In a move bound to shock some party officials, the Brevard County Republican leadership voted May 14, on a resolution condemning the actions of the state and national organizations for interfering with state and local decisions.

The resolution comes on the heels of the announcement that the NRSC has already taken sides in the primary election to nominate a candidate to replace outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. The NRSC, National Republican Senatorial Committee, and arm of the Republican National Committee, has announced it will support Gov. Charlie Crist as Martinez’s replacement. There are at least two other Republicans announced in the primary election, including conservative former Speaker of the Florida House, Marco Rubio.

“This is another example of trying to govern from the top down, and if we want our party to succeed, and grow, we need to trust the grassroots, we need to trust our Republican voters,” said Brevard Republican Chairman Jason Steele. “We cannot revitalize our party, and demonstrate that we are truly the party of the people, of individual liberties and responsibility, if we are dictated to from above. It is Florida, and Floridians need to be allowed to hear from all the candidates.”

In a move designed less to condemn any one candidate than to condemn the national organization for its interference, the Brevard Republican Executive Committee, which is elected to govern the party locally, voted to step away from the larger umbrella organization during this race, and formally renounce the decision support Gov. Crist.

“We have an obligation to Brevard voters to assure the most fair and impartial election process,” said Steele. “We have a duty to our party and to our citizens to stand up for the voters who we represent, and that means even against our own party leaders. We are still Republicans, but we have a duty to lead, and that is what we will do.”

This move by the BREC and local party could have statewide implications for the candidates also. Typically, party leaders say, Brevard has been an excellent gauge for the state in the primary election. For the past decade, Brevard voters have been consistently on the side of winning statewide candidates, and while Gov. Crist shows a narrow lead in most polls at this early date, a shift from Brevard voters and leaders could tighten an already tight primary race, and even cost the popular governor the race. Party officials say this is not the goal, but that the NRSC should have considered the consequences of their interference.

“We are not taking sides at this point, but we are taking a stand against being told who to support, and how to vote from on high,” said Steele. “We trust the voters, and we are demanding that party leaders trust them as well.”

Here is the actual resolution that was passed:

Having met the requirements for calling the meeting we proceeded to conduct business at hand. Tops on our list was to reinstate the 19 members that Lew Oliver expelled and barred from voting at the December 2008 OCREC Board election meeting. These disbarred members had met all the requirements mandated for voting status by the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. Yet Lew Oliver knew that should they be ceded their voting rights, they would most likely vote against him continuing as OCREC Chairman. So in order to preserve his chairmanship, Oliver refused to allow them to vote.

What Oliver didn’t count on was, even with this underhanded trickery, his chairmanship was still very much in doubt. Final vote tally at the December meeting was 122 for Lew Oliver, 121 for Deon Long. Compounding this was the fact that 2 of the votes cast were ‘for none of the above.’ According to Roberts Rules of Order this should have prompted a second round of balloting. Oliver would not hear of it, and instead grabbed the proverbial ‘crown’ and placed it on his own head and called the election over.

We disputed this twisted process for some time by having separate meetings at the Winter Park Civic Center. It now appears that Lew Oliver and the the Republican Party of Florida are going to resort to more strong arm tactics. For the last two special meetings, Robert Richmond (a representative of RPOF) has been barging into our gatherings trying to disrupt them. At last month’s meeting Mr. Richmond kept interrupting speakers with claims that we were having an ‘illegal’ meeting. He appeared again at last night’s Winter Park Civic Center for our February meeting, this time toting a video camera.

After following people around before the meeting started, pointing the video camera at our members, I gently asked him to be respectful of our meeting and not to shout out statements while we were conducting business. He rudely told me that he could say anything he wanted and that he was there representing the RPOF. I reminded him that he was welcome to attend (we had sent notices to ALL OCREC members alerting them to this special meeting), but that he had to behave himself. I also reminded him that one of our supporters had tried to video tape the December OCREC meeting but was confronted by Lew Oliver’s rented Orlando Police Department Officer and told that taping was not allowed. Richmond snorted “That was a different type of OCREC meeting. I’ll tape whatever I want here.” I decided that trying to reason with this guy was getting nowhere and that he seemed to enjoy picking fights.

We began our meeting and sure enough Richmond paced the room with his video camera zooming in on various people as they spoke. He then began to shout things and Doug Guetzloe (our parliamentarian and temporary chairman for conducting the meeting) ruled him out of order and ‘not recognized’ by the chair.

This was followed by more pacing and filming interspersed by loud cell phone calls Richmond would make RIGHT INSIDE OUR MEETING AREA. We all decided to ignore his boorish behavior and continue with our proceedings. Doug Guetzloe scanned the room and announced that we had met quorum requirements. We thereupon reopened the unfinished election of chairman and unanimously voted in Deon Long as our new chairman.

This was met by loud applause from the membership. Both Doug, Deon, Sef, and I all gave enthusiastic speeches about the future of the Orange County Republican Party. The atmosphere was one of celebration and anticipation of things to come. We dismissed and went on our way.

Unfortunately Deon Long stayed behind and tried to engage Mr. Richmond in a discussion on why the higher ups in the Party were hampering the growth of OCREC. Mr. Richmond by all accounts seemed to get more and more aggressive taunting Mr. Long as ‘the worst example of a black Republican’ and ‘thinking that the Party owed him advantages.’ Deon was surprised at this vitriolic language. Things got heated up after this and accounts vary on small details but the following events appear to have taken place.

Someone came running out into the parking lot yelling to Doug Guetzloe ‘come back inside, the RPOF guy is might do something.’ Doug rushed back inside to hear Richmond calling Mr. Long a ‘n—–’. Doug and others tried to calm the situation but Richmond started either pushing or jabbing his finger into the chest’s of both Guetzloe and Long. He also continued to make threats and racial slurs.

By this time the the Winter Park Civic Center attendant got concerned that a fight might breakout and called the Winter Park Police. Two squad cars appeared and they took statements from Richmond, Long, Guetzloe, and many other witnesses. A trespassing warning was issued and other charges are pending.

In closing this is a very sad commentary on the depths that Lew Oliver and others will stoop to in order to disparage our work. Remember also that Oliver is quoted in a recent Orlando Sentinel article as calling Deon Long and others ‘Clowns and Losers’. This was in response to Deon Long having filed a lawsuit against OCREC over the rigged voting at the December OCREC elections.

This kind of childish and antagonistic behavior cannot be tolerated by the Republican Party. I urge everyone to call RPOF headquarters in Tallahassee ( 850.222.7920) and demand the removal of Robert Richmond from any official activities. RPOF Chairman Jim Greer asked for the resignation of another Party official for similar racial statements. If no action is taken we will appeal to our new national Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele (who is also African-American) for a swift and speedy resolution of this matter.

Nick Egoroff
Orange County Republican Executive Committee Member
Precinct Committeeman #319

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Grass roots or top down? What is the best way to decide who is going to represent “we the people” in politics? Why not simply let the voters decide?

Apparently that model didn’t appeal to the Republican Party of Florida in the last election cycle. They recruited candidates before the filing deadline, and in so doing effectively shut out any other interested, motivated and qualified persons. They also chose candidates in primary races, endorsed them and helped them with fundraising.

What is wrong with this top down approach the RPOF leadership would argue?  EVERYTHING the people in Florida should scream.  Aren’t we supposed to be a Constitutional democracy? Isn’t the purpose of primaries to let the people choose who they think would best represent their party in the general elections? Or has the RPOF become a dictatorship where its members are held hostage by the policies, politics and (lack of) principles of Chairman Greer?

When the RPOF hand chooses and funds its favorite candidates there is a quid pro quo involved once the chosen ones are elected. In the current House Speaker Sansom (R-Destin) for Ransom scandal, there is no outrage from those who walked neighborhoods and promised to be ethical once elected. The memories of those who said they were running to represent the people and would always remember that when they got to Tallahassee have grown short indeed.

It took a random citizen from the Tampa Bay area to file a much overdue ethics complaint regarding Speaker Sansom’s (R) acceptance of a job that Sansom himself made happen by helping to obtain funding to the tune of $25 million from last year’s state budget to call attention to Mr. Sansom’s apparent lack of a moral compass. It is obvious to anyone outside Tallahassee that this was wrong, unethical and possibly illegal.  With all of the controversy and the persistent reminders of the inappropriateness from the Florida Democratic Party, it would make sense for Speaker Sansom to either resign the new position, step down from being speaker, or even better: do both. Alas, no such action appears forthcoming.

What is being done to by the RPOF to remove Sansom? NOTHING. What is being said about the situation? NOTHING.  What are our representatives (even newly elected ones) doing about this situation? NOTHING. What are Republican Leaders, the RPOF and the Governor doing? NOTHING. Their silence is deafening – but not mysterious.

When peeling back the layers of the onion there appears to be a common thread to explain the apathy of the Republicans to call the Speaker out: the Speaker’s good friend Jay Odom, the not-so-poor developer from Destin, has funded the RPOF and campaigns around the state to the tune of almost half a million dollars in this last campaign cycle.  He’s the second largest (personal) contributor to the RPOF. He contributed $100K personally and another $100K from Leadership for Florida’s Future, a CCE chaired by Representative Dean Cannon, and comprised and controlled by Republican leadership including Speaker Sansom.

Jay Odom’s personal and company contributions to the RPOF and Leadership for Florida’s Future.

There is also the $4500 personal inkind contribution (most likely some free plane rides) to the Yes on 1 – Save Our Homes Campaign PAC. The Yes on 1 effort was led by Governor Crist to convince Floridian’s to vote in favor of Amendment 1 which was approved by the voters in January 2008.

The following is a list (not exclusive) of all the companies listed on www.sunbiz.org that Destin developer Jay Odom either owns or is part owner:

99 Eglin, LTD
Crystal Beach Development
Crystal Beach Development CO of N.W. FLA
Crystal Beach Development CO of Destin, LTD
Crystal Beach Realty
Hammock Bay Real Estate
Waters Edge Building Company (and/or Land Trust)

The following companies listed in the Florida Supervisor’s of Election database of contributors but are not listed on www.sunbiz.org, however they share the same post office box for Mr. Odom’s other companies.

Destiny Plantation
Destiny Real Estate

Coincidence? Probably not.

Here’s a list of all of the contributions of Jay Odom and all of his many companies to political candidates in the last election cycle.

Mr. Odom also contributed another $500 to Representative Sansom personally – bringing his total to $4500. The RPOF was well known to be involved in the elections of:

Thad Altman (SD24)
Peter Boulware (HD11)
Steve Crisafulli (HD32)
Brad Drake (HD5)
Chris France (HD21)
Adam Hasner (HD87)
Belinda Ortiz (SD19)
Ken Roberson (HD71)

Jay Odom’s contributions to the RPOF and the Leadership for Florida’s Future shouldn’t be discounted as they were in the hundreds of thousands, thus giving the RPOF the means to fund their favored candidates. The following chart shows the contributions from the RPOF and the Leadership for Florida’s Future:

It isn’t the amount of money Mr. Odom donated to Sansom that sets off red flags, it’s the other campaigns he appears to have funded at the direction of the RPOF and the Leadership for Florida’s Future CCE. Several of the candidates were funded by Mr. Odom just prior to an RPOF endorsement announcement.

Why is Mr. Odom so generous with his contributions? It could have something to do with the money he was trying to secure from the state budget to build an airplane hangar in Destin. A hangar that cost $6 million to build. That his company would control. A hangar, the cost of which is now part of the monies dedicated to the local community college turned state college. In other words, Jay Odom’s modest investment of almost half a million dollars in political contributions to the Republicans appears to have netted him a $6 million hangar. No wonder he was so freely writing checks to the RPOF and Republican candidates!

So will anyone in the RPOF stand up and cry foul? It probably won’t be the people who have benefited from RPOF endorsements and the contributions of Jay Odom. Their silence appears to already have been paid for.

In a press release dated December 17, Texas Congressman Ron Paul endorsed Mark Cross, State Committeeman for the Osceola County Republican Executive Committee as his pick for chair of the Republican Party of Florida.

“Mark Cross served as my Florida Coordinator for the Presidential campaign and was at my side for every debate and event scheduled in the Sunshine State. Mark helped establish an informal network of support across the state and I know that he has the integrity, leadership, and resources that would ensure a successful term as Chairman,” Paul said.

According to Cross, “We have to get back to the principles that made this Republican Party grand… less taxation, less government spending, fewer government regulations, and more personal responsibility. We have to offer the voters more than just lip service. We have to deliver.”

Congressman Paul agrees: “If the Republican Party is going to once again flourish, it is imperative that we restore honesty, integrity, and commitment to Liberty in our party. We need principled leadership, and I believe Mark Cross is the candidate to provide that leadership.”

When asked why he didn’t announce earlier, Cross said, “I find it to be in extremely bad taste to announce an election for RPOF positions prior to the general election. Whenever you announce early you create divisions within the party. My goal is to unify the party, rather than divide it.”

For more information on Mark Cross, please visit his campaign web site at http://www.crossforflorida.com/index.html