Ex-Florida GOP chairman Greer arrested

Jim Greer, former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, has been arrested for allegedly running a scam bilking money from the party.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement took Greer into custody at his Oviedo home around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday on six felony charges:

• 1 count of organized fraud,
• 1 count of money laundering,
• 4 counts of grand theft.

Greer, 47, was booked into the Seminole County Jail.

• View Search Warrant Affidavit (pdf)
• View Booking Report

The FDLE had been investigating Greer after an audit found he awarded himself and his executive director a fundraising contract that paid them about $200,000.

Greer resigned under pressure in February after reports surfaced that he used party funds on ritzy hotels, gourmet restaurants and private jets.

His steep descent from party chairman to pariah could drag down Gov. Charlie Crist’s bid for U.S. Senate. The two are longtime allies, and Crist backed Greer until the day he stepped down.

“I think it’s obviously disappointing and surprising,” Crist said when asked for reaction to Greer’s arrest during an unrelated press conference on Florida’s response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I have faith in our judicial system. I know that they will handle it appropriately,” the governor said.

Crist, then a Republican, picked Greer to run the state party upon his election in 2006.

Greer’s attorney did not immediately return telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.