Mood:
d'ohTopic: Lib Loser Stories
Can you run a state if you cannot balance your own books? The Florida Dem party has become a national laughing stock. Its failures at the polls are only the tip pf the iceberg as the state party organization has seen an IRS lien, seizure of their accounts and a humiliating audit that revealed not theft, but ordinary, sad incompetence. The party, which hopes to win back the governor’s mansion next year, has only 2% of the cash that the Florida GOP has. Democrats Say No Money Is Missing Audit also revealed no intentional tax fraud for the party. TALLAHASSEE - With a hopeful tone that it finally had hit bottom, the Florida Democratic Party said Thursday that an audit showed no money missing and also showed no intentional fraud in the nonpayment of federal taxes in 2003. The audit also said former party chairman Scott Maddox had no knowledge of the myriad accounting woes that happened on his watch. However, the audit concluded that his hiring of a woman he worked with while mayor of Tallahassee was a mistake that led to last week's run-in with the Internal Revenue Service over unpaid taxes. "It is clear that the problems occurred because of a poor hiring decision, a lack of internal controls and a lack of strong oversight," said Melanie Hines, the former statewide prosecutor who oversaw the weeklong audit. Party chairwoman Karen Thurman, on the job for less than two months, said Thursday she has spent most of her time cleaning up what she called "a mess" left by Maddox. Maddox resigned his post in May to run for governor after more than two years in the job. "By now, I thought and expected that most of my time would have been focused on the future," Thurman said at a press conference in the party's headquarters Thursday. "It is clear we have to do things differently, and so we shall. This begins a new day for the Florida Democratic Party." Thurman launched the audit by outside experts last week after the Internal Revenue Service placed a lien on the party's holdings, saying it was owed nearly $200,000 in unpaid taxes from late 2003 when Maddox headed the party. Thurman used the $98,000 the party had on hand and secured a loan from the national Democratic Party to pay the taxes and penalties. Hines' audit echoed Maddox's contention that the mistakes were largely caused and hidden by Debbie Griffin-Bruton, the party's comptroller whom Maddox hired. In a letter earlier this week, Griffin-Bruton said the demands of the job were more than she expected and that she concealed the problems from Maddox. The former city of Tallahassee worker resigned her job as party comptroller on Thursday. Hines said Thursday that Griffin-Bruton was "in over her head" and possessed only "rudimentary" skills for the job. Maddox said he thought Griffin-Bruton could handle the work and hired other outside accountants to help her. Asked at a separate press conference why the problems lingered after GriffinBruton expressed a need for help, Maddox said "I was only at the party for two years. "Had I had knowledge of it, I would have fixed it," Maddox said. Hines' audit also reconciled discrepancies that led to the appearance that $900,000 was missing from the party. She said dataentry errors made by party workers led to the mistake and that no money was missing. Hines and Thurman said numerous interviews with current and former employees showed Maddox had no knowledge of the problems, though an outside audit last year of the party's finances cited "significant deficiencies" in the party's system. While Thurman, a former U.S. congresswoman from Dunnellon, was careful to avoid any direct criticism of Maddox, the message of the day was that a muchneeded change was coming to a party largely crippled in recent years. "To quote a great Democrat, Harry Truman, from this point on, `The buck stops here,' " Thurman said, promising to hire "competent professionals" to prevent money-related woes in the future. Maddox struck a defensive and vindicated tone Thursday, blaming his Democratic opponents for a "political chess game that insiders are playing" to discredit his candidacy. Maddox didn't name his Democratic opponents -- U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa and state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua. He did rip Gov. Jeb Bush, who called the state Democratic Party's condition "pathetic" last week. "For a week now, the Democratic party and I have been subjected to a multitude of false reports and sometimes personal attacks from Jeb Bush and others which today have proven false, inaccurate or overblown," Maddox said. Thurman's promise for a "new day" is dawning under ominously dark clouds, however. Thursday, she said the party had about $80,000 on hand. That's less than 2 percent of the $7 million-plus raised by the Republican Party of Florida this year. Republicans dominate the Florida House and Senate by 2-to-1 margins and hold the four statewide elected seats, including governor. The dark clouds also are hovering over Maddox. Long considered the party's shining star for the future, Democrats have wondered aloud whether he should drop out of the race because of the likely vicious attacks from Republicans if he should win the Democratic nomination next year. Lakeland, Florida - The Ledger ~ Joe Follick ** Democrats Say No Money Is Missing
