Republican event organizer quits, citing `lies'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Republican event organizer quits, citing `lies'
Calling claims against him irrelevant and 'old news,' an organizer for a presidential event in which Rudy Giuliani will be the keynote speaker said he would step down.

BY MARC CAPUTO AND GARY FINEOUT
[e-mail]

TALLAHASSEE -- A St. Petersburg organizer for a Rudy Giuliani presidential event plans to step down amid revelations of his arrests for allegedly extorting an FSU student in a sex case and his conviction for dealing in stolen state computers.

Barry S. Edwards, 45, told The Miami Herald that the charges against him were ''old news'' -- and were 'unfounded' in the student sex case -- but he nevertheless thought it would be best to withdraw from the Pinellas County Republican Party fundraiser because ``I'm not relevant and I shouldn't be the story.''

Edwards said he was not being paid for organizing the Sept. 7 Reagan Day dinner, and had no real connection to the campaign of Giuliani, who is to be the keynote speaker at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club in St. Petersburg.

Edwards is listed as the events chairman on the invitation for the $100 per ticket dinner.

The two criminal incidents involving Edwards were unrelated, and occurred within months of each other in 1998.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/222410.html

[PSPS]

1. Geez, they're all closet cases!

This is getting pretty routine, isn't it? From later in the article:

According to a Florida State University arrest affidavit: Edwards was first charged after a 19-year-old FSU political science intern claimed Edwards, then an adjunct professor, plied him with beers, trolled briefly for prostitutes, watched ''heterosexual'' pornography and then exhorted him to masturbate in a game.

The intern said Edwards threatened him with bad grades if he didn't ''get into it.'' He declined to press charges. Edwards said the claims were ''lies'' but he didn't ''want to revisit it.'' Edwards was fired from FSU.

[SpiralHawk]

10. repubicon Homelander closet cases

What a bunch of self-serving, self-lying deviants the republicon homelanders are

Why do republicon homelanders HATE America?

[Tab]

21. That's an unfair statement

I'm sure that if we looked really hard, we'd find one Republican that was straight, honest and meant well, though misguided. The title to your post is unfair to that one Republican, lumping him in with the other 99.9999%.

[bluerum]

2. My criminal past is old news. Please - pay no attention to my predilection

for extorting sex from college students and stealing state property.

[Joe Bacon]

13. Rudy sure knows how to pick 'em

Wow, cocaine dealers in South Carolina, his pal Bernie, the child molesting priest and now this guy. Damn, Rudy's skull must be emptier that President Asshole's!

[melody]

14. Follows in the great GOP tradition of selecting underlings you have dirt on

Bush's daddy perfected the process with the Call Boy photo ring.

[drm604]

23. I think you've hit the nail on the head.

This is exactly what I've been saying. When they want someone to do their dirty work they find people they can blackmail, preferably sexually. It explains so much.

Gannon/Guckert was a red flag. Foley added to the evidence. Then Matt Sanchez. Then Craig, and now this.

Add in the whole DC Madam business, and the double murder homicide in Florida which may or may not be connected to the murder of a man who ran a gay escort service.

It's all too much to ignore.

[melody]

25. Yup, also the Bushies set-up call boy and drugs parties to set-up people

They collected lots of photos and thereby compromised a whole lot of people. That's how the
Bush cabal has always wielded power. Rudy G is just another member of the mob.

[MindMatter]

24. They have pills to cure "gay" now, don't they?

[The Wielding Truth]

3. How can they think that old line "old news" will still work? It's OLD!

[krispos42]

4. "Reagan Day" omfg

Trying desperately to turn a turd into an idol!

The Reagan Day celebration is a name sometimes given to the primary annual fundraising event of the U.S. Republican Party on local and state levels. It is named after the late President Ronald Reagan and is held in February or March depending on the location.

A movement to rename the traditional Lincoln Day dinner as Reagan Day has been underway for several years but gained momentum after Reagan's death on June 5, 2004. Though not yet as common as Lincoln Day, Reagan Day is growing in popularity particularly in the southern states, Reagan's home state of California, USA, and the counties near his boyhood home in Illinois.

<more>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Day

"...held in February or March depending on the location."

And this was scheduled for September 7th!?!?!?!?

:wtf:

[PSPS]

5. HAHA Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny too

I guess any time a republican is trying to fleece money from people could rightfully be called "Reagan Day."

[abq e streeter]

6. GREAT LINE

What a great line. Gotta share this one with my friends. Even if I'm jealous that someone thought if it before me.

[tanyev]

7. "I'm not relevant"

Were truer words ever spoken by a Republican?

[mwb970]

8. "I am not relevant. I never have been relevant." /nt

[liberal N proud]

9. Being republican means:

It means being corrupt
It means being a pervert
It means being a liar

Add you own:

[callous taoboy]

20. hypocritical leanings, bizarre illogic with big money behind it....

could go on forever...

[gratuitous]

11. Boy, these campaigns are having the worst luck

I mean, come on! How many campaign operatives, fundraisers, and so forth will Giuliani, Romney, McCain and the rest run through because of the bad luck that seems to consistently pop up with all of these guys for one reason or another? A casual observer might just conclude that they're all a bunch of liars and crooks, and we know that can't be true, because Giuliani was America's mayor, Romney is so darn good-looking (and I mean that in a chaste, heterosexual way of course), and McCain is such a straight talker, out whichever side of his mouth he happens to be using at any given moment.

[Cirque du So-What]

12. Although this photo is meant sarcastically

it's definitely apropos in this instance.

[creeksneakers2]

15. Another double standard news story

A fundraiser for Hillary turned out to have a warrant from 1991, over a decade before he even met Hillary, and that was a three day national news story that is still being investigated by the New York Times, the FBI and probably 100 RNC interns.

Romney and Guiliani both have fundraisers in trouble with the law and there is barely a whisper.

[Orsino]

16. Did they can him for having no recent criminal involvement?

The GOP has standards, after all. They've got no time for criminal wannabes.

[rocktivity]

17. a...FSU...intern claimed Edwards, then an adjunct professor, plied him with beers,

trolled...for prostitutes, watched...pornography and then exhorted him to masturbate...Edwards said the claims were "lies"...(He) was fired from FSU...The victim...requested that charges be dropped.

In 1999, Edwards pleaded no contest to...(the theft of) $10,000 worth of computer equipment from offices of the Florida Legislature...A judge withheld adjudication, meaning Edwards is not a convicted felon. Edwards said he stole nothing, but that he used bad judgment. He...likened the situation to buying a Rolex watch for $200. "Either it's fake or its stolen," he said.

Yet another example of Guiliani's poor judgment in picking Southern campaign associates. He wasn't acquitted of the theft charges, so he's just an UNconvicted felon! And how the do you get such a light sentence for stealing $10k worth of property from state government?

:wtf:
rocknation

[fightthegoodfightnow]

18. GOP: Grand Old Potty

Like the Catholic church, their unhealthy attitude toward homosexuality continues to be the golden egg that just keeps on hatching.

Too bad they cannot simply embrace equality without regard to sexuality so no one cared about their dirty little secrets.

[lib2DaBone]

19. Mary Matilan

Mary Matilan on "Timeh Show" today pimping for Fred Thompson... she didnt get the memo.... I wish all the Republican Pimps would give it a rest....they dont get it...

[Redstone]

22. Republicans will NEVER run out of excuses, will they? Just when we thought we'd heard

it all, here comes a new one: "old news."

They may be perverted bastards, but they're damn clever at inventing excuses, aren't they?

Redstone

[varun]

26. Its raining repug closet cases

Looks like they are being yanked out of the closet in greater numbers every day.