Just as Republican Sheriff Bob Crowder abandoned Rick Scott in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, GOP officials are distancing themselves from Crowder's primary run against U.S. Rep. Allen West.
"He's delusional," Martin County Executive Committee member Chuck Winn said of Crowder.
Winn said he expects GOP organizations in the 18th Congressional District to endorse West in the primary -- if Crowder even gets that far.
"I'd be surprised if he manages to make it beyond the May filing deadline. I don't see where he gets his support," said Winn.
The two men have a history of political disagreements going back to at least 2006, when Crowder declined to support now-state Sen. Joe Negron's unsuccessful bid to replace former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley in the 16th Congressional District. In the 2008 sheriff's race, Winn filed to run against Crowder as an independent, mainly to ensure a closed primary and force Crowder to face two more conservative Republicans before only Republican voters in a largely conservative county.
Crowder, in an interview with Sunshine State News, played up his long roots in Martin and St. Lucie counties, which comprise the bulk of CD 18.
"This is nothing personal. I admire [West's] military service. But this area needs someone who knows the district," said Crowder, who has been Martin County's sheriff for 20 years.
"There is a rising tide of people upset with gridlock in Congress. I want to find consensus," Crowder said.
Crowder did not identify specific issues where he would have voted differently from West. Nor could he point to any polling numbers or endorsements to bolster his uphill run against an incumbent with a $5 million war chest.
Crowder did admit that the TV ad he taped attacking Scott during the 2010 election hasn't sat well with Republicans.
"I caught a lot of flak for that, but I can handle it.
"Sure it will hurt with some hard-liners who may never forgive me. But a lot of people who were critical of me at the time have been in touch since then and said they agreed with it now," Crowder said.
Yet the sheriff's cold shoulder to the GOP was just the tip of the political iceberg, says Eric Miller, Republican state committeeman for Martin County.
"Bob has a tendency to take positions that are politically expedient for him. I don't need someone reaching across the aisle to Harry Reid.
"I'm going full guns against this guy, and I'm not letting him off," said Miller, who, as president of the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, clashed with Crowder over what he saw as lackadaisical or conflicting enforcement policies by the sheriff's office.
Local Republican parties can endorse in primary elections, and several members are angling to do just that in support of West.
St. Lucie County GOP Chairman Bill Patterson said, "Everyone I've spoken to in the Republican Executive Committee is a supporter of Allen West.
"West is the stronger candidate. He didn't do anything silly like endorsing Democrats in the last election," Patterson said.
Still, Patterson said, it is "premature" to discuss an endorsement before the St. Lucie REC meets on Tuesday.
Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein said that while he personally opposes endorsements in "open" seats, he has received a request to put the question on the REC's March 14 agenda.
"I will start by putting it on our Feb. 27 board agenda," said Dinerstein, who added, "If the sheriff had an ounce of integrity he would have switched parties and run as a Democrat."
Brian Hughes, spokesman for the Republican Party of Florida, said there was no move at the state level to endorse in the CD 18 race ... yet.
"It doesn't go unnoticed that a sheriff, as a Republican, was happy to endorse a Democrat for governor," Hughes observed.
Winn said Treasure Coast Republicans have plenty of reasons to be infuriated with Crowder.
"He refused to endorse [Republican] Joe Negron in the 2006 congressional race and in Negron's 2009 state Senate campaign. Crowder doesn't understand the nuances of loyalty -- that will come back to haunt him," Winn said.
Crowder counters that he has early indications of support, including "encouraging" words from St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara, a Democrat.
Mascara, reached by Sunshine State News, called Crowder "intelligent and pragmatic."
"I can't think of anyone better for Congress from this area," Mascara said.
In reference to red-meat Republicans, Crowder said, "I don't have any big problem with the tea party. But we have to maintain our reason and return to caring about each other. We need to pull it together."
Even the sheriff's toughest critics do not underestimate him.
"The electorate is at an uneducated level, and a local guy could get some traction," Miller notes.
But Republicans suggest that Crowder's claims to a hometown advantage may be overblown, since 25 percent of the newly drawn CD 18 carries over from West's current district. Both districts took on slightly higher Democratic voter registrations during reapportionment.
Miller asserts that, in the final analysis, provincial appeal doesn't necessarily make an effective congressman.
"What issues, really, does the Treasure Coast have at a federal level that Crowder knows best?" he asked.
Further stirring the Treasure Coast's political waters, tea party activist Everett Wilkinson said he might enter the CD 18 contest as an independent.
Asserting that West could be perceived as a "carpetbagger" for moving up from Broward County, Wilkinson, a north Palm Beach County resident, said, "It is natural that other people who live in the CD 18 consider running.
"I am one of those people considering running and would run either third party or independent to avoid a primary," said Wilkinson, who supported Bill McCollum over Scott in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
