An Orange County judged dismissed a case today that sought to seat a group of disaffected local Republicans on the county's party leadership team because they didn't sign a loyalty oath in time.
The ruling is the just latest chapter in a long bitter feud between supporters of Orange County Republican Chairman Lew Oliver and disaffected local party members who oppose him, including backers of ex-presidential candidate and GOP Texas Congressman Ron Paul.
But it also showcases fault lines and fights that are flaring up around Florida and the nation that center upon a push by Libertarian-leaning supporters of Paul who want into traditional party leadership slots.
The intra-party fight in Orange most recently resulted in a razor-thin victory by Oliver in a chairmanship re-election, and plenty of legal fallout since.
Oliver said that Circuit Judge Jose Rodriquez dismissed a request for a temporary restraining order to seat the members in question because of a number of legal holes in the case, including testimony that some had been aware and signed an oath. Oliver speculates some of the forms were just never turned in properly.
Oliver said there were so many problems with the opposition's case in hearings over the last two days, they looked like "clowns and liars."
One of the main dissidents, Paul-supporter Nick Egoroff, said the judge left the door open for the disgruntled GOP members to bring it back to court again soon, and he points to a favorable recent Miami judge ruling against using the oaths to deny leadership activity.
"It's still on-going," Egoroff said, including an emergency meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in Winter Park Civic Center to look into further possible action.
Oliver said the emergency powwow his opponents called for tonight does not constitute a legal meeting of the party, and for a number of technical reasons. "It's a waste of time," Oliver said.
State party Chairman Jim Greer applauded the decision in a press release late this afternoon, saying it upheld the party's ability to govern itself and set its own eligibility rules.
