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As primary nears, Crist keeps his cool
By ALISA ULFERTS, Times Staff Writer
His opponents in the attorney general's race attack his limited legal experience, and he just shakes his head. They question his intelligence, and he shrugs. Crist started campaigning 16 months ago, soon after becoming education commissioner and after six years as a state senator representing St. Petersburg. Now he is the clear frontrunner in the Sept. 10 Republican primary race, where he faces the lesser-known Locke Burt and Tom Warner. That makes him an easy target. "One measure of how well your campaign is going is how your opponents act," Crist said."They seem to think I'm doing well." With about $1.7-million in the bank, Crist has enough money to drown out his opponents with TV ads from now through election day. The ad shows Crist smiling as it reminds voters of his reputation as "Chain Gang Charlie" for advocating having inmates tethered together along Florida roads. It promotes a lawsuit he filed against Florida Power to get refunds for customers. And it mentions that he pushed for a ban on commercial net fishing off Florida's coast. Still, his opponents aren't backing down. Once merely whispered in political circles, Burt and Warner's questions about Crist's experience and intelligence now scream from billboards and are repeated at news conferences. "Charlie is a nice guy, but he shouldn't be attorney general," said Burt, a retiring, 11-year veteran of the state Senate who runs an insurance firm in Ormond Beach. Crist's frontrunner status, based largely on his campaign checkbook, has frustrated Burt, who claims to have more Republican support plus $895,000 in campaign money. "He refuses to debate. He hides in his office, he raises money and, every now and then, he appears at an education event like a science fair," Burt said. Warner, the Florida solicitor general, uses billboards to warn voters in Seminole and Escambia counties that Crist is unqualified to be attorney general, a charge that drew a rebuke from state Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas. In contrast, the four Democrats in the Sept. 10 primary race have shown more restraint with one other, although each claims to be the man who can beat Crist in the Nov. 5 general election. Warner agreed to tone down the criticism, a little. "I said, "I'll drop the word unqualified. I'll just say he's flunked the Bar exam twice and has no legal experience,"' Warner recalled telling Cardenas. It's true that, while Crist seeks to become Florida's top lawyer, it took him three tries to pass the Bar exam. He also is under investigation for potential ethics and elections violations. And he has reported little income from his legal practice in recent years, a sign that he hasn't spent much time in the courtroom. Still, Crist has amassed more money than any other candidate in the race and has the best name recognition, thanks to exposure as the education commissioner. He points out that he has held public office almost continuously since 1992, which has cut into the time he can devote to law. And he's not the only attorney general candidate to flunk the Bar exam: Two Democrats, Scott Maddox and George Sheldon, had to take the test twice. He also is a popular speaker among civic groups and is unfailingly pleasant and polite. Crist says that explains why he's out front. Burt has another explanation: "The guy is a master at the sound bite and grabbing the spotlight and that's why he's going to be tough to beat." No doubt, Crist manages to make headlines. As a state senator in 1994, for example, he demanded an investigation of Election Day phone calls aimed at scaring the elderly into voting for Lawton Chiles. His committee's investigation linked the calls to the Chiles campaign, raising Crist's profile and earning praise within the GOP. In 1997 Crist sued Florida Power and bought newspaper ads with his own money to try to shame the company into giving customers refunds. Though he did not win the case in court as his ad suggests, state regulators credited Crist with persuading the company to compromise with customers. Also around that time, Crist began his push to resurrect prison chain gangs. The law he pushed passed but has been used minimally. In 1998 Crist ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. He was elected education commissioner two years later. He opened a campaign account for attorney general just three months after taking office in January 2001 and pulled in nearly $750,000 in the first three months. Critics say the money is based on Crist's statewide recognition and self-promotion skills. They fear that his political instincts -- and his obvious political ambition -- would influence his decisions as attorney general and his votes as a member of the Cabinet. Crist acknowledges that he and Republican Gov. Jeb Bush think alike on most major issues. "We would be very much philosophically aligned, most of the time," Crist said. Still, Crist says he would follow Attorney General Bob Butterworth's pattern of pursuing consumer-friendly issues, even if they clash with Bush's agenda. One example: Crist says he doesn't support a proposal to turn over some state submerged lands to private landowners, which Bush supported and Butterworth opposed. "I think I'd have a different point of view (from Bush). That's rare, I'll confess to that," Crist said. Crist has practiced law for more than 20 years, though his six years in the state Senate and his duties as the deputy secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation -- a job he owes to Bush -- and nearly two years as education commissioner restricted how much time he could devote to it. Crist graduated from the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Ala., and briefly interned in the State Attorney's Office in Pinellas County. He has served as the general counsel to the minor league division of the Baseball Commissioner's Office and then as the state director for former U.S. Senator Connie Mack, R-Florida, before returning to private practice with the law firm of Wood & Crist in Tampa. He was elected to the state Senate in 1992. His opponents, he said, "may not be aware of my record as an attorney, but that's not really their fault. It's my job to share that with you." Crist has been accused of traveling the state as education commissioner to help his attorney general bid, though the trips include benefits for children's organizations and cultural groups. His campaign pays the travel expenses, and he takes along his campaign manager, but it was as education commissioner, not attorney general candidate, that he spoke to several groups on the east coast recently. (Crist also faces accusations that he improperly accepted a plane ride in January 2001 in violation of state rules.) Last month, he took part in a fashion show to raise money for a Jacksonville foundation that helps underprivileged kids. Organizers said Crist's name helped sell tickets. Speaking to members of the Filipino-American Association of St. Augustine later that evening, Crist gave his typical campaign stump speech: He's tough on criminals and good to consumers. He also spoke of his Greek grandfather's journey to America and of his success in opening a cafe and raising seven children, a story that appealed to an audience of immigrants. He spoke about the greatness of America and how even the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 could not change that. "I am running for attorney general, and I would like your help. But that's not what tonight is about. It's about honoring your new officers," Crist said. As if to underscore the political importance of the position, which is widely considered a stepping stone to the governor's mansion, E.C. "Aldo" Enrique introduced Crist that night with these words: "He may be our next attorney general or the 44th governor of our state."
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From the Times state desk
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