Where was Jay Burmer when Charlie Crist needed him?
By all accounts, the governor's announcement that he was running for U.S. Senate as an independent lacked the energy and organization that fueled Crist's campaign events in the past.
Politico.com said the lightly attended St. Petersburg rally "had the feel of the haphazard move it was."
His hometown newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, noted that While other Crist staffers promptly resigned, finance director Dane Eagle ... left the event holding a trademark of Crist's public appearances in each hand -- two portable fans to keep the governor cool.
When asked who his campaign manager would be, the governor pointed to himself.
Though Crist expects to pick up sizable contributions at a fund-raiser at his wife's Fisher Island home this weekend, his ragged campaign is a far cry from the well-oiled, party-supported machine it once was.
One of the cogs in that machine was Jay Burmer, who directed Crist's campaign for education commissioner in 2000 and subsequently landed a series of political appointments.
But lately Burmer -- like two other Crist cronies, disgraced Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer and former RPOF treasurer Delmar Johnson -- has become more of a liability than an asset amid intensifying scrutiny of party finances.
Burmer's name popped up prominently this past week as receiving $316,000 for party consulting work during a 2 1/2-year period under the Greer regime.
It was not clear what exactly Burmer did to earn this payout, which only fueled speculation of rampant cronyism, "ghost" employment, or worse. Once an insider, ableit a shadowy one, Burmer is now being tossed like a toxic hot potato.
Greer's attorney, Damon Chase, told Sunshine State News that Burmer "did not work closely with the chairman (Greer)." To ascertain what Burmer did do, Chase advised, "Talk to (RPOF Chairman John) Thrasher. All records are at the RPOF."
At RPOF headquarters, spokeswoman Katie Gordon Betta responded:
"Chairman Thrasher will not be able to comment on the nature of Burmers work, given that he has not been employed by the party since weeks prior to Chairman Thrashers election.
"The last payment to Mr. Burmer in the amount of $15,000 was made during Mr. Greers chairmanship."
Asked about records pertaining to Burmer's duties, Betta stated in an e-mail:
"The services portion of Mr. Burmers contract states that he will perform services including, but not limited to strategic media planning. The communications staff of the RPOF has never worked with Mr. Burmer, so it does not appear that anyone currently or recently employed by the RPOF would be able to comment in detail as to the nature of his responsibilities.
"The only insight we have into his role at the party is his contract, to which Mr. Greer signed an addendum on March 15, 2007, awarding Mr. Burmer an increase in compensation. Mr. Greers is the only signature on the addendum, so I dont know that anyone else at the RPOF would be able to provide insight into Mr. Burmers role."
Further distancing his client from Burmer, Greer attorney Chase invoked Crist's name, telling the Times, ``When the governor tells the chairman to hire Burmer as a consultant for $10,000 a month, the chairman signs the contract."
Chase suggested that Crist asked his client to put Burmer on the payroll as a personal adviser, according to the Times. The co-mingling of funds and duties is among the subjects of ongoing state and federal investigations of party finances.
Greer, Crist's handpicked choice for RPOF chairman, ``grossly interfered with the activities of the Republican Party," Thrasher said after completion of an internal audit.
Crist spokesmen have declined to comment on the Burmer matter, and Burmer was not reachable.
Still, the vague and sometimes-conflicting accounts about the duties and qualifications of the governor's longtime friend add to the baggage Crist carries into the Senate race -- even as the governor tries to distance himself from the party.
Burmer, 57, and Crist, 53, go way back to their days at Florida State University. Burmer the marketer and Crist the politician apparently made a good fit.
Over the years, Burmer started several marketing and consulting companies. Most recently he ran the Green Wolf Group out of his South Tampa home in the wake of a 2004 bankruptcy.
After Burmer directed Crist's campaign for education commissioner in 2000, Crist appointed him to a $75,000-a-year job as a regional officer. After Crist was elected attorney general, Burmer was named his "director of fraud prevention."
What qualified Burmer, a lifelong advertising and marketing man, for these positions is unknown -- just as it remains unclear what Burmer did to earn his $316,000 payout from the RPOF under Greer and Crist.
Erin VanSickle, then the party's communications director, said Burmer's work was a mystery to her. Yet at $316,000 over 2 1/2 years, Burmer made more than the party's entire communications department.
Others are similarly befuddled.
For all his recent notoriety, Tallahassee uber-lobbyist Ron Book and former RPOF Chairman Al Cardenas told Sunshine State News they never came across Burmer.
"I think there were a lot of cronies that were receiving pay washed through the Republican Party of Florida," former RPOF vice chairman Allen Cox was quoted as saying recently.
"This is another reason why Republicans are happy to stand at the dock and wave goodbye to Charlie Crist," said Michael Caputo, a Miami-based political consultant who works primarily on GOP campaigns.
"The culture of the Crist ruling elite is something Florida won't miss."
Caputo expects that more revelations will be forthcoming as investigators dig deeper into the the party's books -- and that those revelations will haunt Crist on the campaign trail.
"Crist is driven by aspirations, not principle, and he surrounded himself with the same kind of people. Greer was plucked from obscurity, and now we know why," Caputo said.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
