TRINITY — The club with clout is suddenly the club without.
The West Pasco Republican Club, a fixture in local political circles for four decades, faces a likely demise after party leaders declined to renew the group’s charter this week.
The club president called it a political vendetta against one of the group’s former longtime leaders, Tax Collector Mike Fasano, who supported Democrat Charlie Crist in the 2014 gubernatorial race.
“If they want to come after me, then come after me,” said Fasano, “but don’t hurt 400 people who are members of a Republican club. That’s just wrong.”
Under party rules, political clubs using the Republican name must renew their charters every two years, and the documents must be signed by at least two of the three state party officials in the county: Republican Executive Committee chairman James Mathieu, state committeeman Bill Bunting and state committeewoman Sandra Graves.