TALLAHASSEE -- Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer charged personal expenses to the state party during a fundraiser this summer, adding fresh details to growing complaints that his money management was hurting the party.
Confronted with a $5,100 bill showing he used party money on spa treatments, seafood dinners and limousines during a party fundraiser at the Breakers Hotel, Greer said he would reimburse the party for some of the expenses Friday.
The hotel bill showed that Greer and his wife spent $3,600 on a dinner at the hotel's Brasserie L'Escalier, $200 on spa services, $137 at the seafood bar and $80 on a limousine to the airport during a two-day fundraiser for incoming Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater.
A spokesman for the party said if the charges to the party American Express card were for personal uses, L"they were a mistake.''
The expenses ''should have been applied to the chairman's card [but] were mistakenly applied to the master account,'' said Erin VanSickle, communications director for the party. She later said the bill hadn't yet been paid so Greer would be able to pay his part of the bill -- $412 -- directly.
Greer, who is up for reelection as chairman in January, has been under fire for weeks about his spending decisions during the presidential campaign. Those complaints were renewed Friday, after the party said it had not exhausted its campaign cash in the final weeks of the election.
Read the complete story at miamiherald.com