Jim Greer has not been so tight with the Florida Republican establishment lately. Greer, the former Republican state party chairman, is under indictment for misusing party funds. I’m guessing that he was not pleased to see former colleagues line up to testify against him. So when he talks about how party operatives were fairly obsessed with tamping down voter turnout in the 2012 general election, party officials can retort that Greer is just out for revenge. “Jim Greer has been accused of criminal acts against this organization and anything he says has to be considered in that light,” a party spokesman said after Greer told the Palm Beach Post last week that the party had been hell-bent on cutting back on early voting since the 2008 election. “The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told the Post.
The party championed legislation that reduced early voting days, he said, for self-serving reasons that had nothing to do with purported voter fraud. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only,” he told the Post. “We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us.”
Greer was only repeating allegations he made in a 630-page sworn deposition back in May, claiming that the party operatives were determined to discourage Democratic turnout, particularly the black vote. (He also complained in that deposition the party had been taken over by “whack-a-do, right-wing crazies.”)
Except, like the party spokesman said, Greer — broke, embittered and facing criminal charges — has this credibility problem.
Former Gov. Charlie Crist, who is not under indictment, also said “it looked to me” that voter suppression had become an underlying motive in the party’s 2012 election strategy. Back in 2008, Crist had signed an executive order extending early voting hours after reports of long lines and long waits. In 2012, Gov. Rick Scott famously refused to do the same for even longer lines and longer waits. Crist called that “unconscionable,” tantamount to voter suppression.
Except that Charlie Crist, who cozied up to President Barack Obama during the campaign, is also on the outs with his old Republican buddies.
Full Article: Fred Grimm: Vote suppression in Florida? The numbers don’t lie – Fred Grimm – MiamiHerald.com.