Democratic activist Kenneth Quinnell yesterday filed a complaint with the Florida Election Commission, alleging that the state GOP illegally failed to report expenditures made during a stay at the Breakers:

"In essence, what it boils down to is that it appears that the Republican Party of Florida was required, by law, to report more than $5,000 in hotel expenses charged to the party American Express Card as ‘Other Distributions’. As the data from the Division of Election shows, they did not appear to do that, which would be a clear violation of the law. Since their American Express records are undisclosed, the public can’t determine if violations have been made and these records should be released to the public and the Florida Elections Commission should look into this matter," Quinnell said on his blog, which also includes a text of the complaint.

The RPOF has said chairman Jim Greer, above left, mistakenly included some personal expenses on the party AmEX card, but that the party complies with all disclosure requirements. Meanwhile, on the eve of the RPOF's party leadership elections, a new group called the Florida Republican Reform Caucus (FRRC), is calling for an audit into RPOF leaders' "luxurious spending."

"Today, the State Party is confounding a closer look at the credit card spending - by cardholder - to determine how Party funds have been spent," said John Bertran of Melbourne, an FRRC cofounder, along with Martin Stockdale of Ft. Lauderdale, Eric von Tausch of Miami, and Joe Aloisio of Pasco County.  "Only a true forensic audit will show who spent what, and for what reason."

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