Greer To Resign In Blow To Crist

By Reid Wilson

Updated 1:40pm

FL GOP chair Jim Greer will resign his post after coming under intense fire from fellow GOPers, dealing another blow to Gov. Charlie Crist's (R) Senate hopes.

Greer has been under extreme pressure to step down after conservative activists grew angry over his support for Crist over ex-FL House Speaker Marco Rubio (R).

The resignation is a win for Rubio's allies. When he steps down Feb. 20, Greer will reportedly be replaced by state Sen. John Thrasher (R), who is officially neutral in the race but who has attended Rubio fundraisers in the past.

In a conference call with reporters, Greer remained defiant, touting his accomplishments while blasting those he said were doing harm to the party.

"There is a great debate in our party of the direction, moderates versus conservatives, whether we should have a big tent or a small tent. And while I have made it my utmost concern to try to keep those arguments and discontent out of the Republican Party of Florida, over the last 6 months, there have been a very vocal group in our party that has become very active in seeking an effort to oust me as chairman. They have distorted facts," Greer said. "They have basically, as they say, thrown everything up against the wall that they possibly can to embarrass me or disrupt the Republican Party of Florida."

"I cannot be a participant of the shredding and tearing of the fabric of the Republican Party," he said. His opponents, Greer said, were willing to "burn down the house and try to destroy the Republican Party."

Greer's departure, coming just a year after he openly contemplated running for RNC chair before dropping out to endorse Michael Steele, will give Rubio fans more ammunition as they seek to build momentum. Crist will be stung, but not mortally wounded, by his close ally's fate; Crist has been notably silent on Greer's difficult final month in office.

Crist issued a statement early Tuesday afternoon lauding Greer's tenure atop the party and calling for party unity. The GOV is closely tied to Greer and personally asked him to run for a second term last year, in order to be atop the FL GOP when the party faced another challenging election cycle.

"I call on Florida Republicans to unite behind our common values of less government and more personal freedom and sincerely hope that we can move forward together to ensure statewide Republican victories in 2010," Crist said in the statement.