Photo credit: HCN
Dr. Blake Paterson, M.D., St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee Chair, has been suspended by Republican Party of Florida. Dr. Paterson is a board certified anesthesiologist in Ponte Vedra.
Not the first time that internecine disputes have resulted in a SJC REC Chair being kicked out of office by RPOF.The late SJC REC Chair WILLIAM KORACH was also removed.
Is the developer codlock control of local politics being restored by the ancien regime
JFK said that "politics is a game of knives."
Who knew that St. Johns County Republicans could be so lively? From Florida Politics:
Florida GOP suspends St. Johns County Chair Blake Paterson
The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) has removed the St. Johns County GOPChair.
State Chair Evan Power informed Blake Paterson in an email that he was removed, effective immediately, as both the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee (REC) Chair and as a precinct committeeman. His duties will temporarily be assumed by Jamie Parham, a county GOP Vice Chair whom the party said Paterson wrongly suspended months ago.
“You are prohibited from holding any position within the St. Johns GOP, the RPOF, or any RPOF chartered club in St. Johns County for a period of two (2) years,” Power wrote. “As such, you are also not eligible to be a member of the RPOF State Executive Committee, the RPOF State Executive Board, nor hold any position within a RPOF Congressional District Caucus for two (2) years.”
Paterson has been under fire for disparaging local GOP candidates and officials. A report by the state party’s Grievance Committee details specific instances where Paterson was accused of using his authority as county Chairman for personal grudges.
The report said Paterson allowed the St. Johns GOP’s official social media “to disparage Republican elected officials and promote and support their opponents without an endorsement of the REC,” a violation of state party rules.
It also said Paterson suspended Parham, and later called police to prohibit Parham from attending multiple REC meetings.
“In the estimation of the Grievance Committee this is only the tip of the iceberg as it pertains to the problems in St. Johns County and the inability of Mr. Paterson to adequately perform his role as Chairman,” the grievance report reads. “The number of grievances this Committee has received from one County alone — St. Johns — is indicative of a failure of leadership at the top.”
The report said Paterson blamed the social media posts on Natalie Lewis, who chaired an ad hoc social media committee for the party, but accepted blame as party Chair. Paterson also said the decision to suspend Parham has been made by the entire REC, but state party rules don’t allow a vote without notice on suspending an officer elected to a county post.
The Grievance Committee called the violations “egregious” and unanimously recommended his suspension.
“The St. Johns REC is broken. And while Mr. Paterson may not be responsible for everything that is wrong with the REC, as Chairman, he is responsible for much,” the report reads.
“But with responsibility also comes accountability. And that is the role of the Grievance Committee under the RPOF Rules, to recommend solutions to fix disputes between members of a county REC when such dispute cannot be resolved by the members of the REC. Here, we find such a serious situation that demands the RPOF’s attention.”
The report also suggested the specific grievances for which Paterson was suspended were the “tip of the iceberg.”
Paterson notably has made headlines for controversial remarks, like allegedly telling a Black Republican he could not win a House seat.
With Paterson suspended, the role of Acting Chair falls to Parham, but Power directed that an election be held within 60 days to fill the remainder of Paterson’s term.
The county REC website still lists Paterson as Chair and Parham as Vice Chair.
Jacob Ogles
Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at jacobogles@hotmail.com.
No it’s not the old regime. It’s that he was a horrible chair. It was the members of the rec that filed so many grievances against him. Blake did it to himself
ReplyDeleteHogs eating dogs and dogs eating hogs. Wrack up another win for anti-intellectualism though...as Par Ham said that the Nazis were socialist. I wouldn't want that idiot anywhere around me either so Patterson at least did something right. All of them beholden to some kind of bad philosophy or irrational ideology. Pick your poison with Republicans.
ReplyDeleteSJC GOP has the collective IQ less than that of an ape. That's the problem. They're over there smacking themselves around and whoever will replace Patterson won't be much better. The poor philosophy and ideology runs deep.
ReplyDeleteReplying to the first anonymous post: Parham and company loudly disrupted nearly every REC meeting after Patterson was elected, but they deny this fact. People who attended the meetings know the truth. They witnessed their behavior. Bottom line: Parham was a sore loser about the election of Chair going to Patterson and not to his next door neighbor, J.C. Counts.
ReplyDeleteWhat caused Patterson's removal was his lack of oversight on the REC's social media page which openly endorsed certain Republican candidates - an error he admitted to when it was brought to his attention by the RPOF who did not issue any warnings before they removed him, but instead let the the violations in social media pile up.
Now, RPOF is controlling Parham whose first action was to cancel plans (conceived in Patterson's term) to proceed with endorsements. Parham's cancellation of endorsement plans is a violation of rules. RPOF wants only incumbent commissioners to be endorsed, not the grass roots candidates challenging them. So far, Parham is helping the RPOF and the incumbents who are overdeveloping St. Johns County.
That social media page I thought was a gag or some kind of joke. Putting down Mitch McConnell who is also a Republican. Promoting all sorts of whackos. Just all over the place. Not to mention, you'd think that promoting someone who has been indicted 90 plus times for felonies would be bad enough. The bar is low in the GOP. Just not many standards morally or intellectualy.
ReplyDeleteArrest them all now!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-opens-frontier-insurrection-191826768.html