February 5, 2010
-
News: GOP Oust FL's Director and Chairman
Another prominent government official's faces fire as the Orlando Sentinel and others want to know why he racked up thousands of dollars of questionable transactions on the organization's credit card. Republican Party of Florida Executive Director Delmar Johnson is undergoing scrutiny over what some party members refer to as "lavish spending." In spite of the $342,000 deficit, Johnson spent thousands on entertaining what he considers VIP's and all charged to the party-issued American Express credit card. Expenses included travel, fine dining, golf course fees, chartered jets, and even flowers. Johnson has defended his activities by saying the charges are "nothing compared to a big corporation" and that he was not the only individual using the party's credit card.
Jim Greer, the Party Chairman, also defended Johnson by saying the excessive credit card spending is merely a "requirement to move in big-league political fundraising circles." According to Party officials, most of the spending was to cover travel expenses for big donors. Despite their claim to innocence, Greer and Johnson have refused to cooperate with the GOP critics requesting an outside audit of expenses including credit card transactions.
Although Greer and Johnson maintain that much of the expense has been spent on big donors, many of those same donors as well as some Party members have been upset over the unnecessary spending. A recent probe into some of their activities led the GOP to lay off Johnson and 18 others in December when they found out Greer had signed a contract with Johnson which granted him 10 percent of all "major donor" contributions. The terms of the contract brought Johnson over $400,000 in compensation last year in addition to the lavish credit card spending. Furthermore, Greer, who was handpicked by Florida's Governor, Charlie Christ, finally resigned under several months pressure by GOP elected party officials. His termination will be effective on February 20, 2010.