Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer got a strong vote of confidence Thursday, but the rebellion against him continued to fester, with a longtime party fundraiser calling for his resignation.
The 25-2 vote came at the party's quarterly executive board meeting in Tallahassee, considered friendly turf for Greer. He has spent months deflecting criticism of lavish spending, hardball political tactics and favoritism in statewide primaries for governor and U.S. Senate.
Republican National Committeeman Paul Senft called for the vote "in the interest of party unity and for public clarification [that the board has] full confidence in our duly elected chairman, Jim Greer." The motion, quickly passed with no discussion, appeared to have been sprung on the board.
Greer said he's "done everything" to address concerns, including cutting up a batch of party-issued credit cards. "Other than a few people having fantasies and dreams, I wasn't going anywhere," he said.
But fresh signs that Gov. Charlie Crist's hand-picked party chairman is under fire include a circulating petition calling for a meeting next month to recall him from office, and a letter from longtime GOP fundraiser Al Hoffman saying Greer should resign.
"It is time for you to resign in order to end the excessive, irresponsible, unethical, and perhaps illegal spending that has marked your administration and has moved the Republican Party from millions of dollars in surplus at the time you took office to millions of dollars in deficit by the end of this month," wrote Hoffman, a former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Greer said Hoffman is misinformed and out of touch.
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