We sure do love us some GOP self-destruction. And according to local right-wing website Bizpac Review, Palm Beach's Republican Party is tearing at its own innards like a frenzied jackal, "cash-strapped and crippled by poor fundraising efforts," key leaders unhappy with Chairman Ira Sabin's orders to chill on the birther and other crazy talk.
In a web post yesterday, BizPac writer Janeen Capizola reported that the party has "closed its West Palm Beach office and laid off its two full-time employees." On February 28, writer Jack Furnari reported that Sabin "doesn't want his board members to publicly discuss 'voter fraud, birtherism, the St. Lucie County voter fraud suit' or any other 'oddball issues' he deems off message."
Sabin was narrowly elected late last year to fill the seat formerly occupied by Sid Dinerstein, an affable ideologue who steered the party for ten years through the Age of W. Dinerstein's nebbishy manner hid a deep resonance with his party's tinfoil hat brigade -- he really believed Obama's reelection spelled D-O-O-M for the republic.
Sabin comes out of the Republican Jewish Coalition, a hotbed of paranoid delusional thinking in which Obama is in league with, if not an actual conscious agent of OneWorldSovietMarxismMuslimSuicideBombingAtheism. We'd guess that Sabin's willing to work with the wackos and that his effort to down-low their concerns only reflects his appreciation of political reality: Tea Party crazy turns more voters off than on.
We'd like to think the drop-off in GOP contributions stems from Sabin's efforts to bring sanity -- or at least the appearance of sanity -- to his motley crew. But if BizPac's reporting is accurate, the cash-flow issues have to do with simple incompetence on his part. (And perhaps, that Sabin's "abrasive personality" had "alienated the party's major long-time donors.")
According to BizPac, Sabin "abruptly" replaced the party's executive director "at the height of planning the annual, all-important Lincoln Day Dinner," abandoned "the long-standing practice of selling Lincoln Day tickets by the table to bigger donors," and unexpectedly canceled the annual golf tournament.
Horror of horrors, reporter Capizola plaintively noted, "...to date, there has been no word on when the ever-popular Lobsterfest will be held." Guess we'll have to stay home and have Jeeves whip up another martini.
Journalistic props are due BizPac. For a creature of Palm Beach players like Big Sugar, Big Law and FP&L to air rightwing dirty laundry in public shows true grit. Or it may show how deep is the shit Sabin's in with the local Long Green. As money is the mother's milk of politics, dude may soon be an orphan.
Fire Ant -- an invasive species, tinged bright red, with an annoying, sometimes-fatal sting -- covers Palm Beach County. Got feedback or a tip? Contact [email protected].
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