Florida GOP Leaders Offered Ousted RPOF Chairman Jim Greer 'Hush Money?'

[flpoljunkie]

Not looking good for the Florida Republican party!

March 31, 2010

GOP leaders signed severance agreement with Greer. And offered him 'hush money'?

The state Republican Party signed a severance agreement with ousted Chairman Jim Greer upon his departure that cleared him of all wrongdoing and paid him $11,250 a month and health insurance to serve as an outside consultant, according to documents obtained by the Times/Herald.

State party officials have long denied the existence of the Jan. 4 agreement, which was authorized by now-party Chairman John Thrasher, Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, Speaker-designate Dean Cannon and party officials, including General Counsel Jason Gonzalez.

A letter written to the party Tuesday from Greer's attorney Damon Chase also discloses that associates of Haridopolos and Cannon offered to pay Greer $200,000 of "hush money" to stay quiet about the agreement, documents show.

Greer is facing a criminal investigation for diverting party money to a company he controlled. But its unclear whether it would insulate Greer from any consequences.

As signed by party treasurer Joel Pate and vice treasurer Allen Miller, it states that "all RPOF expenditures made during Chairman Greer's term as RPOF Chairman were proper, lawful, appropriate ... "

--Beth Reinhard contributed to this report

Posted by John Frank at 06:36:13 PM on March 31, 2010

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/03/gop-leaders-signed-severance-agreement-with-greer-and-offered-him-hush-money.html

[tanyev]

1. What does RPOF stand for? Ripoff?

[flpoljunkie]

2. Ha! Close. Republican Party of Florida.

[tanyev]

3. Huh. I just googled what they call themselves here in Texas,

'cause I never heard of any RPOTs. Apparently RPT is the designation here. Guess they don't want to be POTheads. :smoke:

[Cha]

4. Kick & R!

[flpoljunkie]

5. Alex Sink Camp: McCollum Was Greer's Hand-Picked Man

Sink camp: McCollum was Greer’s hand-picked man

TALLAHASSEE – Rushing to make the most out of Jim Greer’s misfortunes, Democrat Alex Sink’s gubernatorial campaign is claiming Republican opponent Bill McCollum was a “hand-picked” Greer candidate who refused to launch an investigation back in January.

True, Greer strongly discouraged Ag Commissioner Charlie Bronson, Sen. Paula Dockery and others from jumping into the governor’s race to save the party money (Dockery did anyway). But this would be the same McCollum who was quietly helping to force Greer out the door in Janaury, and who installed Allan Bense at the RPOF to look over the coffers because he didn’t trust Greer.

Here’s the release:

Gubernatorial Candidate Bill McCollum learned about the Republican Party of Florida’s contract with Victory Strategies in January, yet he repeatedly refused to initiate an investigation for months. With the FDLE now opening an investigation into criminal allegations against Jim Greer, questions arise about what else Bill McCollum knew and if his close relationship with Greer caused him to delay action for too long.

“Bill McCollum was Jim Greer’s hand-picked candidate for Governor, and McCollum refused to call for an immediate investigation months ago,” said Paul Dunn, Sink for Governor Campaign Manager.“ Bill McCollum knew about this contract since January, yet he stalled an FDLE investigation and still hasn’t called for a special prosecutor to look into this contract and the other scandals at the Republican Party of Florida.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/03/sink-camp-mccollum-was-greers-hand-picked-man.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Fpolitics%2Fpoliticalpulse+%28Central+Florida+Political+Pulse%29

[flpoljunkie]

6. Blog updated to say Times/Herald has copy of contract which includes Greer's signature.

Gonzalez said in an interview late Wednesday that the contract is worthless because Greer never signed the document. (The copy obtained by the Times/Herald includes Greer's signature.)

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/03/gop-leaders-signed-severance-agreement-with-greer-and-offered-him-hush-money.html

[nashville_brook]

7. wow, who would unrec this?

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. There's something you need to know about Florida,

and it's probably true everywhere. These kind of arrangements are common, only they don't usually get caught. If you think these boys are bad, you should see the operatives, usually attorneys, who know the secrets of both parties. Each time you think they've gone too far, someone even higher up appoints them to another cushy job. It's very disheartening, because you know each time they get promoted, that some big fish will get away along with him.