2023-12-17 23:32:50
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The leaders of Florida’s Republican Party voted Sunday to strip Chairman Christian Ziegler of his authority on the board and to reduce his $120,000 salary to $1.
Their action was prompted by a rape allegation made once morest Ziegler in late November and the criminal investigation by Sarasota police that was launched in response. He has called the encounter at the center of the investigation a consensual one and refused to step down despite the growing calls for his resignation.
The motions at the party’s emergency meeting in Orlando passed unanimously. The motion to censure Ziegler said the party has lost confidence in him because he “has engaged in conduct that renders him unfit for the office.”
Members scheduled a meeting for Jan. 8 in Tallahassee — one day before the Florida legislature begins its regular session — to vote on whether to kick Ziegler out of office.
Michael Thompson, chairman of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee, said those gathered were frustrated, disappointed and “anxious to get this over with.” He said Ziegler spoke at the meeting and apologized “that he brought shame to the party and to his family,” but that he was ready to get back to work for the GOP.
Ziegler mentioned that he had donors who promised to donate to the party if he got through the crisis. “Everyone in the room just took that as a slap in our face, like, you know, let me stay and I’ll bring in donors,” Thompson said.
Ziegler’s accuser, whose name has not been released, told police the alleged rape occurred in October. She had previously had a three-way sexual encounter with Ziegler and his wife, Bridget, and they had all arranged to meet once more. But she canceled when Ziegler said his wife mightn’t make it. He then came alone to her apartment and assaulted her, she told police.
Both Zieglers have acknowledged having that earlier sexual encounter with the woman.
The couple has been prominent and powerful politically in Florida, where Bridget Ziegler, a Moms for Liberty co-founder and a member of the Sarasota County School Board, has led book banning efforts and policies targeting the LGBTQ community.
Gov. Ron DeSantis was one of the first top Republicans in the state to tell Christian Ziegler to step down following the police report regarding the rape allegation was made public by the Florida Center for Government Accountability.
Other party leaders soon followed, including the state’s legislative leaders and a majority of the 40-member executive committee of the state party. Last week, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, one of Ziegler’s political mentors, also called for him to quit.
“Christian should voluntarily step down before the executive committee takes action once morest him,” Buchanan said in a statement. “His position as party leader is no longer tenable given what has transpired.”
On Saturday, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who had urged patience when the rape allegation first surfaced, also called for him to step aside. The 40-year-old Ziegler stayed defiant. He emailed party members on Dec. 2 — the subject line was “Update/Explanation” — to say he was being targeted “most likely due to my wife and I being such loud political voices.”
Attached was a statement from his attorney, Derek Byrd, that maintained “we are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated.”
Sarasota police said last week that their investigation is continuing.
According to members of the party executive committee, Ziegler had asked for a buyout as high as $2 million as a condition of stepping down. He called such reports “100% not true.”
Bridget Ziegler continues to face turmoil on the school board, which last week passed a resolution asking her to resign. That meeting was marked by pointed public comment, with dozens of parents and local residents decrying what they called her hypocrisy given the family values she promotes.
Only DeSantis can remove her from the board, and he hasn’t commented on whether he plans to do so.
She also serves on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board, which DeSantis and state lawmakers created following they dissolved the body that for a half-century managed the land around Walt Disney World.
A feud between Disney and DeSantis erupted last year when the company criticized legislation that prohibits discussion of gender in public schools. Bridget Ziegler was a vocal supporter of the measure and, like DeSantis, has criticized Disney for being too “woke.”
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