wmlro.com : if you thought chads were the only murky thing in Florida politics, think again
Florida politics is open to question at the best of times: it's a hive of pressure groups, all of them with a special axe to grind - or to put in someone's head if they don't agree to meet demands. And the money that goes along with such dubious activities has raised questions as to the honesty of politicians. But new allegations transcend those of pay-to-play politics and come down to good-old theft of money donated to the Republican Party.
A Hollywood screenwriter would have trouble getting the list of the great and the good involved in the alleged scandal past a producer: who would believe everyone was involved, the producer would ask.
It starts with the Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, and no, that's not a spelling mistake. It is alleged that he, personally, approved the creation of a confidential fundraising scheme by the former Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer.
Greer has been charged with a range of offences including fraud and money laundering and in support of those charges it is alleged that he, together with the party's former Executive Director Delmar W Johnson III, created a company called Victory Strategies - a shell company into which they paid some of the party donations with intent to enrich themselves.
But Greer argues the Kenyan Minister defence. That defence says that it's OK to take public money because there is an agreement to do so. Here Greer says that it was agreed that the Party would not engage professional fundraisers because they are expensive but, instead, he would take on the role for a flat-rate commission of 10%. Greer says that it was not even his idea, bur rather that of George LeMieux, now a US Senator. LeMieux denies having floated the idea.
Further, Greer says that the governor "knew about Victory Strategies from the beginning." Crist says he knew nothing about the company until after Greer resigned. He had told Greer he had a free hand in fund raising and to replace the fundraiser who was costing the party USD30,000 per month, and also to bring in Johnson, but he did not sanction a private arrangement to skim a percentage off the top, he says.
In total, just under USD200,000 is alleged to have been taken: USD125,000 by Grist and about half that amount by Johnson.
Investigators say that it's not the only dubious source of income for Grist and that for some time while he was party chairman he was in serious financial difficulty. He negotiated a private arrangement with a party donor who sent him USD10,000 per month, it is alleged.
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