In the Wrong Hands

One important current political issue is one concerning Governor Charlie Crist and the ongoing financial scandal with the Republican Party of Florida, that he is involved with. It was concluded by auditors that Crist and Greer spend nearly $500,000 that probably had little to do with official Republican Party business. Thousands of dollars were spent on trips to New York City and Walt Disney World that included Crist, his wife and her family. Party spending, including the use of credit cards by many elected officials, has come under increasing scrutiny in the last two years. This increase in scrutiny is because of this scandal and many others as this is not the first time there has been an abuse of spending privileges. Previously there was a criminal investigation into former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom that showed that he used his card to pay for travel, trips, and visits to electronic retailers such as Best Buy.

My opinion on this subject is closely aligned with the opinion of the Republican Party of Florida chairman John Thrasher. Chairman Thrasher called the audit an “affirmation of the despicable exploitation and gross financial mismanagement of donor funds that occurred” under Mr. Crist and his “hand-picked chairman.” First off I agree with how Crist’s actions were despicable and extremely exploiting. I often wonder why these politicians are given so much power and are enabled to spend so much money on everything other than their politics. The article did not detail where the money came from but I’m assuming a large portion of it came from the hard working tax payers of Florida. It’s entirely unfair that these politicians are given the power to use the tax payer’s money on personal joys that will never have a positive influence on the lives of the people who really bought them. Second I am glad that Chairman Thrasher pointed out the fact that the man who assisted in wrongly spending the money, Crist’s chairman Mr. Greer, was handpicked. It’s sad that characters like Greer and Crist are even given power in government and can make bad decisions that have no negative effect on themselves. According to the Atlanta-based law firm of Alston & Bird who reviewed over 150,000 documents, “there was little control over a wide array of spending”. I also find this very disheartening as there should be a group of people who hold control over all this spending and can collectively vote in ways to protect the money of tax payers. Overall I think this article reveals one of the crucial flaws in our political system and that is the fact that the power over tax payer’s money is often placed in the wrong hand.