Florida GOP strips Ziegler of powers and pay amid rape allegation
The Florida Republican Party on Sunday stripped chairman Christian Ziegler of his authority and all but $1 of his salary until it can remove him in the wake of a rape allegation and the admission that he and his wife had a three-way sexual liaison.
“These are serious issues,” said Jack Brill, GOP chair of Sarasota County, where Ziegler lives and where the sexual battery investigation against him is ongoing. “[This] is uncharted territory for the great majority of everybody.”
The unanimous decision by the party’s executive board to censure Ziegler took place at the Rosen Centre, the same Orlando hotel where he was elected chair just 10 months before.
The man Ziegler had defeated for the job, Evan Power, called Sunday’s special meeting in his role as vice chair and will take over almost all of Ziegler’s powers alongside treasurer Mike Moberley.
Power said he expects the full committee to officially remove Ziegler at a meeting in Tallahassee on Jan. 8.
“Today, we took an appropriate action to bring accountability to one of our members,” Power said following the meeting. “It was a hard moment for many of us. … But the charges against him are serious in nature. And we cannot move forward as an organization without a new leader.”
State Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, called the situation “very frustrating. … [Ziegler] needs to resign. It was unanimous, every single motion today was unanimously [approved]. And he’s still there.”
The motion to censure, shared on social media by Lee GOP chair Michael Thompson from the behind-closed-doors meeting, stated that Ziegler “has engaged in conduct that renders him unfit for the office of Chairman …. [and] has injured the good name of the Republican Party of Florida, disturbed its well-being, and hampered the organization in performing its mission to support the principles, objectives, and values of the Republican Party.”
The censure stated that the party “has lost confidence in Christian Ziegler’s ability toeffectively lead” and requested his immediate resignation as chair.
Also approved was an immediate reduction of Ziegler’s $120,000 annual salary to $1.
Brill said a proposed special investigative committee was “not necessary” but would not elaborate further. He also would not comment on reports that Ziegler was holding out for a $2 million buyout, though he said he would oppose it.
“We couldn’t afford a payout to begin with,” interjected GOP board member Jovante Teague of Dixie County.
The motion to suspend Ziegler’s powers included his authority to hire and fire employees, solicit funds, set any meetings on his future with the party, access any lines of credit, or speak on behalf of the party.
Ziegler has already become less visible in his role, with his last official email as party chairman sent out Nov. 29, the day before the first report of the allegations against him.
Ziegler has steadfastly refused to quit even as Gov. Ron DeSantis and most state Republican leaders said they wanted him out, a chorus joined Saturday by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.
The allegations were brought by a woman who says she had a previous consensual sexual encounter that included Ziegler and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, according to a Sarasota Police Department search warrant affidavit.
The affidavit states the woman told Sarasota police detectives she had agreed to have a sexual encounter including his wife on Oct. 2 but canceled when she learned Bridget wasn’t attending.
She told police that when she opened her door to walk her dog Ziegler entered her apartment and sexually assaulted her, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also said Bridget Ziegler told police she and her husband had been involved sexually with the woman but only once in the past year.
Ziegler has not been charged with a crime and released a statement earlier this month professing his innocence and claiming he and his wife were being “targeted.”
“He didn’t really have much to say,” Salzman said of Ziegler, who attended the meeting. “He apologized for putting us through this stuff. But that was it. I think that he’s really trying to be careful because he has legal cases against him. And I think that’s why he’s staying. But it’s poor taste.”
Asked about Ziegler’s protestation of innocence, Salzman said, “None of us care about any of that.”
“Law enforcement is handling that; he and his family are handling that,” she said. “What we care about is the future of our party and the future of America. And that’s why everybody in that room was so upset … because of what we’re being put through because he refuses to step back.”
Last week, Bridget Ziegler was the lone vote on the Sarasota County School Board against a resolution asking her to resign from her post on the board. She has refused to do so.
She also serves on DeSantis’ tourism board that oversees the district containing Walt Disney World. She is a co-founder of the conservative group Moms for Liberty, which has fought to ban books about the LGBTQ community.