New Accusation of Cover-Up of Gay Affairs Leveled Against Charlie Crist

A Florida Republican Party leader under criminal investigation has a new charge of his own against former governor Charlie Crist -- that he gave his chief of staff a job as U.S. senator to cover up gay affairs.

WTSP investigative reporter Mike Deeson reports that Jim Greer, the former Republican Party chairman in Florida who is under investigation for what amounts to theft, says he was dispatched to tell George LeMieux that he didn't get the job. The governor had been tasked by law with picking a replacement for Sen. Mel Martinez who resigned his seat in the Senate, and he reportedly had a long list of good contenders (some who say they were told they had the job).

Then Greer says LeMieux, a former chief of staff during Crist's campaign for governor, suddenly got a meeting with Crist and was named senator minutes later.

What's added heft to Greer's accusation is the Tampa Bay Times reporting that Connie Mack, the congressman challenging LeMieux in a primary, has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking for an investigation into how his opponent became an incumbent in the first place.

Greer is the same person who has accused Crist of paying two men to leave the state so as not to embarrass the governor if gay affairs were exposed. And, he says Crist once tried to kiss him.

Greer's legal team wants Crist to change testimony he gave that damages Greer in the criminal investigation. Crist, who has been married to Carole Rome since 2008, was the central subject of an HBO documentary called Outrage, which premiered on the network in 2009 and examined the private lives and public votes of what it said are closeted politicians.