Big Jim and Delmar.

The Florida Republican Party is:
A. penniless
B. destitute
C. insolvent
D. All of the above.

The correct answer is D, of course. You can add to that morally bankrupt and ethically impoverished, as well.

How else do you explain that last week the state party reported $124,129 in cash and $466,978 in debt. And it has one nasty senate primary race coming up between Gov. Charlie Crist and rising right-winger Marco Rubio, not to mention the general election against a young, dynamic black Democrat who’s pretty good at fundraising (sound familiar?).

How did that happen? The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that it happened through $100 flower arrangements for the wives of party Chairman Jim “Big Jim” Greer and Gov. Crist, thousands of dollars in meals, $15,000 to charter a jet to George LeMieux’s swearing in as U.S. senator, and another $1,800 for in-flight catering services.

Now that was after Greer had made the state GOP leadership turn in their AmEx cards in a symbolic gesture to prove he was on top of the whole spending thingy. Except Greer allowed the party’s executive director, Delmar Johnson, to keep his card — you know, for incidentals. Big Jim and his sidekick Delmar then proceeded to wear the numbers off Delmar’s card, racking up more than 1 million American Express points.

Now that’s big-league spending. Those guys were not slouches when it came to emptying the party’s coffers.

But wait, there’s more:

The records also show that executive director Delmar Johnson padded his $103,000 salary with a secret, $260,000 fundraising contract and another $42,000 for expenses — at the same time the once mighty Florida GOP was having to lay off employees amid anemic fundraising.

Boy, Delmar, that 400 grand is starting to look like real money!

Members of the party had been suspicious of Greer’s oversight of the party’s accounts for many months before his ouster as chairman in December. He had repeatedly assured them that things were under control, and even let some folks look at the books, or at least some of the books … OK, he let them “spot-check” the books, but not audit them. Remember, Big Jim’s the kind of guy who knows how to hide a secret $260k contract.

The Times quoted a text message that was quintessential Greer — a trademark mixture of vague threats and illogical obfuscation:

It is in the best interest of the party and the upcoming chairman’s election to not extensively comment at this time. However, in the future I may do so to ensure the facts are known and the piling on is shown for what it is — political. I will say Delmar Johnson is a good person and a tireless and hard-working man who did a good job as ED and as a fundraiser for RPOF in hard economic times. I’m proud of the man.

Now the Florida Republican Party leadership has its collective panties all in a twist over what to do. If they conduct a full investigation, that could lead to some very public, very embarrassing revelations. If they don’t conduct an investigation, who is going to donate to the party if they can’t be certain that the party will actually spend the money on politics, not pork chops?

These Republican fat cats have been top dogs for too long, and now maybe, just maybe they are getting a taste of comeuppance. For now, we’ll just have to watch the drama unfold. Meanwhile, Big Jim’s keeping mum and Delmar has been laid off.