Continuing his stunning -- some say long overdue -- fall from grace, former state GOP chairman Jim Greer was assailed by a Republican National Committee spokesman on Thursday.
Citing Greer's indictment on fraud and money-laundering charges, RNC spokesman Doug Heye called the accusations "unacceptable" and said donors "have a right to know that that their hard earned money is being used, as they expect, to elect candidates who stand for their principles."
"We look forward to justice being served," Heye said in a statement. "Sweetheart deals and personal enrichment are every bit as unacceptable as the offering of political appointments to keep Democratic candidates out of primaries."
The rebuke was all the more notable considering that Greer had been a prominent supporter of RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
According to IRS records, on Jan. 28, 2009, two days before Steele's victory, Greer directed $15,000 from his campaign 527 account to the "Steele for Chairman" committee. It reportedly was one of the largest direct contributions to Steele's bid by any donor.
Steele later backed Greer to chair the influential RNC Rules Committee.
As a player in top GOP circles, Greer rubbed some fellow Republicans the wrong way.
Sharon Day, an RNC committeewoman who challenged John Thrasher for the state party chairmanship this spring, thought Greer was a pompous showboat.
"We were at RNC meetings, and if you were to believe Jim Greer, the governor was calling him every 40 minutes," Day told the Orlando Sentinel.
In fact, the highest elected office attained by Greer was vice mayor of Oveido.
Greer was elevated out of obscurity in 2007 when his longtime friend, newly elected Gov. Charlie Crist, tapped him to become state chairman.
Morphing into a powerful party boss who was considered a leading voice from a key political battleground, Greer once eyed his own bid to head the RNC.
Positioning himself as a pragmatic middle-of-the-roader politically on social issues such as immigration, he clashed with South Carolina chairman Katon Dawson, who espoused more fundamentally conservative views.
Dawson, who came in second in the 2009 RNC vote, is said to be organizing yet another move to dump Steele, who was not quoted in today's statement from headquarters in Washington.
Marco Rubio, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, said through a spokesman that Greer's travails also taint newly independent Senate candidate Crist.
"Try as he may to audaciously distance himself from his hand-picked party chairman, Charlie Crist can't escape the fact that he blindly stood by Jim Greer and ignored all the warnings about his mismanagement of the party," said Alex Burgos, spokesman for Rubio.
"In trying to absolve himself of any responsibility for his hand-picked chairman, Charlie Crist has once again proven why Floridians cannot trust him. Fortunately, neither Charlie Crist nor Jim Greer can continue abusing Republicans' trust to serve their political ambitions," Burgos said.
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Reach Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
