by Javier Manjarres

Having been embarrassed in last week’s general election, the Republican Executive Committee (REC) is attempting to deflect the blame for the ‘clean sweep’ executed by Democrats in countless races across the county.  Broward GOP Chairman Richard DeNapoli is pointng the finger at the Romney campaign in Broward County, telling a group of Republicans in Coral Springs that the losses were in fact due Romney’s lackluster ground game.

DeNapoli is always quick to take credit for just about anything that appears to go right politically, he has proven to be nothing more than a self-centered narcissist that recently campaigned for his re-election as chairman at of all places, a funeral. DeNapoli has been quietly campaigning for re-election, before the 2012 general election had even concluded, drawing further ire from Republicans who have questioned both his integrity and motives for wanting the title of Chairman in the first place.

Shouldn’t DeNapoli have first focused on the general election and not his own re-election as chair?

Absurdly, DeNapoli put out a ‘campaign re-election’ letter just days before the general election where he tried to highlight his ‘smoke-and-mirrors’ campaign of getting Republicans elected.  The sad truth is that DeNapoli failed miserably, as did most REC chairs around the country.

DeNapoli’s efforts or lack thereof resulted in the loss of  most Republican contested races, including the Republican Sheriff of Broward County race and congressional races for Adam Hasner and Karen Harrington.  DeNapoli made a big production about donating a mere $100 to Harrington after he and his BREC were called out for actively working against Harrington during the primary election.

DeNapoli claims the BREC opened two victory offices south of I-595 and was able to make tens of thousands of calls, but this simply isn’t the case.  One of the these offices is hardly occupied, and the other is an obcsure residential address that was supposedly rented or in-kinded by Robert Lowry in Hollywood, Florida.

Chad Lincoln, who is in charge of the ‘office’ recently screamed at a volunteer because she came by to pick up a couple of yard signs, insisting that she have her volunteers work out of his ‘house office.’

To add to DeNapoli’s exaggerations, the chairman sent out a post election condolence letter stating that “we” (BREC) made hundreds of thousands of calls, and knocked on tens of thousands of doors- pure malarkey, as Joe Biden would say.  In this same letter, DeNapoli back peddled and used every excuse possible to deflect from the fact that BREC lost Broward County miserably to the Democrats.

Even more telling about DeNapoli’s phony support for Karen Harrington is post-election letter which he details all the candidates who had run, thanking Sen. Bogdanoff,  Sheriff Lamberti  and congressional candidate Adam Hasner “for their service to Broward residents” but failing to acknowledge Karen Harrington- yet another instance of classless behavior that we’ve come to expect from DeNapoli.

It’s simply amazing how DeNapoli could conveniently omit a reference to Harrington given how much national attention she brought to Broward County and the race, the same candidate who DeNapoli personally donated $100 to?

Given the embarrassing performance of Republicans throughout the state, many GOP “leaders” whose districts that underperformed should be submitting their resignations. Longtime Palm Beach County Chair Sid Dinerstein has already done so, but he cited his family and the length of his tenure as the reasons for resigning.

DeNapoli, however was far too preoccupied with his own re-election than he was with making a respectable showing in “the most important election in our lifetimes” which is now lost. Rather than running for re-election, if he had any sense of accountability, Richard DeNapoli should resign his post and the BREC should find someone that will build the party again from the ground up out of the ashes that remain.