In a recently released deposition from his ongoing criminal trial, Jim Greer, the former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, claims the party actively tried to find ways to get African Americans not to vote. He claims the party also squashed efforts at minority outreach, as they were not a good fit for the Republican Party of Florida.
Greer also made other shocking admissions, including that Charlie Crist started to view the rest of the party as "crazies" toward the end of his time as a Republican.
Greer is currently on trial for allegedly scheming to direct $100,000 from RPOF coffers into a shell company and eventually into his own pockets.
In the deposition, taking in May, Greer claims that party officials actively talked about voter suppression in what sounds like a political scheme taken directly out of 30 Rock.
"I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting. It had been one of those days," Greer said in the deposition. Greer also claimed that Republican officials didn't believe in minority outreach programs.
Greer shed light on what was going on in the RPOF during the emergence of the Tea Party.
"The Tea Party came into existence," he said. "There was a feeling within the party that the Tea Party was just a bunch of whack-a-dos."
Charlie Crist apparently had become increasingly frustrated with the direction of his own party. Greer urged Crist to make better use party resources while he was running for Senate while still a Republican.
"He told me to f-- the party," he said. "They were a bunch of crazies. And they did nothing to win elections."
Though, as part of his defense Greer is also claiming that right-wing members of the RPOF wanted both him and Charlie Crist out, and had orchestrated his arrest by initiating a FDLE investigation.
[Tampa Bay Times: Jim Greer denounces Florida Republican Party officials as liars, 'right-wing crazies' in deposition]
[Orlando Sentinel: Prosecutors in Greer trial reveal secret recording]
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