Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman has dumped the head of the party in Miami-Dade, claiming he tried to shake down local candidates for money and browbeat staff members and elected officials.

Thurman immediately replaced B.J. Chiszar with Miami attorney Richard Lydecker, who served as Manny Diaz's finance chairman during his 2001 mayoral campaign in Miami. Lydecker has not been active in the local party and said he was sworn in as a member of the executive committee less than one week ago.

Chiszar's ouster came just days after he called for Thurman's resignation in a widely circulated screed against the party's leadership.

``I think this is unconstitutional and is a direct response to my exercising my freedom of speech,'' said Chiszar, who served less than a year of his four-year term. ``They have no right.''

Party officials said the timing was a coincidence and that complaints against Chiszar, 30, had been mounting for months. In a letter to Chiszar, Thurman accused him of repeatedly trying to charge candidates for voter information they should have received for free.

She also said he engaged in ``rude, unprofessional and overbearing conduct,'' failed to hold party meetings with a quorum present, and threatened elected officials.

``B.J. has engaged in activities that injured the name and status of the Florida Democratic Party,'' said Thurman's spokesman, Eric Jotkoff, who said state law and party bylaws allow her to bounce a local chairman. ``We have huge election coming up in 2010, andwe need a successful Democratic party down there.''

Turnover is not unusual in the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, which has seen five new chairmen since 2005. Leaders have struggled to mobilize activists and convince donors to support the local party machinery instead of giving directly to candidates.

One Democratic candidate for the Florida House, Johnny Farias, recently filed a complaint with Thurman that said Chiszar told him he had to pay $200 for every five voter precinct lists (there are hundreds of precincts in the county) and another $500 for 10,000 e-mail addresses.

``As a newcomer to politics, I was intimidated by this requirement and felt that I had no choice but to comply or my campaign would be harmed,'' Farias wrote.

``That's absolutely false,'' said Chiszar, who said he thought he was supposed to charge candidates for voter information.

Lydecker, 43, has raised money for a number of Democrats, including President Barack Obama, Sen. Bill Nelson and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. He has also given to a handful of Republicans: Gov. Charlie Crist, former Sen. Mel Martinez and former Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher.

Lydecker said he worked at a big law firm and sometimes his partners persuaded him to support Republicans. ``That's something that will not occur any longer,'' he said.

In picking Lydecker to finish the rest of Chiszar's four-year term, Thurman passed over a former congressional candidate, Annette Taddeo, and a vice chairman of the local party, Henry Crespo.

``Maybe picking an outsider was the way to go. I don't know,'' said Democratic activist Sam Feldman. ``Regardless, this was long overdue.''

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