Achieving the near-impossible
By 
It’s inspirational, in its own way. It is possible to be too much of a degenerate for the Florida Republican Party? In what must be judged a major upset, apparently it is:
The leaders of Florida’s Republican Party declared its embattled chairman, Christian Ziegler, “unfit for office” on Sunday and stripped him of his authority while cutting his $120,000 salary to $1.
Their action was prompted by a rape allegation made against 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 executive committee’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 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 again. But she canceled when Ziegler said his wife couldn’t make it. He then came alone to her apartment and assaulted her, she told police.
oth 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.
I suspect that the Zeiglers’s practice of alternative sexualities might have done as much or more damage with the Don’t Say Gay party than Christian Zeigler’s actual alleged fireable offense, but anyway seeing dishonest moralizers and public-but-not-private homophobes like this get humiliated is always satisfying.