Did Charlie Crist Really Kiss Porky Pig-- Or Are Republicans Trying To Kill His Run For Governor?

Wetherington & Greer-- which one would YOU kiss? (be honest)

The earliest post we did at DWT with a photo of Charlie Crist's hot right-wing boyfriend, Jason Wetherington, was in October, 2006. The latest was about a year and two weeks ago. For me it was always about Crist covering up his own severe case of closetitis by stomping on equality for the LGBT community. Now he claims the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party-- a former crony of his-- Jim Greer-- was extorting him or blackmailing him or something like that... and all over his multiple affairs with young gay men. This whole closet thing is working out badly for Republicans. They should let it go-- just forget it, come out voluntarily, let the chips fall where they may and move on from there. Even if no one cares when obviously gay Republicans like Aaron Schock, David Dreier and Lindsay Graham finally make it official, imagine the fainting spells when Miss McConnell and Patrick McHenry are finally officially outed!

Anyway, Crist, it turns out-- as we reported years and years ago-- was paying his tricks to leave Florida before elections to keep them away from prying media. Don't be confused by "Chase" and "Morgan" this report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement isn't about banksters ripping off homeowners in Florida. It's about Jim Greer's and Charlie Crist's madcap life as top GOP leaders while the banksters-- different Chases and Morgans-- were fleecing citizens of the state. This Chase is Greer's lawyer Damon Chase and this Morgan is Crist's business partner, also a lawyer, John Morgan:

Chase had contacted Morgan, as Chase believed Morgan was the attorney representing Crist, to set up a time wherein Chase could depose Crist. In essence, indicated to Morgan that if he (Chase) had to take Crist's deposition, Crist was not going to like what Chase asked as it would contain embarrassing things and would be used to impeach his testimony. When Morgan inquired what embarrassing things Chase was referring to, Chase indicated that he would be forced to impeach Crist by addressing the following issues: 1. Charlie Crist was a homosexual and had homosexual relationships with at least two men who were paid to leave the state to avoid embarrassing then Governor Crist. 2. Governor Crist kissed or attempted to kiss Greer at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, 3. Governor Crist's drunken escapades, and how Governor Crist's security detail had to cover for him 4. Governor Crist attempting to run people over while intoxicated and operating a golf cart.

...Morgan stated that if Crist were homosexual why would he try to kiss Greer, specifically stating, '(Crist) would have to be a sick son of a bitch to try to kiss Porky the Pig' in reference to Greer. Additionally, Morgan sent Chase an email indicating that it was his opinion that Greer was using Chase to extort Charlie (Crist) with embarrassing questions. Morgan indicated in his email that these types of questions were the same thing as asking, 'when was the last time you fucked the neighbor's sheep' or 'are you still beating your wife.'

Crist-- who went so far as to marry a lovely beard before he tried out for John McCain's VP slot (even McCain wasn't fooled)-- says Greer was trying to extort him and that these claims about him being a homo are "a bunch of delusional lies." Meanwhile Greer and his wife, Lisa, are all in a tizzy over Crist charging Jim is trying to extort him. Jim:

"As for the extortion claim, it's ridiculous. I was simply telling him man to man that our friendship was over, that I could not understand why he lied about the fundraising and the fact that I had done everything he directed me to do as Chairman of the Party, which now has cost me dearly. But most importantly, he was always wanting to know if I was 'still on the team' and after he lied I was letting him know our friendship was over. One thing people used to tell me about Charlie that I never believed until the end is that loyalty is not a part of his make up once he no longer has a use for you, something my family and I sure found out the hard way. I do believe that if he had not been running for the Senate, he may have told the truth. But, at that time, he needed to do what Charlie does best, and that was to protect his own self interests, even if it cost his closest ally and friend everything."

And Lisa, who a- seems to be a typical Republican homophobe and b- has a Facebook page:

"So, a convicted felon and Charlie Crist whining like the girl that he is are the best the papers and others can come up with today to continue the bs campaign against my husband, even though sworn affadavits keep coming out that prove Charlie Crist and Party leadership ("I don't know how my signature got on that agreement"!) to be a bunch of liars. The only thing Jim can be found guilty of would be if it were a crime to trust in the lies and so called friendship of that scumbag Charlie Crist. The transcript and recording of the phone call have been released and there is no extortion there. Clearly FDLE agreed or they would have talked to Jim over a year ago. The truth of the matter is the phone call was the result of Charlie having his minions call Jim begging him not to include him in any book that he might write and indicating that he would " help" if this occured. Charlie will do and say anything to be somebody again (perhaps a run for Governor as a Democrat?). He clearly showed his lack of honor and character when he flip flopped on everything he once stood for in his desperate efforts near the end of his FAILED Senate campaign. Charlie, remember directing Jim to deliver Marco Rubio's AMEX statements in an unmarked envelope to the Miami Herald? I once loved and trusted Charlie Crist, I now know he would whore himself out to anyone that will put him in power again. I am sick of the games and lies, I have a family to protect and a precious baby girl on the way, the truth must come out to clear Jim's name. So go ahead Charlie, use what little juice you have left, why don't you make one of your cheesy, demeaning commercials to spread your lies. Jim Greer can't wait to face you and the rest of the Party in court, the truth will come out and Jim will be found not guilty on ALL counts."

Marco Rubio's AMEX statements? Is this for the "back rubs" in Tallahassee? What ever happened with them, anyway?

By the way, today Frank Bruni did an OpEd for the NY Times, The GOP's Gay Trajectory, which is something closet cases like Charlie Crist ought to read carefully. Paul Singer is a billionaire and financial predator who manages a hedge fund and helps finance not just Mitt Romney, but the entire GOP anti-democracy aparatus. What makes him different from other fascist-oriented billionaires is that he's pro-gay-- proud and supportive of his gay son. And he's putting his moolah where his mouth is.

He has given nearly $10 million of his own money to gay-rights initiatives, including the same-sex marriage efforts not only in New York but also in New Hampshire and New Jersey. And that figure doesn’t include his assistance in tapping a broad network of donors for individual candidates. He was pivotal in rounding up about $250,000 apiece for the Republican state senators in New York whose votes for same-sex marriage provided its margin of victory in the Legislature.

Now, Singer says, he’s providing $1 million to start a new “super PAC” with several Republican compatriots. Named American Unity PAC, its sole mission will be to encourage Republican candidates to support same-sex marriage, in part by helping them to feel financially shielded from any blowback from well-funded groups that oppose it.

In an interview on Tuesday, he told me that he’s confident that in Congressional races, which would most likely be the super PAC’s initial focus, there are more than a few Republicans “who could be on the verge of support” or are “harboring and hiding their views.”

“And this kind of effort could be catalytic in generating some more movement,” he said.

2010, Looking Back: To Republicans, It Was So Much More Than Just a Speech to Kids

by Noah

Remember when Republicans used to talk about respect for the office of the President of the United States? For the second year in a row, due to the paranoid twilight zone that is their minds, many Republican parents still didn’t want their kids hearing or seeing President Obama’s back-to-school speech. It would be hard to find a stance on any issue that reveals the utter lunacy of average Republicans more than this one. The president’s speech consisted of him telling kids to show up for school on time, study hard, never quit school, and accept challenges, and that more life possibilities are open to those who get an education.

“Hell no, you can't! We don’t want that! We don’t want none of those learnin’ things!”

Before President Obama even gave his talk again, a runaway forest fire of hateful words not only greeted it, but revealed so much about those who feel that, for whatever reason in their dark little minds, he has no right to be where he is.

Old traditions die hard, especially when the drums of racial politics are being beat so furiously by the opinion setters at Fox, at Newsmax, and all too numerous other far right media outlets. Behind much of this manufactured controversy lies the skin tone and even the name of the current president. Having an educated, successful black man as a sitting president living in the White House with his lovely family runs contrary to basic Republican beliefs and, even moreso, their propaganda.

The continued vituperative [look it up, Sarah P.] drum-beating on the speech got even sicker when you considered that 2010 was the second time President Obama was speaking to schoolchildren. He had given the speech in 2009, and there was no recruiting to socialism or islam or gayness. Likewise, dastardly and revolutionary concepts like equal pay for women and voting rights were not mentioned. Republicans knew what Obama was going to say. This speech to schoolchildren is the same every year, regardless of who is president. There are only two differences in this case, and that is skin tone and an “un-American name.” The message that Republicans want to give their children is that we, especially our children, should not be listening to what an “other” or a black man has to say. After all, Obama might in no time have them wearing dashikis, listening to jazz, and smoking dope.

Here’s Newsmax columnist, psychotic hate-monger, and frequent guest on Fox Pam Geller as she weighed in back in March on the president’s speech to public-school children. She also just happens to be the person who proudly started the whole New York “mosque” controversy.

If you’re a child in public school in Obama’s America, watch out. Obama said he was going to build a civilian army -- and he’s using our children. He is recruiting in public school classrooms: I exclusively broke the story about his group Organizing for America is recruiting in the classroom. But Americorps is the primary machinery for his youth army. There is huge dough behind it -- yours and mine. And that money is now being used to mandate service programs that indoctrinate our children to work for “the common good” i.e. socialist internationalism.

Perhaps Geller “exclusively broke the story” because it only existed in her sick mind, but she has a pulpit, and impressionable folks listen to her. We’ve seen their signs at Teabag rallies. We’ve heard their speeches. We can also hear Rush Limbaugh’s take on race nearly every day. Things like ”service programs” and “common good” are terrible concepts to Republicans, and have been for a hundred years. “Youth army”? These people spit out the president’s full name with seething anger, emphasizing the middle one, which means "blessing," by the way, to emphasize their warped concept of “other.”

The mad ravings of people like Geller and Limbaugh were once heard only in mental hospitals or in an alley next to a Dumpster. Now they get prime-time TV positioning with the backing of billionaires.

Given what we hear from Republicans, whether it’s Senator DeMint, or Senator Sessions, Herr Beck, or the aforementioned Limbaugh and Geller, normally adjusted people can’t be blamed for thinking that, to most Repugs, the only suitable job option for a black male in this country is making license plates in prison or “going back to Africa” to be a witch doctor. There was, however, at least one at least somewhat prominent Republican who expressed concern in 2010 about his party’s racism: Jim Greer, a former state party chairman of Florida, of all places. Herwrote to the Miami Herald saying:

In the year since I issued a prepared statement regarding President Obama speaking to the nation’s schoolchildren, I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served. Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views and I apologize to the President for my opposition to his speech last year and my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our party today. My children and I look forward to the president’s speech.

I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for Greer to be allowed to run for office again as a Republican. It’s also too bad that he couldn’t find it within himself to say something positive in 2009 instead of this more typical Republican mantra:

. . . taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.

If you follow this link to the Miami Herald, you just might find that Greer’s apparent change of heart may be due less to conscience than to revenge, but hey, better late than never, I suppose.

I wouldn’t say, as Greer did, that the Republican Party is dominated by extremists. The reality is that it is extremist by definition, period. Having a black man in the White House is more than they can take. As evidenced by near-gibberish, “speaking in tongues” ravings like Geller’s, it has driven most of them into a state of permanent apoplexy. Once again, they are on the wrong side of history, and they are fighting mightily against history’s tide with all the ugliness they can muster. 2010 was the first year in which more nonwhite babies were born in our country than white babies. Sadly, that scares the bejesus out of Republicans as they scream about wanting their country back.

A word to Republicans everywhere: Being a living fossil is never a good long-term strategy, or even strategery, as their former leader used to say. It’s time for Species Republicanis to evolve. Unfortunately, they don’t believe in evolution either.


NOAH'S YEAR 2010 IN REVIEW

Again, after his heroic 12 Days of Christmas Scorn last year, this year Noah is taking his year-in-review lookback in installments, beginning with yesterday's "10 Random Musings."

#

It Wasn't Alan Grayson Who Started The Tea Party Foundation-- It Was George LeMieux/Jim Greer Dirty Tricks Operatives

"The mob is tame compared to the Republican Party of Florida"

Tallahassee's corrupt Republican Party Establishment has come under withering fire from Glenn Beck fans whose hatred runneth over in all directions. They may not like Democrats but many of them are not quite willing to follow Sarah Palin's call that fun and games are over now and the time is right to get behind GOP hacks from the Panhandle all the way down to the tip of Monroe County, where Rubio crony and accused woman beater David Rivera is running a shameless campaign against mainstream Republican Marili Cancio and Tea Party stalwart Paul Crespo.

Instead of addressing their own problems, though-- primarily the party's recent swing into out-of-control corruption and the extremism-- the Tallahassee GOP has decided to undermine the legitimate Tea Party movement by starting one of their own. Furious that Tea Party candidates will draw conservative voters away from corrupt Republicans, the Tallahassee Establishment formed a 527 PAC called the Tea Party Foundation. At one time they were trying to say Democrat Alan Grayson was behind the Florida Tea Party. Well... it turns out to be GOP appointed Senator George LeMieux and disgraced/indicted/imprisoned Florida Republican Party Chair Jim Greer who were behind it! The Treasurer is the top position in a PAC, like a chairman or a president. And the phony Tea Party Foundation PAC lists Abby Dupree as the Treasurer, the same position she also holds for LeMieux.

The Florida Secretary of State declared the 527 PAC illegal, and the Tea Party of Florida is filing a criminal complaint against it. Here's the media alert the official Tea Party of Florida sent out:

A brand-new 527 Electioneering Committee named the "Tea Party Foundation, Inc." was established this week by Republican Party of Florida operatives and close associates of indicted former RPOF Chairman Jim Greer and Bill McCollum.
 
The committee was informed yesterday by the Secretary of State that its formation is a clear violation of Florida law and elections statutes. 
 
The new electioneering communication organization, listing Abby Dupree of Tallahassee as its agent, registered with the state Division of Elections last month. Dupree, listed as the group's original registered agent and treasurer, is also treasurer of Republican Sen. George LeMieux's Protect America's Future PAC, which funnels funds to GOP candidates. Dupree also was the contact for the "Jim Greer for Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida" campaign committee which funneled nearly $400,000 to the indicted former chairman and his associates.

The committee has retained Phil Russo, an Orlando-based Republican campaign worker for 8th Congressional district congressional candidate Todd Long in an effort to bring some veneer of association to the tea party movement. Russo, the spokesperson for the bogus 'foundation' immediately stated his and the committee's support for "gay marriage; legalized marijuana and opposition to the Patriot Act," putting that group in direct conflict with established tea party principles. Interestingly, an associate of Mr. Russo's, South Florida Tea party "czar" Everett Wilkinson declared to the Washington Post in a recent article that his own South Florida Tea Party has "hundreds of gays" in this group and therefore he opposes the definition of marriage as between a woman and a man.
 
Russo, a co-leader of one of the smaller Orlando tea party groups had approached several Florida Tea Party leaders in July about working for the Florida Tea Party and having them 'buy him a car.' The request for the car and for employment was denied.
 
"This is a typical GOP goon squad front group that doesn't even attempt to mask it's attempt to thwart the laws of Florida. No wonder there are over 3 dozen criminal investigations of RPOF officers and GOP elected officials from both Federal and state authorities. The mob is tame compared to the Republican Party of Florida," stated GOP consultant Doug Guetzloe, an unpaid advisor to the Tea Party. "It's really disgusting that these goons think they can buy their way into political power with millions in special interest funds," Guetzloe concluded.
 
Attorney Fred O'Neal is in the process of filing a criminal complaint against all individuals named in the bogus group. O'Neal was advised by the Secretary of State's office to file the criminal complaint.

Charlie Crist Calls In The Feds-- To Investigate The Stench Of The Florida GOP

The recently fired Chairman of the Florida Republican Party is suing that party. Not for wrongful termination; even he can't make that claim. No, he's suing them because the party has disclosed that he was a crook and that Florida Republican politicians-- particularly teabagger darling Marco Rubio, then Speaker of the State House-- were using party constributions for their own extravagant lifestyles. Rubio was getting fancy haircuts and back waxes, buying groceries and enhancing his own beyond-dubious lobbying business. The Capitol News reports that Greer is contending that the Florida GOP "violated a severence agreement in which the Party agreed to praise its former leader and affirm that all of his financial doings were on the up and up."

But they weren't. So Florida Governor Charlie Crist, a Republican who did not take one of the magic credit cards, has called in the Feds. "It's a mess. This thing stinks,'' he admitted as he called in federal authorities to investigate his own party, although Democrats have noted that the stink has been around for an awful long time to be just acting on it now. In fact, Crist didn't act until after Florida's Chief Financial Officer, Alex Sink, the Democratic candidate for governor, already had asked the state Attorney General, Republican hack Bill McCollum, himself a gubernatorial candidate, to do his job in the matter. McCollum has refused to get involved or take any serious action, hoping to whitewash the whole episode, forcing Crist to go to the U.S. Attorney.

In an interview, Crist said the U.S. attorney's office needs to take over the criminal investigation of former Chairman Jim Greer and examine the use of party credit cards by top GOP lawmakers.

"A federal comprehensive investigation is... fully appropriate,'' the Republican governor said. "Particularly because of the significant IRS implications throughout this thing.''

...The prospect of a federal investigation will intensify the scrutiny of the state Republican Party, which is reeling from the discovery this week that Greer siphoned party donations to a shell company he owned and the disclosure that top officials planned to pay him a $125,000 golden parachute if he resigned.

At the same time, new records obtained by the Times/Herald expose how another top GOP lawmaker-- incoming Speaker Dean Cannon-- used a party credit card to charge $200,000 in a two-and-a-half-year period ending in early 2009.

The charges include more than $3,000 in personal expenses, some of which he didn't reimburse until just weeks ago as controversy swirled around the use of party credit cards... The requests for a more thorough accounting of Republican Party dollars are only likely to increase as the previously undisclosed party credit card statements continue to become public.

Cannon, who becomes leader of the Florida House after the November election, used his party American Express for a variety of expenses, ranging from a $24.90 baby toy for a donor and a $47.47 Hooters charge to $945 for dining at a popular sushi restaurant in Tallahassee and a $1,786.43 dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, according to itemized records.

The reports, though incomplete, show Cannon spent the most in a single month in December 2006, when he swiped $41,245.48 in charges. About half-- $19,151-- came from a single expense: a chartered jet service to New York for a party fundraiser. The same month he also racked up more than $26,000 in limousines, taxis and rental cars.

A birthday dinner at Hot Olives in Winter Park cost $2,530-- a charge he later reimbursed to the party because it was a personal expenditure, party officials said.

But Cannon didn't reimburse another nearly $500 of personal expenses until just recently when party officials found the questionable tabs.

Entitlement and a corporate ethos of corruption, greed and selfishness is ingrained in the conservative mind, as we've been pointing out. The Florida Republican Party may be stinking with guilt, as Crist says, but that is hardly at varience with the national Republican Party, which has been using donor contributions for parties at strip clubs, alcohol, expensive meals and personal items purposely disguised as office supplies and legitimate party functions. Let's see how the Dick Armey brigades rewrite this one!

Humiliating Double Defeat For Charlie Crist-- Rubio Crushes Him In Pasco County Straw Poll

The bloom is off the rose-- at least among Pasco County Republicans. The west Florida county's executive committee met last night and unanimously passed a formal resolution rebuking the state GOP chair, Jim Greer, for dragging the state party into the U.S. Senate race on Crist's side, when a far more right-wing Republican extremist, Marco Rubio, is also in the race.

The Pasco County grassroots, much to the embarrassment of Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite then held a straw poll which Rubio won-- by a landslide. He got 73 votes and the closet queen governor only had 9 supporters. Polls aren't showing it but Rubio has all the momentum in the GOP primary contest. He's captured the imagination of the Republican grassroots, who would rather lose with an extremist maniac than win with a wimpy moderate. Similar resolutions against Greer have already passed in Brevard, Hillsboro, Okaloosa and Palm Beach and the only thing that kept the resolution from passing in Broward County was the sudden cancellation of the meeting. A Recall Jim Greer Facebook page is already active.

Greer has disgraced his title and the party through his gross abuse and misuse of the party's treasury for personal lavish expenses, his transformation of the once-respected organization into nothing more than a Charlie Crist fan club, and equating Florida's first Cuban-American speaker of the House to a "fringe" candidate by pushing for the exemption of a rule that prevents it from endorsing one candidate over the other in a primary.

Jim Greer has become an embarrassment and a liability for Florida Republican elected officials, candidates, and the party organization. His actions have earned the party negative press and have endangered its fundraising ability. Party leaders should remove him immediately and be clear that the Florida Republican Party is not a Chicago-style party boss machine bent on promoting one politician's career, but rather an organization that represents all Florida Republicans and key fundamental principles that are not up for compromise or negotiation.

Led by county chairman Randy Maggard the party members blasted Greer, saying he "contravened and ignored the principles and ideals of the Republican Party" and "such actions have in fact been in furtherance to support one Republican candidate over another."


UPDATE: Rubio Could Actually Win The Primary

And that's Meek's only chance to get into the Senate.