According to Tallahassee.com, the Florida Republican Party, under state and federal investigation for the lavish expense-account lifestyle of its ousted leaders, released records of about $7 million in credit-card expenses Friday.
Charge receipts for 31 past and current elected officials and party employees detailed what political observers already knew — that ex-Chairman Jim Greer and former party executive director Delmar Johnson liked luxury hotels, traveled in style, ate well and billed the party for costly entertainment and gift expenses. To a lesser extent, so did some legislators and executive officials who constantly raised money for the party on the cocktail and golf circuit.
Greer and other party officers had refused for months to release the foot-high stack of American Express charge slips, even as some were subpoenaed in the grand-jury investigation of former House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, and others were leaked to reporters in recent months. But state Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, who became chairman when Greer was ousted Feb. 20, went through the bills with the GOP executive committee two weeks ago and ordered them released.
“We’ve got a forensic audit going on and we’re going to drill down deeper to make sure that any of these expenditures on those cards were legitimate, furthering the interests of the Republican Party,” Thrasher said. “If they weren’t we’ll contact those people and ask them to explain, and if there’s no party purpose we’ll accept their check.” There’s more, read the rest.
Tangerine, Florida 