Where there's smoke, there's fire...and there's an awful lot of smoke detectors going off recently around
Alan Grayson, Doug Guetzloe, and the
Florida Tea Party Fake Tea Party:
Bruce O'Donoghue, who is running in the Republican primary for District 8, responded to this news with a press release yesterday:
Alan Grayson’s fingerprints are all over the creation of this so-called “party,” and he insults the intelligence of voters by claiming he had nothing to do with it. Grayson has brought Central Florida politics to an all time low and he is playing fast and loose with federal election law. Grayson must immediately answer questions about his relationship with his media buyer and whether he had anything to do with the creation of this sham "party."
As the Sentinel article points out, Alan Grayson has been running ads on Doug Guetzloe's radio program for awhile. I remember hearing the ads during the 2008 election season, and also hearing Guetzloe's supportive comments about Grayson and friendly interview with the candidate.
I don't care what excuse Guetzloe gives for allowing Grayson's ads on his program, Guetzloe was under no obligation in 2008 to give a friendly "softball" interview to Grayson or to say positive things about the candidate (I heard him do this with my own ears), and this year, he's under no obligation to act as an advertising buyer to assist Grayson with placing ads on other programs on the radio station.
The facts that Grayson appointed Guetzloe to an advisory panel, and one of Guetzloe's sons interned in Grayson' Congressional office just further shows the connections between the two. If Guetzloe was really opposed to Grayson's reelection, there is no way that Grayson would appoint him to anything or allow his son to work in his office. "Guetzloe" is a pretty darn unique name, so it's not like the kid could have walked in there incognito.
Peg Dunmire (along with the rest of the Fake Tea Party candidates) needs to wake up. I had a little "interaction" with Dunmire on Twitter yesterday (links to original tweets):
pegdunmire: Did you hear who
won the first internet straw vote for Florida District 8? It wasn't a Republican. #tcot, #florida republican, #foxnews
rumpfshaker:
@pegdunmire Repeating Alan Grayson's talking points again? R U giving up denying no connection between Guetzloe's Fake Tea Party & Grayson?
pegdunmire: @rumpfshaker Why do YOU believe lies and rumors? What makes you think the Tea Party is fake? It is real. The state of Florida says it is.
rumpfshaker: @pegdunmire I've been dealing with Guetzloe since 2008. I know what I know. FTP may be a "real" registered party but isn't named honestly
rumpfshaker: @pegdunmire FACT: Guetzloe & Egoroff were kicked out of OCREC. FACT: FDOE has issued finding of probable cause against Guetzloe & AxTheTax
rumpfshaker: @pegdunmire (if this is actually Dunmire & not a staffer) I feel sorry for you. Guetzloe is taking advantage of you to get back at RPOF.
...and we get crickets from Dunmire...
The "first internet straw vote for Florida District 8" to which Dunmire refers is the poll conducted by George Crossley of the People Power Hour. I am unaware of that website or poll being promoted anywhere other than on the People Power Hour itself and Guetzloe's radio program and email lists. Thus, given the liberal tendencies of the People Power Hour's listeners, and the chip-on-the-shoulder-mommy-the-Republicans-were-mean-to-me rebellious outsider attitude of Guetzloe and his minions, is anyone surprised by the poll results? Even the People Power Hour admits the poll was nonscientific. Statistically speaking, that means the results are complete crap.
Of course Grayson and Dunmire were the top two vote getters! They only promoted the poll among programs targeted towards Grayson and Guetzloe supporters. That's like me bragging that I had won a poll among my law school classmates for their favorite person with the last name "Rumpf." Now, there's plenty of other nice people out there named Rumpf (including my wonderful family of course), but many of my classmates only knew me or if they met any of my relatives, it was only briefly.
Polling 101: By controlling the group from which you select your voters, you control the results.
Stay tuned to Sunshine State Sarah this week for breaking news on this and other local political topics...we've got some real humdingers coming soon!