Republican Party of Florida chairman John Thrasher said Monday that while he believes the leaking of internal party credit card statements -- and the release of the contract between former party chairman Jim Greer and his deputy Delmar Johnson -- were improper, he's not going after the leakers.
"I haven’t looked at that, I don’t intend to. That’s been done,'' he said, "I can’t go back and reconstruct that. All I know is now I don’t think you’ll see another record leaving that office.''
He admitted that while there are "probably a lot'' more documents "out there,'' he won't sanction the release of any more:"Nothing has left since I became chairman.''
While Thrasher places the blame on Greer and his administration, he is careful not to chastise the spending of other elected officials who had credit cards, including former House Speakers Marco Rubio and Ray Sansom and incoming House speaker Dean Cannon.
“It was an atmosphere that he created by the administration they had,'' he said. "I’m not justifying anybody. Look, at the revenue that came in – that’s what party’s are supposed to do. They’re supposed to raise money and they’re supposed to support Republican candidates. Did somebody stay at too expensive a hotel, that’s in the eyes of the beholder.''
Thrasher said this week he hopes to announce a review by some prominent CEOs at Florida corporations who will conduct a review of the party's financial controls and make recommendations. Meanwhile, he said he has instituted a new policy to require that his reimbursements go through the audit committee, and another set of eyes.
“I want to regain the confidence of the people who are out there who are saying this guy Greer was saying one thing but he was doing something else – which is what was going on obviously,” Thrasher said.
is someone covering for someone else
Posted by: nole | April 12, 2010 at 07:28 PM