Seminole official’s post starts Twitter tiff with House hopeful
Still catching flak for a weekend Facebook post deemed by many as anti-Muslim, Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg engaged in a Twitter war with state House candidate Anna Eskamani, vowing to donate a six-figure sum to her GOP opponent and upping the ante as the exchange went on.
The Iranian-American former Planned Parenthood official, who is running unopposed in the District 47 Democratic primary, tweeted Greenberg on Monday, asking when he would resign over his controversial post on Saturday that read: “Very simple question. Name just ONE society in the developed world that has benefited in ANY WAY from the introduction of more Muslims. Just one. Asking for a friend.”
Greenberg, who was elected in 2016, responded to Eskamani that he would never abdicate his position and promised to contribute $200,000 to the Republican candidate who wins the Aug. 28 primary. As Eskamani fired back that she would not be bullied, Greenberg vowed to give even more to have her defeated.
“You truly are a novice. You mistake excitement for intelligence. Now it’s $250,000. Each time you talk it goes up another $25,000,” he tweeted.
When Wes Neumann, vice president for the Seminole County Democratic Party, chimed in on the Twitter thread, citing that federal law prohibits state or local officials from exerting influence in elections, Greenberg topped off the cash offer at $300,000.
When reached by phone Tuesday for comment about his latest Twitter activity, Greenberg told the Orlando Sentinel, “My tweets are my tweets.”
He concluded the brief call before he could be asked if he was serious about funneling a large sum of money to Eskamani’s opponent.
Greenberg set off a firestorm with a post he said earlier that he had copied from former libertarian radio talk show host Neal Boortz, adding the words, “Asking for a friend.”
He said there was no need for a public apology because he was simply copying a question previously asked by Boortz.
“I don’t care what religion people are,” he said Monday in a statement.
But Eskamani and others took offense.
“The first thing Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg does after a day of defending his islamophobic and xenophobic comments, is threaten an IranianAmerican woman late at night through Twitter,” Eskamani said in a statement. “Not only does he threaten me, but he attempts to use campaign cash as hush money to silence me. It won’t work, and we should never tolerate bullies or bigots.”
Greenberg, who tweeted he had the cash flow to back up his threats because of his “family business [Greenberg Dental & Orthodontics] worth nearly a billion,” also went after Ben Friedman, community relations director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando.
Eskamani also implored Greenberg’s fellow GOP members to call for his resignation, a move that Seminole County GOP chair Kathryn Townsend stopped short of doing on Monday. She said the party isn’t responsible for the actions of its elected officials.
Greenberg concurred with that sentiment when a Seminole County resident joined the chorus of Twitter users demanding his resignation.
“What part about the GOP having zero control over me do you not understand? My powers come from the constitution,” Greenberg tweeted. “I self fund. You cannot beat me.”