobbying contract with the county worth up to $225,000 over three years. The County Commission selectedBitnerfor that contract even though a staff committee reviewing the bids had recommended a Tallahassee law firm that offered to do the work for up to $150,000.
"So far, secret deals benefitingBitnerhave cost county taxpayers an extra $95,000."
DELEGATES STILL WEIGHING THEIR OPTIONS
Delegates to the RPOF meeting in Orlando remain tight-lipped about how they will vote on Saturday -- no doubt skittish over the ongoing revelations about the candidates.
Manny Morono, mayor of Sweetwater and one of Gov. Rick Scott's 10 voting delegates to the election convention, said he would likely give the edge to Cox-Roush because of her experience. But Morono, who was appointed just this week, said he wanted to speak to each candidate before making a final decision.
With the Republican National Convention coming to Tampa in 2012 and Florida up for grabs in the presidential election, the stakes for the state party and its incoming leaders have never been higher.
Calling the chairman's election "the most important vote before Nov. 6, 2012," E. Royce White Jr. of Niceville wrote on RedState.com:
"Florida is the GOP firewall in 2012.If Obama loses here, he loses the 'war.' He knows it and we know it.So make no mistake, the person elected to organize and raise money for the RPOF in 2012 will be the difference between victory or defeat for Barack Hussein Obama.
"That is how important this election for RPOF chairman is on Jan. 15 in Orlando."
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
