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Charlie, Jim: Time for answers

By TIM NICKENS
Published September 24, 2006

This is one odd governor's race.

Floridians are angry about the homeowners insurance crisis and property taxes, but fewer than 2 in 10 voters were mad enough to bother to vote in the primary elections. And nearly three weeks have passed since Charlie Crist and Jim Davis won their primaries, yet the only signs of a general election campaign for governor around here are Charlie Crist television commercials, Charlie Crist billboards, Charlie Crist yard signs, Charlie Crist bumper stickers. ... You get the idea. Jim, where are you?

Maybe voters stayed home on primary election day because they were turned off by squabbling over gay marriage, the influence of sugar companies and a single committee vote Davis cast 16 years ago. And maybe Crist and Davis are busy refining their position papers and finding real solutions to the issues facing Florida. More likely, they're just raising money for more television ads that distort reality. Let's hope we don't have to wait another month for formal debates before they engage each other in a public discussion on some concrete issues.

When he's not in Tallahassee, Crist lives just down the street from the newspaper's St. Petersburg office. Davis lives just across the bridge in Tampa (and I live in his congressional district in St. Petersburg). If we were sitting around my dining room table discussing my issues as a taxpayer and a parent instead of sitting around the editorial board conference room debating broader policy issues, here's what I would want to know:

1. The insurer who plucked us out of the old state-run JUA a few years ago sent us a letter that our homeowners policy is being nonrenewed even though we never filed a claim. Something about reducing their exposure in St. Petersburg. Now we expect to pay substantially higher premiums in the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., just like more than 1-million other homeowners. What exactly are you guys going to do about this homeowners insurance crisis? Jim, don't give me your policyholders' bill of rights. And, Charlie, I don't want to hear about forcing auto insurers to sell homeowners insurance. I want some real answers.

2. My TRIM notice shows the assessed value of my house went up 30 percent but my total tax bill went up just $11. I'm not mad like all of those folks showing up at county courthouses who own small businesses or investment properties and don't benefit from Save Our Homes. But this isn't right. I don't see how Charlie's plan to let me take my Save Our Homes break with us if we move does anything but make things worse. And I don't know what Jim wants to do about it.

3. And while we're talking about bills, my electric bill from Progress Energy is more than $300 again even though we had an energy audit, added insulation and turned up the thermostat. Neighbors and colleagues with bigger houses say their monthly power bills are more than $500. Charlie, you're always talking about how you have taken on the utilities and won. Can't the governor do something about this in terms of energy policy or utility regulation or something?

4. We're on the installment plan for prepaid college tuition for our teenaged daughters, and we're hoping they also will qualify for Bright Futures scholarships. But both of these popular programs create financial pressures for the state. What are you going to do about that, and what's the future hold for prepaid tuition and Bright Futures?

5. While we're talking about higher education, the universities have gotten shortchanged by Tallahassee in recent years. I just read that the universities are going to add tens of thousands of students but that the schools won't seek any new buildings until 2010. That doesn't make sense. What are you going to do to reinvest in our universities to ensure that there is enough space for everybody and that our kids get the best possible education?

6. Frankly, we're sick of the FCAT at my house. We're not worried about passing it. We're tired of the time and attention devoted to it at our schools at the expense of other learning opportunities, and plenty of other families feel the same way. Crist would stay the course, and Davis would transform the FCAT into a diagnostic tool. You guys need to be more specific.

7. You both live around here. You know the traffic is terrible and mass transit is insufficient. But I only hear Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and those business folks at the Tampa Bay Partnership talking about doing something, and we're falling behind Miami and Orlando. What are you going to do about it?

8. We're fortunate to have health insurance, but plenty of families don't. More than 20 percent of the state's population isn't covered, and the cost of caring for them affects us all in terms of higher premiums and medical bills. What's your plan for straightening this out?

9. We're also lucky around here that we haven't been hit by a hurricane. I've got sand bags in the shed, batteries in the drawer and plywood and a generator in the garage. We just signed up for that new state inspection program at www.mysafefloridahome.com. It would be great to get the house inspected and a little bit of cash to help make it more hurricane-proof, but thousands of people already have signed up and it doesn't sound like there is enough money or inspectors to meet the demand. Are you committed to expanding this program and paying for it?

10. We like going to the beaches, and we don't want to see anything happen to them. You both have said you are opposed to offshore oil drilling, but what would you do as governor to ensure that the beaches are protected the next time gas hits $3 a gallon and Congress starts talking about drilling again?

That ought to do it for now. We can get back to loftier issues such as privatization, tax structure and tort reform in the office. But I suspect we aren't the only family that would like some of these more pragmatic questions answered before we vote.

[Last modified September 24, 2006, 09:28:27]