By Javier Manjarres

Once again, Richard DeNapoli and his Broward Republican Executive Comittee’s (BREC) much ballyhooed ‘GOP Unity’ is being shown for what it is- a complete and utter sham.

After last week’s Republican primary election in which Karen Harrington won a decisive race against four other Republicans, DeNapoli told a source close to the Shark Tank that Harrington “could not win” the general election, that she was “crazy” and that her supporters in the Southwest part of Broward County were also “crazy.”

Yes, this is the ugly reality beneath the facade of “GOP Unity” in Broward County.  But DeNapoli’s divisive rhetoric comes as no  surprise, as he’s got a long track record of such counterproductive  behavior.  DeNapoli once said that congressional candidate Allen West could not win because he was “black”, and as an ardent Charlie Crist for Senate supporter, he actually heckled now Senator Marco Rubio and claimed that he would never beat Crist.  DeNapoli even kept a Charlie Crist for Senate bumper sticker on his vehicle after Crist became an Independent.

DeNapoli has now taken issue with Harrington even though he lacks the cojones to say the reason why he won’t support her- simply because Harrington did not support his bid to become the chairman of the local GOP.  DeNapoli told supporters of Harrington’s primary rivals that he would do what he could to see to it that Harrington lost the primary election.

Then there’s the issue of the anti-Harrington Facebook page that was put up by one of her primary opponents. The official Broward GOP Facebook page joined the anti-Harrington page, and once they were called out on it, they removed their support from the attack page.  The Broward GOP gave a weak excuse for doing so, claiming that anyone could be added to a page on Facebook.

Anyone who has any kind of familiarity with Facebook knows that you can be added by someone on Facebook, but you are left with the option to accept or decline the invitation. Incredulously, the BREC defensively ‘power-pointed’ their excuse at one of their monthly meetings, but they wound up looking even more guilty for doing so.  Finally, Broward GOP claimed their Facebook page was ‘hacked’ and this hacker somehow added them to the anti-Harrington group.  No word yet as to whether or not the BREC have identified their hacker.

What will also make many Republicans scratch their heads miffed is that Broward County has secured three Romney victory offices, but none are situated south of Oakland Park Blvd.  During the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign, the two largest and most productive victory offices were situated in Davie and Hollywood, Florida.

According to a source at the state Republican Party, DeNapoli lobbied to have the already existing BREC office, be turned into a Romney-Ryan office, simply to selfishly position himself for a leadership role in the presidential campaign.

Another source within Broward county also says that DeNapoli pressured that the third office be opened at the BREC HQ to spite Karen Harrington’s efforts to defeat Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz.Why not open a victory office in the most populated part of the county-Hollywood/Hallandale Beach area or Pembroke Pines?

Lowry lost to Harrington in the 2010 Republican primary, but it’s clear that he still hasn’t put the defeat behind him.  Check out this childish Facebook status update of Lowry’s-

Don’t hold your breath waiting for DeNapoli to call in any meaningful way for “GOP Unity” when he’s giving a wink and a nod to his friends’ immaturity and unwillingness to unify around the clear victor in the Republican primary?  At least the word is continuing to spread that the Broward GOP refuses to practice what it preaches, and it will continue to remain a laughingstock until it finds itself real leadership that has a sense of honor and purpose.