Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer offered a helping hand to Sen. Paula Dockery, who’s complained that her party isn’t doing anything to aide her gubernatorial bid.

Dockery announced yesterday she’s challenging Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum in a bid for governor and defying Greer’s wishes to avoid GOP primaries in high-profile (and expensive) races.

Then Dockery lashed out today after the RPOF sent out an e-mail from McCollum’s campaign touting his endorsements from GOP bigwigs.

RPOF spokeswoman Katie Gordon Betta responded with the following e-mail to Postonpolitcs.com:

“I spoke to the Chairman and he wants to clarify that the RPOF authorizes payment of certain allocable and non -allocable expense for statewide candidates at the request of those candidates. We aren’t ’spending money’ on the McCollum Campaign - we are paying for certain expenses at the request of the campaign - just like we do for the other primary campaigns.

“Senator Dockery has not spoken to the Chairman or the RPOF regarding these resources. The Chairman congratulates the senator on her decision to seek the Republican nomination. The RPOF is willing to extend every courtesy to the Dockery Campaign, but to this point Senator Dockery’s Campaign has made no contact with the RPOF regarding her candidacy,” Betta wrote.

Dockery’s campaign spokeswoman Rosemary Goudreau came back with a less-than-tepid rejoinder.

“The ‘People for Paula’ campaign welcomes the party’s support and looks forward to having a conversation with the chairman,” Goudreau wrote

The day after she officially joined the governor’s race, Sen. Paula Dockery lobbed a shot at the state GOP political machine that seems to be doing its best to ignore one of its own.

The front page of the Republican Party of Florida’s website has no mention of Dockery, a lifelong Republican from Lakeland, but does prominently feature a press release from her GOP opponent Attorney General Bill McCollum touting Jeb Bush’s support for him.

After Dockery announced she was running for governor, the Republican Party of Florida issued a release on behalf of McCollum’s campaign highlighting his GOP endorsements.

That earned this jab at RPOF Chairman Jim Greer from Dockery today.

“Just today, the controversial and embattled head of Florida’s Republican Party told the Orlando Sentinel that the state party would spend no money to help my opponent in the gubernatorial primary.

“Hours later, he used the party’s resources to send out an email of support for my opponent, Attorney General Bill McCollum.

“This is exactly the kind of double-speak that, under Greer’s leadership, has disenfranchised grassroots Republicans from the state party.

“Party bosses shouldn’t tell the people what to do. That didn’t work for the Politburo and it won’t work for the Republican Party of Florida,” Dockery said in a press release entitled “What are they afraid of?”

RPOF spokeswoman Katie Gordon said McCollum’s campaign was using a service that’s also available to Dockery.

“The RPOF has a long-standing policy of distributing campaign press releases to our subscribers thru the RPOF blast e-mail system at the request of any of the statewide candidates. At this point, Sen. Dockery has not requested that RPOF resources be utilized to distribute her press releases to our subscribers,” Gordon said.

PALM BEACH — Carole Crist, who has kept a low public profile since marrying Gov. Charlie Crist in December, was here this afternoon for a lunch to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

About a dozen people attended the event at the Brazilian Court hotel, including Palm Beach Mayor Jack McDonald and Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer. It was part of a national awareness effort by the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund using governors, first ladies, lieutenant governors and state health secretaries across the U.S.

Carole Crist noted in brief remarks to the audience that ovarian cancer lacks a method of early detection akin to a mammogram for breast cancer.

“We need to change this. This is a major women’s health issue,” she said.

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President Obama’s controversial speech to the nation’s school children is today at noon. Schools in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties have the green light from administrators to show it and parents who object can get their children excused from participating.

Our Kimberly Miller breaks down the local situation here.

Many conservatives and Republicans were critical of the speech last week, with Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer accusing the president of trying to indoctrinate America’s youth with “socialist ideology.”

Redistributionist economic policies are nowhere to be found in an advance copy of the speech released by the White House. The “birther” movement, however, might pounce on the fact that Obama mentions his childhood years in Indonesia. And those who oppose an expanded government role in health care might find significance in the leader of the free world advising students to wash their hands to minimize the spread of flu.

Read the entire text after the jump….

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The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial page says federal educrats appear to be “aggrandizing” President Obama with the curriculum they’ve suggested to accompany Obama’s Tuesday address to the nation’s school children. But even the right-tilted WSJ editorial board says Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer was “overwrought” in his criticism of the speech.

Read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, our Laura Green reports that Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie county schools will all allow students to hear the Obama speech. Palm Beach County Schools Supe Art Johnson says parents can send a written request to excuse their students from the broadcast.

The partisan dustup over President Obama’s planned nationwide address to schoolchildren next week has inspired some speculation about what would happen if the shoe were on the other foot:

What if this were a Republican president, perhaps one named Bush, trying to drum up support for one of his programs? Would liberal school administrators even allow the kids to watch it? Would Democratic parents pull their children from the classroom that day?

Well, maybe we don’t have to guess. It turns out that then-President George H.W. Bush made a nationally televised speech to students on Oct. 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C., urging them to “make it your mission to get a good education” and to “block out the kids who think it’s not cool to be smart.” (The president’s sound bite of the day was apparently, “I can’t understand for the life of me what’s so great about being stupid.”)

Update: As a Palm Beach Post reader has helpfully pointed out, then-President Ronald Reagan spoke live to students nationwide in May 1986. And it seems that the first President Bush also made a 15-minute televised speech in 1989 urging students not to use drugs.

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Having America’s youth listen to a speech by President Obama and then, at the suggestion of the federal Department of Education, write letters to themselves about “what they can do to help the president” sent many conservatives and Republicans into rhetorical orbit this week.

Our Laura Green reports that Palm Beach County school district officials haven’t decided whether to air Obama’s remarks to students on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education appears to be backing away from its “help the president” language, instead suggesting that students should write letters about “how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals.”

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Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, already controversial with his rank-and-file for actions including his preemptive endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate, has now stirred a national ruckus by criticizing President Obama’s plans to speak to the nation’s schoolchildren in a televised address Sept. 8.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the president will:

… speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

Sound like the makings of a Norman Rockwell-meets-Horatio Alger, made-for-the-Hallmark-Channel moment? Not to Greer, who issued a news release accusing Obama of carrying out a much different agenda — one that starts with “social-” and ends with “-ism”: (more…)

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez:“I congratulate George LeMieux for being appointed by the governor to fill the remainder of my term. George is bright, capable, and an accomplished
administrator. My staff and I stand ready to ensure a smooth transition.”

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is running against Crist in the GOP primary to replace Martinez: “This is a disappointing pick for Florida. George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor’s best friend, but that doesn’t make him the right choice to represent Florida in the Senate. Governor Crist had a wealth of consistent and principled conservative candidates to choose from, all of whom would have been a reliable check and balance on the excesses of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda.”

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate: “Governor Crist was afforded a high responsibility with this appointment. Instead, he treated this process like a mockery, politicizing his selection by flying around the state at taxpayers’ expense, touring major media markets and drawing this selection out. Well respected Floridians with a wealth of elected service experience from Congressman Clay Shaw to Mayor John Delaney to various Hispanic leaders were in a position to hit the ground running if appointed, but that possibility is now nonexistent.”

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer: “Once again, Charlie Crist has demonstrated his commitment to serving Floridians, by appointing George LeMieux who is well qualified, a dedicated public servant, conservative Republican and an excellent choice!”

Progress Florida executive director Mark Ferrulo: “It’s shocking. We wonder why Gov. Crist didn’t just appoint himself if he was going to pick his former chief of staff and campaign ‘maestro’. “The so-called ‘People’s Governor’ has made clear through this appointment that he places personal loyalty and his own political benefit above the interests of Floridians.”

Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican running to replace Crist as governor: “I congratulate George LeMieux on his appointment as Florida’s U.S. Senator. I have known George for a long time, both as a friend and as a former Deputy Attorney General, a capacity in which he served this office
well. I wish him the best in serving the people of Florida in the U.S. Senate.”

Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Hari Sevugan: “With Florida’s economy in shambles, Charlie Crist could have selected a Senator who would be able to hit the ground running in Washington to tackle the problems that face Floridians. In appointing a political crony as a placeholder until he can run for Senate himself, Charlie Crist is using the Governorship to advance his own political ambitions rather than advancing the lives of the Floridians he was elected to serve.”

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Boca Raton: “In short, George LeMieux will make an excellent Senator. I wish him great success and look forward to working with him in any way I can.”

Republican operative and political consultant Mac Stipanovich: “He was not the obvious choice.”

Marion Hammer, former NRA president who now lobbies for the same organization and the Unified Sportsmen of Florida: “The NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida are very pleased with Governor Crist’s appointment of George LeMieux as Florida’s new junior U.S. Senator. George is rated ‘A’ by the NRA and will be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment in the U.S. Senate. Gun owners can count on George LeMieux to fight to protect freedom and the Second Amendment.”

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff: “This is just one more example of the Republican leadership in Tallahassee putting cronyism and corruption above the people of our state. From Ray Sansom, to former lobbyist Bill McCollum, to George LeMieux, it is clear that we must stand together and pledge to end the Republican culture of cronyism and corruption in Tallahassee.”

Former U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, who was a finalist on Crist’s list of possible Martinez replacements and for whom LeMieux once worked as an intern: “George is a very, very capable guy and I’m sure he’ll do a good job. He’s a quick study, he’s articulate, he’s very close to the governor. I think it’s a good choice.”

State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, active with LeMieux in Broward County GOP politics since the mid-1990s: “He’s a smart guy, politically savvy, a hard worker. There’s nothing negative to say about George….He’s certainly smart enough to wade through the issues.”

Kirk Fordham, head of the Everglades Foundation: “George LeMieux is the right pick for Florida. He has a deep understanding of a wide range of regional issues that are unique to Florida. When it comes to protecting the people’s water supply and restoring the Everglades, we couldn’t ask for a better ally than we’ll have in Senator George LeMieux.”

Barry Carson’s brief trip to the men’s room spared Gov. Charlie Crist the embarrassment of being censured by Palm Beach County’s Republican Party last week.

Carson, a Republican Executive Committee member from Jupiter, was out of the room and missed the vote when the rest of the committee split 65-65 on a resolution Wednesday night to rebuke Crist for his various departures from GOP orthodoxy.

The tie vote means the resolution failed.

Carson said he would have voted for censure.

But after hours of debate and an earlier vote on whether to table the censure resolution, Carson went to the men’s room. When he got back, his name had been passed in the roll call of Republican committee members.

Carson said he told party leaders he was back and wanted to vote before the roll call was complete, but was ignored by county GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein and others who opposed censure.

“Sid didn’t want the resolution and because of my prostate problem he found a way to get it (defeated),” Carson told the Politics column.

Dinerstein said he didn’t know of Carson’s wish to vote until it was too late.

“This guy didn’t say a word until our vote was finished and recorded,” Dinerstein said. “To me it was a little like sending in your absentee ballot late.”

****

The Republican Party of Florida, which is chaired by close Crist ally Jim Greer, took an interest in the censure vote. Carla Rivera, a field rep from the state GOP, attended the meeting and videotaped the county GOP’s deliberations.

“We do that a lot of times when we go to events,” state GOP spokeswoman Katie Gordon said. “It’s not sort of Big Brother overseeing what the local parties are doing. We’re all on the same team.”

****

State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, is bolstering her Palm Beach County support as she runs for the Palm Beach-Broward state Senate district now held by CFO-seeking state Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach.

Bogdanoff is already backed by House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach. And the hosts for a Bogdanoff fund-raiser later this month include some big Boca Raton names: Mayor Susan Whelchel, Boca Councilwoman Susan Haynie, GOP activist Jack Furnari and former county Republican Chairman Tom Sliney.

Bogdanoff faces two Palm Beach County rivals — state Rep. Carl Domino of Jupiter and businessman Nick Loeb of Delray Beach — in a Republican primary in which about 64 percent of Republican voters live in Palm Beach County.

***

Retired educator Vincent Goodman, a Republican who was one of Crist’s four finalists for the Palm Beach County commission appointment that eventually went to Democrat Priscilla Taylor, has opened a campaign to run for the seat in 2010. Democrats have a 4-to-1 registration edge over Republicans in Taylor’s minority-dominated District 7.

RPOF Chairman Jim Greer stood by his assertion that President Barack Obama’s health care reforms could lead to “forced, taxpayer-funded abortions.”

Greer held a roundtable with reporters at GOP headquarters this morning, covering a range of issues including the hijinks at town hall meetings throughout the country, including one in Tampa that erupted in physical violence.

Opponents of Obama’s health care package claim that the changes would create “death panels” that would pull the plug on Grandma to save government spending.

“I don’t like the term death panels,” Greer said.

But, he added, “I do believe that trying to pass legislation such as this will provide opportunity for certain types of medical procedures that in some cases Americans would not be aware of or in most cases Americans would not want taxpayer funds to help facilitate.”

The chairman was apparently referring to abortions. Greer yesterday circulated a memo questioning the health care bill and whether it would “work to systematically ‘increase birth intervals between pregnancies,’ opening the very real probability of forced, tax-payer funded abortions.”

He stood by his characterization of the bill this morning.

“If the procedure is financed by taxpayer funds, then in fact the word forced or mandated would be appropriate,” Greer said.

The portion of the bill Greer refers to deals with home visitation services.

The full text follows:

“The term ‘nurse home visitation services’ means home visits by trained nurses to families with a first-time pregnant woman, or a child (under 2 years of age), who is eligible for medical assistance under this title, but only, to the extent determined by the Secretary based upon evidence, that such services are effective in one or more of the following:
(1) Improving maternal or child health and pregnancy outcomes or increasing birth intervals between pregnancies.”

Greer decried the outbursts at town hall meetings but blamed Democrats for spinning the events and not being able to answer questions about the health care bill.

(more…)

Gov. Charlie Crist and top GOP officials didn’t know of U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s decision to resign early until the senator issued a press release on Friday, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer told reporters this morning.

“There is no one who actually knew the event was actually going to take place until immediately prior to or immediately surrounding that statement,” Greer said.

Although rumors that Martinez would step down early circulated for more than six months prior to his resignation, Greer said Martinez repeatedly assured him he was not quitting. Sort of.

“He would say, ‘No I’m not resigning. Tomorrow,” Greer said.

And despite speculation that Martinez quit early to make it easier for Crist to succeed him, Greer said the senator quit to spend more time with his family and not to help the governor.

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Florida Republicans, who disobeyed their national party’s presidential primary calendar last year, will now have one of their own shaping the schedule for 2012.

State Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer won the coveted position of the national party’s rules chairman on Thursday, but he immediately dismissed the possibility that he would sway the calendar to benefit Florida voters or a possible presidential run by Gov. Charlie Crist.

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Infighting within the state GOP has weakened the party so badly that it is verging on irrelevant, a former party chairman says — despite its overwhelming dominance in the legislature and its decade-long lock on the governor’s office.

Other Republican leaders charge that current party Chairman Jim Greer and, by default, Gov. Charlie Crist are out of sync with what grass-roots Republicans want.

“It would be hard to imagine us being any more impotent than we appear to be right at this point,” said former state Republican Chairman Tom Slade, who headed the party from 1993 to 1999. That was a period when the GOP took over the state House and Senate and sent Jeb Bush to the governor’s mansion.

Greer flexed his political muscles this year when he tried to use a parliamentary procedure to hamper former state House Speaker Marco Rubio’s candidacy to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. Crist had jumped into the Senate race in May, garnering Greer’s support immediately.

That transformed what had been a whisper campaign against Greer into public criticism from county leaders and others throughout the state, who said the chairman had gone too far.

Rubio later characterized the Senate GOP primary as a battle for the “heart and soul” of the Republican Party in Florida.

But Greer, hand-picked by Crist, says the party is doing just fine and blames reports of its demise on a few disgruntled but vocal outliers.

“I don’t think that the party has anywhere near the problems that some are promoting in the state. In fact, I think this party in Florida is very strong and I see it each and every day,” Greer said in a telephone interview.

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Fueled by a recent Orlando Sentinel column advising that the state GOP wise up or continue to lose its domination of Florida politics, the RPOF is striking back.

National committeeman Paul Senft penned a rebuttal to Jane Healy’s column asserting that the Republican Party of Florida is just fine, thanks very much.

Despite Barack Obama’s Florida win in last year’s presidential election, Republicans held on to down-ticket seats and picked up a Congressional seat, ousting former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney from Palm Beach County, Senft pointed out.

And while it’s true that GOP voter registration is slipping, that’s nothing new in Florida, Senft wrote.

So what if the Dems have also reversed their years-long fundraising slump.

Not to worry, according to Senft.

“If Democrats couldn’t produce down-ticket results in a year with more money, resources and momentum than they have ever had, I don’t see how they’ll do it in 2010,” he wrote.

But Senft’s op-ed may do little to quell dissension in a party whose dirty laundry is increasingly being aired in public.

RPOF Chairman Jim Greer has earned the wrath of the right-wing “Liberty Caucus,” a conservative group of libertarians whose leaders are being targeted by Greer for ouster at the upcoming convention.

Like many other conservatives, Greer ticked off the caucus by his early endorsement of pal Gov. Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate race and his efforts to quash a GOP primary with former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Meanwhile the St. Johns County GOP are trying to oust the Liberty Caucus’ state chairman, Will Pitts, from the party and remove other critics from their committee posts.

Greer’s strong-arm tactics and dismissal of right-wing darling Rubio coupled with growing dissatisfaction among die-hard Republicans with Crist’s moderate stance have left the party in disarray, critics within the party charge.

They say the party leadership is out of touch with the base and this could hurt them in next year’s elections.

The grievances against the rogue Republicans will be heard this weekend.

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer has decided not to pursue the Orlando-area congressional seat of freshman Democrat Suzanne Kosmas, according to a GOP press release this morning. Kosmas ousted Republican Tom Feeney last year in one of the few congressional districts in Florida that’s competitive between Rs and Ds.