Charlie Crist: The other shoe is dropping.

[The Backlash Cometh]

Crist was always sitting on a house of cards. It was just a matter of finding out who was hungry enough to topple it over.


Audit of GOP finances implicates Charlie Crist in Florida party's fiscal fiasco

The Republican Party of Florida said Saturday it believes that Gov. Charlie Crist — who left the GOP in April — ran up potentially "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in inappropriate charges over a two-year period and that it might sue its former leader to get the money back.

Party Chairman and state Sen. John Thrasher said the expenses came to light during a just-completed forensic audit of party finances.

The review, which the party did not make public, was initiated earlier this year after former party Chairman Jim Greer was forced from office, in part, by accusations of extravagant spending. Thrasher, who took Greer's place, discussed the report's findings following a three-hour, closed-door meeting with the party's executive board at Disney's Boardwalk Resort.

He said auditors found that Crist, Greer and Delmar Johnson, the party's former executive director, may have inappropriately spent money on travel, consultants, meetings and other items not related to party business.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/state/os-gop-finances-greer-crist-20100911,0,128804.story

[Angry Dragon]

1. Gee ............ Politicians spending money that is not theirs'

Who would have ever thought that would happen??

Stop The Presses!!

They live in a different world than the rest of us ........ any money they see, they believe is theirs' to do with as they wish.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Republicon Family Values -- once again

the absolute pits...note that he was a republicon when he engaged in typcial republicon scamology.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. And he and at least one of his crooked supporters went running to hide

under the skirts of powerful Democrats. Go figure.

[yella_dawg]

37. If so, then there must be exotic prostitution involved somewhere.

Family values indeed.

[Lochloosa]

4. There is a name in this article that everyone should remember...

Sen. John Thrasher is the biggest sleaze bag in Florida. He'll do anything to bring Crist down.

[peekaloo]

29. Payback for that veto on the teacher bill.

Thrasher a former lobbyist for the interests behind said bill.

[monmouth]

5. Bet Rubio and Jeb pushed this audit. Rubio was the one with the

money problems but the questions seemed to have died down. This is repub BS and the way they roll here in Florida.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. This was always hanging over Crist. Anyone who didn't realize that the

Republicans were going to give him the special Florida treatment was naive.

[monmouth]

7. It was just a matter of time, hope Charlie has the right answers or

he's toast and Rubio will be in. Jeb is all about winning one way or the other, no matter how sleazy it gets... Meek is way behind all of them...

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Meek could win if the Democrats could shame their racist sector.

[monmouth]

12. Has nothing to do with race, he's a weak candidate...

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. That's not what people on this newsgroup have said.

They claimed that Democrats in the panhandle would never vote for a black candidate. Meek can win if we can get Tampa and Tallahassee area to stay loyal to the party.

[monmouth]

14. I'm Palm Beach County but I think you're right about the panhandle,

Joey the Scar is from there.. Tampa and Tally are not much better from what I've heard. Hard to tell yet. I've met Meek and liked him very much, met his mother down here when they both came to PB County. Honestly, he strikes me as too nice and sweet for the scum in Tally..LOL..

[flyarm]

19. WTF?????????? You do know Obama won Fla don't you?? what a $#$$@# statement!

Oh and in the 2008 primary, all the counties Obama won almost all bordered Georgia!

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. From your mouth to everyone else's ear.

I'm with you on this. I think Meek has been the victim of someone's evil architect.

[flyarm]

22. Like Monmouth said..Meek is a very weak candidate. Hardly known on the West Coast of Fla!

he didn't start running commercials to the West Coast until Mid August..many of us had our ballots before Mid July in the biggest West Coast counties.! I had my ballot before July 15th! My county alone sent out 250,000 ballots by mail! Unless you are very active in the Dem party on the west Coast of Fla..you wouldn't have known a thing about Meek. That encompasses a shit load of Seniors! It was 24/7 the Crist / Rubio show!

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. Why would they send them in so early? These are ballots for the General election?

Okay, this is my analysis of the Democratic situation.

Crist will not win. He has some very crooked supporters and the Republicans know all of them because they are Republicans. Frankly, I hope Rubio's group throws them under the bus too.

It was stupid to try to push Meek out because he was a "weak" candidate, when you had Crist and Rubio as opponents. I would rather see a weak Dem make it in as a senator than a savvy Republican, because Meek can grow into the position.

I don't really believe the Dems who vote for Crist are good Dems. They may be old guard Dems, but they are not good Dems.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. It Has Nothing To Do With Meek Being A Weak Legislator

It has nothing to with Meek being a weak legislator and everything to do with him being a weak candidate.

BTW, do you live in Florida?

[The Backlash Cometh]

33. Yes. Central Florida

I corrected myself. Senatorial race.

It's easy for me to see because I have the past to go by, but sometimes it does depend on the Jury because the DA or Prosecutor did a lousy job. I think a leap of faith is better than a bad compromise.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. He's A Weak Candidate

He reminds me of Hugh Rodham.

It will be a "moral victory" if he comes in second,which I am now afraid will happen. Marco Bushio will get all the Republicant vote and much of the indy vote while Meek and Crist fight for whatever is left.

Florida is a classic purple state. It would have been hard for any Democrat in this environment.

Alex Sink has the luxury of running against a crook and even her race is too close to call.

[The Backlash Cometh]

35. It's hard because "Democrat" doesn't exactly translate to racially tolerant.

I sometimes can't tell a Democrat from a Republican where I live.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. Respectfully, Your Remarks Would Have More Credence If Obama Didn't Win Florida

I have lived here almost all my life. I also have traveled. There's no more or less racist yahoos here than anywhere else.

For every yahoo who voted against Obama because he was African American there was another person who voted for him because it made them feel good about themselves.

The economy sucks here. Folks are looking for someone to blame regardless of if the blame is justified. We are the party in power and are going to get the blame just like the Republicants did in 2008.

It would be hard for any Democrat in this environment.

[The Backlash Cometh]

38. Was Obama in a three-way race?

Or was it really down between a Rubio and a Meek?

I would think that Floridians would have learned by now the advantage of having representatives with the same party affiliation as the President.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

39. Florida Rejected Bill Clinton's Brother In Law 70-30 In 94

"I would think that Floridians would have learned by now the advantage of having representatives with the same party affiliation as the President."

If this waa a two man race, in this environment, Meek would lose badly. If President Obama was on the ballot this yeqr he would lose. One in every five Floridians is unemployed, underemployed, or too discouraged to look for a job, and people need someone to blame, regardless if the blame is justified or not.

[The Backlash Cometh]

40. I don't take pity on the voters. If they don't know the long-term effect of Republican

policies by now, they're doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

41. It Is What It Is

It's a natural inclination for desperate people to do desperate things and people in their desperation and despair indiscriminately lash out at those they feel are responsible for their desperation and despair.

I sometimes wonder what would have happen if McInsane won. The economy would still still be in the crapper , imho, because the problems are so fundamental. However, the Republicants would be so discredited that I could see the Democrats having seventy senators, three hundred house members, and forty governors.

[The Backlash Cometh]

42. We would have more tent cities than we have today.

Assuming we have them.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

43. It's Hard For Me To Imagine Things Would Be Much Better Or Worse

I think we are in an economic downturn that will take years to reverse. I wish it was the Republicants who got the blame. President Obama inherited a mess.

[flyarm]

44. Our Primary vote by mail were mailed out July 12th for a Aug 24 primary..

I expect the General election ballots will be sent out in the same time frame.

May Dem's in Fla are scared shit less of Rubio..Jebs boy!

We lived through Jeb..you can not blame people for being scared of Rubio.

Meek is weak..a stronger candidate should have been promoted.

We have a very large populous of Indy voters we have to over come and horrible gerrymandering.

To use the race card is only to piss off the very people we need to vote and it is stupid at best!
Obama won Florida..so the race bullshit is ludicrous! Kerry didn't win Florida, if you remember correctly.

The key to this senate seat will be the Indies..and Dems in Fla damn well know that.

Rubio has gotten huge press..Crist is known and liked by many many indies and dems alike. Meek is not well known outside the SE portion of Fla!

Our Fla counties are gerrymandered to benefit the repukes.
We also have many Elected dems who were former repukes.
..that the Dem National party folks promoted, funded and fucked us with..

Active dems in Fla know this only too well!

If you do not know or understand Fla..please stay out of our business..we know what we are dealing with and a Rubio/jeb boy in our senate seat will be a disater for the State and Nation!

This whole audit deal is being done by the Jeb machine..

Understand this..Crist was about the first of the repukes to ever stand up to the Jeb criminal machine..Jeb has used Rubio to get back at Crist! We know this in Fla.

And again, Meek is not well known out of his congressional district of Fla..Fla is a big state!
We have a huge block of Indies, and a huge voting Block of seniors who don't get as active politically as younger folks..and we still have a blow back of senior women ( of which we have a huge voting block of..widow voters) who were pissed off as hell at having their primary votes negated by the Dem party! They heard very strongly and clearly from the National Dem party that they are were and are not needed..I will say that will have more effects on the vote than racism! Many will never get over having their primary votes negated and losing our delegates, and now see little differences of Dems from repukes that stole their votes in their eyes!


edit to add..that is not how I feel , but I belong to a large Dem womens club in Fla and there is still strong anger about our primary votes being negated. The women ages range from early 30's to late 90's. Don't ever underestimate women! Only fools would, and the Dem party were fools when they took our primary votes and delegates away! The blow back will exist for a very long time!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. Meek Is A Weak Candidate. It Has Nothing To Do With His Race

Hilly's brother lost 70-30 to Connie Mack back in the day.

Did he lose because of his race?

This is a race between Rubio and Crist which I am afraid Rubio will win.


Signed
DemocratSinceBirth
Florida Resident Since 1970 (Pre Disney)

[flyarm]

18. + 10,000!! you got it! The Jeb machine at work to push Rubio to the top! eom

[napi21]

8. Lets all just wait & see what happens with this story. I'm not

saying Crist is innocent or guilty, I have no way of knowing, but the Pub Party, Jeb & Rubio sure have a lot of reasons to try to bring Cris down & the timing is certainly itersting.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Of course it's timed.

We've all known they were going to use this ever since they started investigating Greer. And Greer implicated Crist from the very beginning.

[flyarm]

23. ++++++ and add to that the Jeb Machine!! eom

[davidinalameda]

9. of course they're going to blame Charlie

they don't want him to win!

[global1]

20. This Is How Repugs Treat Former Repugs.........

go Independent and they'll get you any way they can.

[Bitwit1234]

15. Wonder how after all this time they JUST FOUND IT OUT

think it is because he is beating Rubio in the polls. You know, Jeb Bush's choice for senator.

[monmouth]

16. And Alex Sink is doing well also. Dems have a real chance here

and that makes this mob nervous....It's almost common knowledge that Crist would caucus with the Dems if he makes it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. He may caucus but don't expect to keep any secrets in the room.

[tsuki]

24. Alex Sink is doing very well here. The base is rallying against

Scott. Lots of people on Medicare, and they have heard the story of his "company's" theft.

[JCMach1]

25. Still, I bet Rubio charged more!

He did you know.

[quaker bill]

26. The interesting bit in the story

is that Crist apparently did not have a party AmEx card, but Marco Rubio did. There was a story earlier in the year of Rubio making some quick payments back to the party when the scandal broke. Daniel Webster, the republican candidate running agains Alan Grayson also had one of these cards and was also reported to have made a few fast reimbursments...

This will perk up into quite a battle between Crist and Rubio, with neither coming off entirely clean. The only candidate that will benefit from this is Kendrick Meek.

[The Backlash Cometh]

31. That's assuming that everyone on the West coast weren't stupid

enough to fill out their ballots and already sent them in.

[peekaloo]

28. Does this include Chuckles' trip to Europe where he and the Mrs.

ran up hotel bills, I believe, at taxpayers' expense? Of course the trip was "billed" as an exploration into potential business deals for the state.

Scott Maxwell has featured of a lot of both Chuckles' and Dumbo's "conservative" spending practices.