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Congressional Quarterly has come up with a cool bracket-style contest letting people decide matchups between possible VP picks for John McCain. Gov. Charlie Crist beat J.C. Watts in the first round. (Jeb Bush lost to Joe Lieberman.)
Now Crist faces U.S. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.
“Lawyers are back!"
Gov. Charlie Crist made that declaration in West Palm Beach last year soon after taking office. The memory lingers because of what happened in Tallahassee over the past few weeks.
In West Palm Beach, the ex-attorney general had spotted a fellow lawyer in a crowd. Crist wanted it known that the legal profession would not be shunned as it had been during the Jeb Bush years.
"Fortunately, I'm not a lawyer," Bush liked to say, as he battled the trial bar on issues such as capping jury awards in medical malpractice cases.
Not only are lawyers back, but trial lawyers are back in force. It's enough to make Jeb wonder how quickly times have changed. (story here)
Gov. Charlie Crist canceled his events today, including an interview with Time and a meeting with members of the European Union in Miami, to attend the funeral of a family friend in New York.
The governor's office would not reveal who the funeral was for, only saying it was a close family friend. Crist did not travel on a state plane, his spokeswoman Erin Isaac said.
To raise money for the GOP. (click image to enlarge).
Gov. Charlie Crist said "God bless Gov. Chiles" as the 2008 Legislature drew to a close last week, thankful for $2.4-billion in reserves made possible by the late Lawton Chiles.
Lawmakers used $300-million of the money to avoid painful cuts for the state's sickest and poorest this year.
But the money, the settlement from Florida's lawsuit against Big Tobacco, would never have been there if Crist had gotten his way in the mid 1990s.
Crist, then a Republican state senator from St. Petersburg, was also among the most prominent in opposing the Democratic governor's assault on tobacco companies. (story here)
The NRA has hired Gov. Charlie Crist's former legal chief Chris Kise to go head-to-head with Barry Richard, who had been hired by the Florida Retail Federation and the Florida Chamber of Commerce to pursue the case.
The NRA has filed a pleading to get involved and work beside the Attorney General's office to defend against the lawsuit.
The fourth annual Charlie Crist Fishing Trip will be held in the Keys at the end of the month, with event chairman Rodney Barreto (Fish and Wildlife Commission member) prominently featured in the invitation flyers. It was at this GOP fund-raising event last year, you will recall, that Crist got a life-threatening bite from a brown recluse spider that aggravated him on his first overseas trip to Israel.
CSX Chairman Michael Ward sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday saying that CSX remains committed to working with government officials to bringing commuter rail to the Orlando area. He reminds the governor that the final drop-dead date for legislation is June 30, 2009.
In other words: CSX will be back.
With his customary good cheer, Gov. Charlie Crist declared Tuesday the 2008 session, "a banner year on the environment, I dare say."
While Crist stays focused on the silver - or green - lining, others cast a jaundiced eye at the over sized cloud. Read more at our sister blog, The Fueling Station.
Trying to decipher whether the 2008 session was “green” or not takes a Pantone color chart. There are spots of leafy green, mottled with the gray-green of hard cash, bright acid envy, and the pallid sheen of greenwash.
With his customary good cheer, Gov. Charlie Crist declared Tuesday the 2008 session, "a banner year on the environment, I dare say."
To continue reading, go to our blog The Fueling Station.
-Asjylyn Loder and Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writers
Gov. Charlie Crist and several staffers were headed to Washington Tuesday afternoon when a series of malfunctions on a state plane forced them to turn around and land in Tallahassee.
Spokeswoman Erin Isaac said pilots of the the twin engine Cessna Citation reported three minor equipment malfunctions dealing with the plane's tail, autopilot and steering. Crist "kept talking to the rest of us to keep us preoccupied," Isaac said.
She estimated the plane was over the middle of Georgia when the decision was made to turn around. The plane landed safely in Tallahassee at about 5:15 p.m. Crist was flying with three staffers and an FDLE agent along with two pilots.
He was headed to Washington for meetings Wednesday with U.S. Sen Mel Martinez and other and other officials on Florida issues and that he would make the trip on another plane in the morning.
-- Steve Bousquet
We could hardly have a better issue than the gas tax debate to encapsulate, in near-caricature form, the different styles of these two formidable candidates. There's ruthless Hillary Clinton, the say-anything, do-anything-to-win candidate, shamelessly pandering while economist after economist slams her (and John McCain) for proposing a federal gas tax hiatus that they say is lousy policy. And there's Barack Obama, Adlai Stevenson reincarnated, who relates to eggheads in faculty lounges and newspaper editorial boards far better than working stiffs desperate for a little relief at the gas pump.
Democratic pollster Dave Beattie, who is not working for either campaign, said one reason the gas tax holiday is not more popular is because many voters have seen firsthand that such proposals produce little relief at the pump. "When you do something repeatedly and people don't see a change, they get skeptical,'' said Beattie, who is based in Jacksonville. "In Florida we've had a gas tax holiday, and I bet if you asked the average Floridian if they saved money I don't think they'd remember the gas tax holiday."
More here. Meanwhile Charlie Crist's failed push for a gas tax holiday get him on the New York Times front page today:
Gov. Charlie Crist wants the Supreme Court to advise him on whether a sudden vacancy on the county court bench in Tallahassee should be filled by appointment or election. The case pits Crist against the local election supervisor, Ion Sancho, who says th epost should be filled by election and filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to clarify the situation.
Here's what happened: Leon County Judge Tim Harley announced last week he would not run again for health reasons, and he announced his decision in the middle of the five-day qualifying period (April 28-May 2), effective midnight April 30. The local judicial nominating commission immediately said it would accept applications for the post -- with the goal of forwarding least three finalists to Crist. At the same time, Sancho accepted qualifying papers from three lawyers who want to run for the vacancy.
In a five-page letter to Chief Justice Fred Lewis, Crist wrote: "A rule preventing interim appointment to fill such vacancies would result in surprise last-minute contests that would be skewed in favor of a small pool of members of the Bar possessing inside information and those with the wherewithal to mobilize for a campaign very, very quickly."
Larry Thornberry, a Tampa writer, in American Spectator smacks down the notion that John McCain should tap Charlie Crist as his running mate: "The conventional wisdom is that Crist would help McCain carry Florida, without which state McCain has little chance of winning in November. But Crist's political pull elsewhere would be limited, because he's at least as unappealing to the conservative Republican base McCain needs to win over as McCain himself is, and has far less gravitas. He's sort of a Dan Quayle without the maturity and seriousness. For long-time observers of Crist and Florida politics, imagining Charlie Crist in the Oval Office is a little like imagining an armadillo in a tuxedo."
Thornberry has trashed Crist before.
4/30-5/1 robo poll of 623 registered Florida voters by War Room Logistics of Gainesville: John McCain 47%, Barack Obama 40% (independents - 45% McCain, 38 percent Obama); McCain 44%, Hillary Clinton 45% (independents 39 McCain, 39 Clinton).
52% said Gov. Charlie Crist is doing a good or excellent job, and 47 percent said fair or poor. 51% said the economy was the top issue, followed by the Iraq war at 15%.
Continue reading "FL Poll: McCain beats Obama, not Clinton" »
As Gov. Charlie Crist praised the Legislature for its "great work" Friday night, his own human services secretary, Bob Butterworth, stood a few feet away and gave a very different critique of the 2008 session.
From budget cuts for child abuse investigators to the defeat of a bill to move the mentally ill from jails into treatment, Butterworth said legislators did little to help Florida's sick and neglected.
"I'm very upset," said Butterworth, who will lose 250 jobs in the Department of Children and Families under the 2008-09 budget. And it took last-minute maneuvering to maintain a program where the state subsidizes adoptions of foster children.
Once again, it appears, Crist's rhetoric doesn't match reality. (story here)
Gov. Charlie Crist showed up early for House Speaker Marco Rubio's good-bye ceremony and played teacher to Rubio's children. (House photos | Mark Foley)
Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, called for a "point of personal privilege," in which she smacked down the Senate President for repeatedly not calling on her six different times when she waved her microphone to speak.
During a session marked by mostly harmony on the Senate floor, it was quite a surprise to hear Bullard, wavering on tears, talk about being ignored, disrespected and used.
"This day is a painful day to me on the Senate floor. I believe I've served in these 14 years to the best of my ability I have never disregarded or disrespected anybody in this process," Bullard said. (See parts of speech below.) She also lamented that her bill to commission a study of traffic flow around I-95 is about to be loaded up as the vehicle for proposals to bring commuter rail to Orlando and to provide a gas tax holiday.
Senate President Ken Pruitt apologized and called a brief recess. "If you feel that I have disrespected you in any way, I apologize."
Continue reading "Bullard shuts down Senate, could kill CSX" »
Gov. Charlie Crist speaking with reporters. Scott Keeler | Times
Speaking with reporters in the final hours of the legislative session, Gov. Charlie Crist said he'll "probably" sign into law the bill that removes racially offensive lyrics and dialect from the state song and establishes a new song as the state anthem.
"Out of respect for Tony Hill," Crist said, referring to the Jacksonville senator who has led the effort.
Crist, who vetoed last session's 5 percent college tuition hike, said he will allow tuition to rise 6 percent for in-state undergraduates come fall 2008, as the budget for 2008-09 proposes. He said the fact that universities would face steeper budget problems without the higher tuition's revenue "was a factor, no doubt about it."
House Speaker Marco Rubio got a timely call Friday morning from Gov. Charlie Crist, sources tell The Buzz. Crist told Rubio he would not veto a $1-million-plus appropriation for the new corporation that House leaders insist on as part of a compromise on offering insurance plans to the uninsured.
Crist has consistently said the corporation is an unnecessary extra layer of bureaucracy, but the House also has agreed to pass Crist's market-based insurance proposals later Friday. As a result of the Crist call, sources tell the Buzz, the House will soon show renewed interest in two of the governor's other priorities: hospital certificate-of-need regulation and easing licensing requirements for dentists.
"Everything's coming together," said Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, a former House member, as he headed into the Senate spouses' lounge for a last-day lunch.
Buzz just gets 'em and publishes 'em. We don't make 'em up.
TOP TEN SIGNS IT’S TIME TO SINE DIE
10. New State Song – Genesis’ Land of Confusion
Late Filed Amendment: State Anthem: “Oh Canada”
9. Energy bill includes tax rebates for abortion clinics with solar powered ultrasound machines
8. Watching Florida Legislature makes everyone question if we’ve evolved
7. Amid confusion, Byrd Center turned over to Tim Tebow
6. Fox & Friends not returning Charlie Crist’s messages
With little debate, the Florida Senate passed a property insurance package by a 33-to-5 vote on Thursday that freezes insurance rates in the state-run insurer another year.
The bill, a product of negotiations between the House and Senate, includes some new consumer protections when it comes to how insurers set rates, but it also includes a number of perks for the industry.
"The reason we found some comfort in it, is that we are eliminating the arbitration process," said Sen. Jeff Atwater (left) who has championed much in the bill. "So much of what we were really driving through remains in the bill....it's a very strong, consumer-driven bill."
Start measuring those vice presidential mansion drapes, Charlie Crist. Quinnipiac University's latest swing state poll shows Hillary Clinton beating McCain in Florida 49 - 41 percent, while McCain gets 44 percent to Barack Obama's 43 percent (moe +/- 2.6). She's also handily beating McCain in PA and OH.
The Florida House unanimously passed a property insurance package by 117-0 that freezes rates in the state-run insurer another year.
The package is the result of weeks of negotiations between Sen. Jeff Atwater, R- North Palm Beach and Rep. Dennis Ross of Lakeland. The bill includes some new consumer protections, such as requiring big insurers to notify state regulators when they intend to drop more than 10,000 policies. It also borrows money from Citizens to fund a low-interest loan program for young start-up insurers, a measure that has drawn the ire of the governor.
Remember the "double dipping" bill, aimed at stopping retirees from collecting pensions and salaries at the same time?
For those keeping track: First the Senate killed it on the floor. Then revived it. Then sent it to a committee. Where it died. Now, the House has revived it. But there are Senate opponents looking to kill it again.
The Florida House voted 89-28 on Wednesday to attach an amendment to a retirement bill (SB 2848) that would expand the amount of time a retired employee must wait before going back to work for the state from one to 12 months. The amendment also prevents employees from accruing a second state pension. It also requires employee supervisors to file reports with the governor, the house speaker and senate president to justify hiring a retiree.
Continue reading "Attack of the double dipping bill --- It's alive!!!" »
Magically, the Legislature found $2.5 million to complete the total $7.5 million in full funding to create the C.W. Bill Young Government Institute at St. Petersburg College.
The college got the first $5 million for its funding last year and the earmark was among projects spared when Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a half a million in member projects last year. Young, himself, had lobbied for this institute, which the Times wrote about last year.
The issue appears to have surfaced during conference negotiations, as there's no record of the project going into budget negotiations.The Florida Senate voted 39-1 to send the energy bill (HB 7135) to the governor, including some controversial last-minute amendments added by the House on Tuesday.
Only Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Gainesville, voted against the legislation, which the House passed unanimously yesterday.
The bill generally writes into law many of the executive orders that Gov. Charlie Crist signed last summer, when it comes to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. It also creates a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program, which would come back for legislative approval.
The bill also includes lots of give-aways to utility companies, making it easier for them to speed eminent domain and run transmission lines through state land. It also eases regulatory oversight of power plant siting.
The Florida House unanimously passed and sent to the governor on Wednesday morning a bill that breathes new life into the state's land-buying program for conservation.
Florida Forever (SB 542) had been slated to expire in 2010, but now it's extended to 2020, with $5.3 billion in bonding authority over that ten year period. In this year's budget, the Florida Forever program has $300 million to spend on land acquisition.
So Meghan McCain apparently hasn't gotten the memo that Charlie Crist doesn't "tan" per se, he's naturally got a Mediterranean complexion thanks to his dad's Greek heritage.
A post on Meghan's blog Tuesday features several photos from Miami campaign events Sunday. Under a picture of her dad, Republican presidential presumed nominee John McCain, his wife Cindy McCain, Charlie Crist and his girlfriend Carol Rome, Meghan writes the caption, "I wish I was as tan as Charlie Crist."
Loyal Buzz readers may remember the gov's complexion was the topic of some speculation during his 2006 gubernatorial race. For a trip down memory lane, click here.
The Florida House approved a bill that would bring commuter rail to central Florida by a vote of 77-39.
"If commuter rail is good enough for South Florida, than it's good enough for Central Florida," said Rep. Dean Cannon.
The CSX bill sets up a no-fault liability deal for commuter rail in Orlando. While the House has steadily moved the proposal ahead, the Senate has held off approval over objections the liability deal is a bad thing for taxpayers. The state would buy the rail line and improve freight railroad for a total of nearly $650-million.
The Florida House attached an amendment to their House energy bill that forbids DEP from adopting "California motor vehicle emission standards," unless ratified by the Legislature. The change is a substantial difference between the Senate and House energy bills.
DEP was already in the midst of adopting such a standard but now would have to face the Legislature to implement it, said DEP spokeswoman Sarah Williams.
Buzz hears that the governor, in particular, is none too happy with the amendment. DEP released the following statement:
Seems the League of Women Voters of Florida won't have one of the state's bigger employee unions helping it carry its complaint against the state over its enforcement of voter registration laws (see previous post here). American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 79 (AFSCME), will be withdrawing as a plaintiff, union spokesman Doug Martin said Tuesday.
The reason? Martin told the Buzz the union's relationship with the governor is different than his predecessor, Jeb Bush, and it's not interested in being in litigation against Charlie Crist at this point.
-- Joni James, State Editor
When asked Tuesday morning if he would be as aggressive with his veto pen this year as he was last year, when he vetoed $450 million in member projects last year, Gov. Charlie Crist offered this:
"I have no inclination to want to veto anything that they have done, because of the great work they have done."
Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp, announced a Florida summit on global climate change called "Serve to Preserve." Scott Keeler | Times
Gov. Charlie Crist announced a second climate change summit in Miami this year from June 25-26th, where the topics will be stimulating economic development in bio-energy technology.
"We know that there is gold in green, a lot of money to be made by doing the right thing," Crist said.
Continue reading "Crist announces 2nd climate change summit" »
Presumably this caption from Bloomberg is premature: "Charlie Crist, governor of Florida, and his wife arrive for an afterparty hosted by Bloomberg LP following the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 26, 2008."
UPDATE From the Washington Post's Reliable Source gossip column: "Florida Gov. Charlie Crist hit on Morgan Fairchild at Tammy Haddad's Saturday brunch: "So, do you ever get to Florida?" Worst pickup line ever? "
Here's a potentially awkward spot for Gov. Charlie Crist: You're possibly interested in running for vice president and your top election official is now being sued by the League of Women Voters over voter access? That's right, the state came under fire today by the League, in cooperation with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 79 (AFSCME) over the implementation of election registration laws.
Read the League's full news release
Download league_of_women_voters_sues_florida.doc
-- Joni James, State Editor
A New Republic writer is particularly snitty about the Charlie Crist tan she saw at the White House Correspondents' dinner: "...with all due respect to the guv's Mediterranean genes, that tan ain't the product of any half-hour in the sun. Crist's skin is baked. Dangerously baked. Damaged-beyond-its-years baked. Makes-Minority-Leader-Boehner-look-like-Conan-O'Brien baked. So I'm wondering: How will Crist's megatan play on the national stage?..."
Update: The gas tax bill is not coming up today in Senate.
Sen. Mike Fasano confirmed today that he plans to offer an amendment to SB 1838 (a Department of Revenue bill) for a gas tax holiday from July 1 to 14th, which would cost $50 million from general revenue.
"The governor called me personally and asked if I would do this," said Sen. Fasano, R-New Port Richey. "Although it's small, it's some relief for a couple of weeks."
-- David DeCamp, Times Staff Writer
Appearing Monday on "Fox & Friends," Gov. Charlie Crist urged legislators to approve a gas tax holiday for a week this summer by lifting the state's 15.6-cents-a-gallon tax. "We're working hard to balance our budget and make sure that we have an opportunity to cut gas tax as much as we possibly can. It's hard to do in a tight budget year but people need relief," Crist told Fox, according to a partial transcript released by John McCain's presidential campaign.
As the session enters its ninth and final week, Crist is facing resistance by both houses. House Speaker Marco Rubio said last week he wasn't sure whether Crist's office knew of the fiscal impact of a gas tax cut ($35-million a week) and Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, is strongly opposed because of the tax cut's potential to delay road construction projects.
"I'm a protector of the transportation trust fund," Webster said. "Any avoidance of the tax would not be timely. I don't think we can afford it."
Gov. Charlie Crist will be in Washington, DC, Saturday night at the famous White House Correspondents dinner. The guest of a Florida operation? Don't be so parochial.
The governor of the fourth largest state, and a sometimes-listed vice presidential contender, will be the guest of Fortune Magazine, according to his office. He as invited by Nina Easton, the magazine's Washington bureau chief.
Anybody else struck by how John McCain has taken a looong time building a Florida campaign organization? He won the primary with barely any infrastructure in the must-win Sunshine state, and that hasn't changed.
In a few weeks, however, Buzz Jacobs will set up shop in Tallahassee, conveniently located close to Charlie Crist and his political team. Jacobs is McCain's former South Carolina state director and now is his regional director for the Southeastearn states.
A coalition of business groups and health insurers began running a web-based advertising campaign on the Sayfie Review site Thursday, opposing efforts by the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist to mandate insurance coverage for autism. The Senate has unanimously passed a bill (SB 2654) that would require large health insurance plans to cover diagnostic screening and treatment of autism and related disorders, and the House will soon consider its own proposal (HCC 27).
Ironically, some of the groups featured in the anti-autism mandate ad support the goals of Crist and lawmakers to pass a law that would allow insurers to offer low-cost health policies to the 3.8-million uninsured in Florida.
College footballer-turned-Gov. Charlie Crist met with Heisman winner Tim Tebow a few minutes ago, calling the UF sophomore a "great Floridian" whose work and behavior off the field are as impressive as his many touchdowns.
Tebow signed a football, writing "God Bless to Charlie, Tim Tebow 15, 2007 Heisman." Crist asked Tebow, a Republican, more than once if he is interested in politics. Tebow said no, not right now anyway. And Crist, former Wake Forest player, compared his "little" throwing arm to Tebow's "cannon."
Then Crist addressed a number of issues, from his proposed gas tax break to the state maybe getting a baseball commissioner.
Continue reading "Guv on Tebow, baseball commish, gas tax" »
As Marco Rubio's time as House speaker dwindles, he finds himself double-teamed by the Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist. Last weekend, he decided to vent.
After the House devolved into partisan chaos over a decision by Rubio's team to block Democratic debate on an education bill, Rubio dashed off a series of e-mails to reporters. He offered opinions on the Senate, Crist and issues such as a proposed gas tax cut. But the speaker sent the message from his personal account and insisted the information was off the record, meaning the contents could not be quoted.
Then he agreed to sit down with two St. Petersburg Times reporters to discuss the e-mails. Story here. (Times photo | Scott Keeler)
With Senate President Ken Pruitt calling it "one of the most important pieces of legislation we'll pass this year," the Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill to require that insurers provide health care coverage for autism treatment. They sent the bill over to the House, where it faces a more uncertain fate.
The Florida Senate passed, by 38-0 vote, a bill that breathes new life into the Florida Forever program, which had been set to expire in 2010. Now the program expires in 2020 and has a few new twists, like money to buy conservation easements on agricultural land.
The Senate also renamed a part of the Florida Forever program after Rep. Stan Mayfield. The "Stan Mayfield Working Waterfronts" program allocates 2.5 percent of funding (or $7.5 million of the $300 million this year) to a program that purchases and preserves some waterfront property, like historic fishing docks to help stymie over-development.
The Buzz is. . .
Continue reading "Senate passes Florida Forever, honors Mayfield" »
Gov. Charlie Crist held a dinner on Tuesday at the governor's mansion to tout Florida's "embassy" in Washington D.C., which has been in existence for 35 years.
The dinner included roughly 40 people, including members of the press, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, Dr. James H. Ammons and Dominic Calabro of Tax Watch, among others.
Not one of them uttered a single word. But representatives from some of Florida's best-known health insurers stood with Gov. Charlie Crist Tuesday in a show of support for his "Cover Florida" plan to offer low-cost, basic health insurance to some of the 3.8-million Floridians who don't have any. The House on Saturday passed its plan which includes Crist's proposal plus its own plan that Crist doesn't like, because it spends $1-million and creates a 15-member corporation to oversee the program.
The mid-morning media event in the governor's office was Crist's latest effort to rally support for his plan in the face of continuing resistance by the Republican House leadership. But he did so lightly, and went out of his way to praise Speaker Marco Rubio and House leaders. "My heels are not dug into the ground on this thing," Crist said. "I want to be reasonable."
During House debate in the middle of the night last weekend, here's some of what Crist didn't hear, from Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka: "If you think your job is to come here and vote for the governor, you're not doing your job," he said. "You don't yield to the governor you respect. You don't yield to them just because somebody says, 'The governor wants this.'^"
[AP photo]
The Senate on Thursday kept a provision in a transportation bill that would make it illegal to hang bull "reproductive glands," from cars. The bill makes it a moving violation, meaning people could get a ticket and points on their license for it. There's no companion measure in the House. The Times wrote about this fad in 2005 — read the story here.
Sen. Jim King tried to delete the provision on Wednesday and Thursday after confessing that he had a pair hanging in his suburban.
"At what point do you say, big brother or big government are stepping in areas they shouldn't," King said.
Jennifer Liberto, Times staff writer
At a news conference with medical experts, Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday emphasized the need for the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass his plan for a "market-driven" approach to finding affordable health coverage for the uninsured.
The House will consider a bill (HB 7081) that mixes Crist's "Cover Florida" proposal with its own separate program that includes a $1-million appropriation for a new corporation, Florida Health Choices, to manage the new initiative. Crist said the corporation is unnecessary but declined to say whether he would veto the bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, if it reached his desk.
"I'm all for oversight," Crist said. "I'm not sure we need to spend an additional million dollars to do what they can do very well themselves."
UPDATE: House Speaker Marco Rubio says the goal is to pass a bill with both Crist's ideas and Bean's. In what sounded like a dig at Crist's call for his plan only, Rubio said: "This place always works better when it's a two-way street. So that's what we're going to try to accomplish in the last two weeks of session."
Gov. Charlie Crist dropped by the relatively new Urbane in downtown Tallahassee tonight. A Buzz watcher tells us his company included: Eric Eikenberg, Jim Greer, Brian Ballard and several Florida Power & Light officials.
How far things have come for Crist and the state's largest utility. He once fought FPL as a state senator and as attorney general then turned down contributions in his 2006 election. But then FPL kicked in $1-million to help pass Amendment 1.
Given the governor's frugality and taste for bagged lettuce, we suspect he might have tried the $5 mixed green salad with baby tomatoes, chopped pecans, shaved cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.
Gov. Charlie Crist's grand energy schemes, founded on high ideals in VIP-packed ballrooms, have come to this: a kitchen sink of a bill, stretching more than 150 pages, so crammed with jargon that you have to be paid to read it.
Luckily, we read SB 1544 for you. Read about the bill here.
-Asjylyn Loder, Times Staff Writer
Appearing on a Miami radio show Wednesday morning, Gov. Charlie Crist suggested legislators temporarily suspend gasoline taxes this summer (an idea that motorists would like, but would siphon millions out of the state road-building fund). Speaking by phone on Caracol Radio 1260, Crist said: "It's ridiculous to me what's being charged at the pump. This might be a way to alleviate costs for families." Crist said "a good start" would be to suspend gas taxes for a week. Lawmakers did this once a few years ago, but not since.
-- Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler
The Florida Senate plans to amend their Florida Forever bill today to keep the Florida Communities Trust grant program with the Department of Community Affairs. Their bill currently moves the program.
Falling under the category -- you can't make this stuff up-- Sen. Dave Aronberg on Tuesday pitched an amendment to a retirement bill that would prevent inmates from building up public retirement benefits while serving time.
And where in the world does such a thing occur? Hillsborough County.
"This comes out of 'news of the weird'," said Aronberg, D-Greenacres, while closing on his amendment in Senate government appropriatons. "It's sort of shocking."
Read more here.
Gov. Charlie Crist has just signed the controversial bill (HB 503) prohibiting businesses from barring workers from bringing guns to work and leaving them in locked vehicles. Only employees with concealed weapons permits would be allowed. Businesses could also not post signs banning customers from doing the same.
And with that, the Florida Retail Federation and Florida Chamber of Commerce will be filing a lawsuit challenging the law, scheduled to go into effect July 1. More on the suit here.
Gov. Charlie Crist said on Tuesday that he thinks the state song compromise makes the state look "confused." He said he still needed to talk to Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, but he said: "There's a reason I didn't play that song at my inauguration."
The compromise between lawmakers from rural areas and the Black Caucus is to change the racially insensitive lyrics of the current state song, Old Folks at Home while creating a state anthem with the new song chosen last year from a state-wide contest.
Gov. Charlie Crist used a pre-Cabinet press avail this morning to stress how "increasingly optimistic" he is about the odds of his affordable health care initiative passing the Legislature before session ends May 2.
His optimism comes in part because, he says, Rep. Aaron Bean's resistance is "starting to break open."
"I think he's trying to understand the issue," Crist said. "He's a bright fellow, and I appreciate his listening."
Crist, notably, left out Bean in his thanks to lawmakers "to get this moving." He thanked Senate President Ken Pruitt, House Speaker Marco Rubio, Republican Sen. Steve Geller and Democratic Rep. Dan Gelber.
Continue reading "Guv: Bean 'starting to break open' on health" »
Asked this morning whether he would support legislation calling for a $1 cigarette "user fee," aimed at generating revenue for children's health care and cancer research, among other things, Gov. Charlie Crist didn't mince words.
"No. No."
Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is proposing the bill (SB 2790), which looks dead in the water anyway. With three weeks of session to go, it's got five committee stops in the Senate.
House speaker Marco Rubio won't run for Miami-Dade mayor - "even though he would win," predicted FIU's Dario Moreno on a panel for the Florida Political Science Association meeting in St. Pete today. Moreno happens to do polling for Rubio.
Moderated by USF's Susan MacManus, the panel included Moreno, USF-St. Pete's Darryl Paulson, UCF's Aubrey Jewett, and yours truly. Among the consensus conclusions: Hillary Clinton would be a stronger candidate in FL than Barack Obama; Charlie Crist is unlikely to get tapped for VP; Democrats will pick up a few legislative seats (though Moreno predicted Luis Garcia will lose his). Three out of four guessed that John McCain will be the next POTUS.
Florida legal circles were spinning on Friday at news of Justice Raoul Cantero's resignation and already people started floating names.
His departure marks the first of three appointments Crist will get to make, because Justice Harry Lee Anstead, 70, and Justice Charles Wells, 69, have to retire next year due to age restrictions in the Constitution.
Here's a speculative list of names of folks who may or may not ask to be considered by the Judicial Nominating Commission: First District Court of Appeals Judges Ricky Polston, Clay Roberts and Phil Padovano.
Other possibilities include Crist’s former chief legal advisor Chris Kise and former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez
who is on the State Board of Education. And even Miami Republican Sen. Alex Villalobos who was an early Crist supporter.
Who else?
-- Jennifer Liberto and Lucy Morgan
Gov. Charlie Crist told the St. Petersburg Times editorial board on Friday that he is no fan of measures in both chambers to "borrow" $250 million from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. premiums to fund a program that gives low-interest loans to young start-up insurers.
When asked if he'd veto such a measure, Crist said he'd wait to see if the measure even gets to his desk.
"He'll be very formidable if he's the nominee. I think he's very engaging, and obviously has a tremendous following," Gov. Charlie Crist said of Barack Obama today, while stressing he would never underestimate Clinton's ability to come back.
But asked about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy, the potential vice presidential candidate said Obama "didn't handle it great" but declined to elaborate or weigh in on whether Obama should have left the church. "He should do what he thinks is right for him. ... That's obviously been a difficult situation for him. Some of the comments I've seen the pastor make are hard for me to imagine."
In his visit to the St. Pete Times editorial board below, Crist also had some friendly fencing with Paul Tash, the Times' editor, Chairman and CEO over the guns at work bill Crist is expected to sign. See below.
