A.G. Gancarski
Since Duval County Property Appraiser Jerry Holland announced his ambitions to be Duval Republican Executive Committee chairman, there have been two distinct types of reaction.
The public reaction has been almost unanimous support. On Holland’s Facebook page, the recurring theme among comments is that Holland, who restored the credibility of the Duval County supervisor of elections office, would bring transparency to his role as REC Chair.
Of course, as Florida Politics has reported, there are criticisms on and off the record. REC vets say Holland might have a “personal agenda” and an “ax to grind” for running. And opponents, such as party workhorse Acting Chairwoman Karyn Morton, who said recently, “I find it interesting that people stay uninvolved for a long time and then come back,” regarding Holland and Jack Webb, who she confirmed is also running against her.
“My focus is the REC. Other people look at the chair as the spotlight,” she said.
On his Facebook page Wednesday, Holland addressed the critics:
“I enjoy reading how people speculate that your desire to serve is to have an axe to grind with others. How silly that anyone would be willing to devote many hours of hard work, risk making yourself a target for Democrats in 4 years to help your party and be criticized for doing so,” Holland wrote.
“It is my desire that more would run also to give the members more choices. Decisions for the party should not be made behind closed doors and all Republicans should feel encouraged to discuss their points of view. We can not be the party for the few,” Holland added.
That statement, of course, got rousing support from people outside the REC inner circle, which has members still unhappy over Holland’s handling of the January endorsement vote that gave Lenny Curry the nod over Bill Bishop.
Holland stands by his position in that process. He would not have done it differently. This accords with what he said six months ago.
For most outside the REC, that vote is ancient history. However, it’s not so ancient for some who think the way that went down, including with Holland and others having to talk about the process to the media, did not put the party in the most favorable light.
In a text Wednesday morning about that vote, Holland reiterated the claim he made at the time. “My goal was to conduct that election as I did all elections, with integrity and honesty, not with an objective. The same reason I am running for chair.”
Holland also wondered why anonymous people kept surfacing to make “false claims” regarding his probity. Why they “don’t have the courage to speak up and identify themselves.”
“What evidence [is there] in my political career [that] I have ever done something like this with an axe to grind?”
Holland wonders what the issue really is with his critics. Do they fear him? Or do they fear his integrity and honesty?
Those salient questions likely won’t be answered on the record.
Spirited races for party chairman are nothing new, of course. We saw it recently in the race for state GOP chair, where Leslie Dougher got a lot of endorsements and support, including from Rick Scott and Lenny Curry, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Blaise Ingoglia in the end.
There still is a lively and enduring meta-discourse over all of that.
Holland, in forthrightly addressing his critics, puts them in the position of either identifying themselves or holding their fire.
During the past few days, the speculation has been buzzing. Is Holland going to drop out of this race? Is he having second thoughts? Et al.
Looks like those questions have been answered.
