The Republican Party of Florida’s chairman’s election will be held this Saturday, January 17, and there doesn’t appear to be a clear frontrunner in the race of four Republicans candidates vying to sit at the helm of the state GOP.
Current RPOF Chairwoman Leslie Dougher seems to be garnering the bulk of the support from the committee, that is according to her announced list of named supporters.Other candidates in the race, Blaise Ingoglia and Eric Miller will tell you that they each have wide-ranging support in the committee, while some members of the committee are saying that Dougher’s may have a tough time winning the election outright.
It is important to note that Dougher’s endorsements include Florida Governor Rick Scott, Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera, RNC Co-Chairwoman Sharon Day, and a slew of past RPOF chairman and current state committeemen and woman.
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Leading up to this election, much has been said about the fourth candidate in the race, Lobbyist Kurt Kelly, and his past business dealings, which some  in the committee perceive them to being questionable
Ingoglia has also been dinged about the fact that because he is a state Representative, and if he is elected to Chairman of the state GOP, he will not be able to fundraise for the party while he is in the two month-long legislative session.
Miller is considered a hardliner, who some believe is too conservative, and even “dangerous” as one committeeman called him. Others believe that Miller will look to overhaul the state party, possibly cleaning house, and leaving existing staffers out to dry.The same has also been said about Ingoglia, that he too would clean house at the RPOF.
While Kurt Kelly’s past business dealings have been referred to as being “Jim Greer-esque,” the creation of a RPOF $100K “slush fund” which is solely controlled by the chairman, could appear to be more inline with what Greer could possibly do, if he was still chairman of the RPOF. Read more about Kelly here.
On December 3, 2014 Chairwoman Dougher sent out a email to the state committee stating that she has “decided to revitalize the Rural County Initiative” by “increasing maximum funding from $7,000-$10,000,” as well as increasing staff supporter to those counties.
Just a couple days later at the RPOF Quarterly meeting in Tampa, Florida , the party’s Budget Committee met and voted to give Dougher $100k in addition spending.First, I have decided to revitalize the Rural County Initiative to include additional counties that need the assistance. We will increase maximum funding from $7,000 to $10,000, and increase staff support to help in the political planning and execution for each county. Second, I am proposing a program be applied to some of our larger counties so that we can reach the masses, which is difficult for one organization to do alone. This is just a brief overview of many things we will work on together.-RPOF Chairwoman Leslie Dougher
During the closed Executive Committee meeting, Dougher was asked to discuss the newly allotted “miscellaneous” funds that would be spent at her discretion.
According to several board members in attendance, Dougher joked about it, telling the committee that it was just a chairman’s “slush fund.”
Read more below
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