A dispute over control of the second largest Republican club in Sarasota County has shifted to the courts, as the Republican Club of South Sarasota County has sued four of its former members and officers, alleging they stole club funds and property when they broke away earlier this year to create a new group − the America First Southwest Florida Caucus.
The Herald-Tribune reported in January that after more than 25 years as one of the most influential groups in Sarasota County politics, the RCSSC resigned its charter with the state GOP and changed its name to the America First SWFL Caucus. But a lawsuit filed on April 12 in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court by the Republican Club of South Sarasota County alleges that the founding officers of the new organization had no authority to dissolve the RCSSC’s charter and seeks $63,000 in damages.
It alleges the defendants stole more than $10,000 from the RCSSC bank account – funds that, according to the state GOP’s rules, must be transferred by a group’s last officers to the Republican Party of Florida within 90 days of inactivity if “any entity chartered under this Rule becomes inactive, has its charter revoked or fails to renew its charter.”
The lawsuit also alleges the defendants stole property – such as tables and chairs, financial records, projection equipment, checkbooks and the coffee pot.
The rules specify that any inactive entity shall not expend funds without permission from the state GOP, the suit contends.
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“According to the (Republican Party of Florida) Rules of Procedure, even if the RCSSC had become inactive, had its charter revoked, or failed to renew its charter, Defendants were never entitled to repurpose or transfer the funds,” the lawsuit says.
The case has been assigned to Judge Hunter W. Carroll.
The defendants have not yet reported an attorney, according to court documents.
Dispute over Republican Club of South Sarasota County assets
Terri Angley, the Republican State Committeewoman for Sarasota County and the Vice President of the America First SWFL Caucus, is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit. Angley said the RCSSC changed its name and revoked its charter because the board overwhelmingly voted to do that rather than follow a new set of policy changes from the state party.
“The membership believed that the contract was changed because of the new rules,” Angley said. “We sent the charter back with a cover letter and said, ‘The membership said we can’t comply.’ Then we said, ‘Well, here’s what we can do – we can form a new a new club.’”
Angley disputed the lawsuit’s allegation of more than $10,000 in civil theft. That money, she said, had come from the then-RCSSC’s members. Since most of them moved over to join the new group, according to Angley, that money should stay with them and be used by the new organization.
The committeewoman had been involved with the RCSSC for 18 years, with most of that time serving on the board, but she said the new mandates from the state party were too much for members to bear. Angley said they were told every chartered group needed to provide the Republican Party of Florida and their local Republican Executive Committee personal information on their members – such as names, addresses, emails, and phone numbers.
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Angley said the RCSSC members “went berserk” at the idea of their personal information being shared.
Some relatively new club officers and board members also began to question why they were not allowed to endorse candidates in primary elections, which influenced the decision to start another group.
“There were people who probably wanted to do this anyway, is how I see it,” Angley said.
Although he is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Mike Stephenson was president of the RCSSC at the time of the transition to becoming the America First SWFL Caucus, and he said he oversaw the entire process.
Stephenson said the split resulted from those policy changes in the Florida Republican Party and issues with Sarasota GOP Chairman Jack Brill.
A Sarasota GOP spokesperson said Brill would not comment on pending litigation.
In letters to each defendant dated March 1, the RCSSC’s legal counsel, Morgan Bentley of the Sarasota-based Bentley Goodrich Kison Law Firm – characterized the breakaway group as “disgruntled, now-former-members” who “engaged in the intentional, felonious, and malicious act of theft” by taking club property, documents, domain names, mail, and social media accounts.
“The wrongful theft and retention of the aforementioned property constitutes civil theft in Florida. As a result of this theft, the Club has suffered actual damages in the estimated amount of at least $21,000.00,” Bentley wrote.
Bentley cited the Florida civil theft statute to say that since the RCSSC is still in existence and chartered by the state Republican Party, the former leadership could not take the club’s property with them when they left to start a new, un-chartered organization.
“No one is saying they do not have the right to start their own club. God bless them and best of luck to them, but it does not mean it is the Republican-chartered club of South Sarasota County,” Bentley told the Herald-Tribune.
The attorney estimated that two-thirds of the RCSCC’s original members did not follow the leadership to start the America First SWFL Caucus, and they were bewildered to find their club’s bank account emptied and their coffee pot gone.
Bentley said there is a formal, legal process the leadership of the America First SWFL Caucus could have used to avoid violating the Civil Theft Statute and state GOP bylaws. It would require the entire club to agree to start a new organization or for the charter to expire. If the RCSCC exists, even on paper, it is a chartered organization with its own funds and property.
Bentley rejected Angley’s assertion of ownership of the club’s assets.
“If their position is going to be that every single dollar in that bank account came from the members that left, I doubt that’s the case,” Bentley said. “But even if it were true – it still doesn’t matter. It’s money they gave the club to operate, and it is still there – operating and holding monthly meetings.”
Also listed as a co-defendant is James Hoel, the America First SWFL Caucus president.
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Hoel, who was featured in a joint documentary investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” investigation of former President Donald national security advisor Michael Flynn, was present at the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot as a member of the Proud Boys, but said he did not enter the Capitol Building. He has since become a prominent participant in Sarasota County politics, including his support in the Republican campaign that swept three Sarasota County School Board seats in 2022.
To Hoel, the lawsuit is not simply a semantical argument over assets and a charter, but rather what he said was targeting by the state’s Republican apparatus over an ideological divide.
“We want to see America First – being put at the front, benefiting American citizens. All American citizens no matter what race color or creed; we don’t look at that,” Hoel told the Herald-Tribune. “We believe in self governing, and the (Republican Party of Florida) obviously does not, because we simply said, ‘We do not agree with the bylaw changes you’re making and we’ve decided to go out on our own.’”
Hoel called the lawsuit “an example of what happens when you stray from the establishment.”
The America First SWFL Caucus president also refuted Bentley’s assertion that two-thirds of the club stayed behind – a figure he said was closer to just one individual. To Hoel, his notice to the Florida GOP that the RCSCC intended to dissolve its charter in reaction to new policies was sufficient enough to break away and take their assets with them.
He pointed to a rule in the previous state GOP bylaws that said if a club charter is revoked or not renewed, the Republican Party of Florida “does not have jurisdiction over the Club, its funds, activities, or members.”
In a March 18 letter, Republican Party of Florida Executive Director George Riley wrote to Hoel that the RCSSC’s charter will remain in place until at least March 31, 2025, in accordance with the state GOP’s rules of procedure.
In response to Riley, Hoel said the RCSCC’s executive board intended to resign from its charter, effective immediately.
“We also informed you that any prior ties, allegiances and agreements were thereby permanently severed and any potential future correspondence pertaining to this withdrawal was unwanted,” Hoel wrote. “We informed you that going forward our organization will focus our priorities and support on other initiatives that put our American citizens first and foremost. Application to be a chartered Republican club by your organization is voluntary, as is the reverse.”
As an independent group, the America First SWFL Caucus can now produce voter guides, take stances that don’t adhere to the official GOP umbrella, and endorse and directly support candidates in Republican primaries.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: America First group sued by Sarasota Republican club for ‘civil theft’