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Politics

Crist defers to Bush on insurance

The governor-elect won't meddle in a special session that is expected before he takes office.

By JONI JAMES
Published November 9, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - If you want to see Charlie Crist take the lead on Florida's insurance crisis, you'll have to wait 51 days.

In his first appearance after defeating Jim Davis to become the next governor, Crist told reporters and supporters Wednesday he will defer to Gov. Jeb Bush on policy matters until the Jan. 2 inauguration - including on Bush's plan to have lawmakers return next month to address Florida's crumbling insurance market.

"I would like the issue resolved as quickly as possible. If that is what is decided (to have a special session), I would encourage it," said Crist, who called the insurance crisis "Mission 1" for his administration. "It is important to honor Gov. Bush."

Crist's comments came as he announced a 10-person transition team, led by former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez of Miami, to build his management team. The daunting task will encompass everything from deciding who will run the state's prisons to what budget proposals he will offer to the Legislature for 2007-08.

In continuing to defer to Bush, Crist signaled he won't push, until he is in office, for any of the insurance changes he has said he would seek as governor, including requiring auto insurers who write property insurance in other states to write it here.

Session likely soon

Bush wants to call a special session the first week of December if he and legislative leaders can agree on less dramatic changes, such as making it easier for insurance companies to buy backup insurance from the state or providing state grants for low-income homeowners.

To political watchers, Crist's deference wasn't a surprise. The attorney general, despite already being one of four statewide officials who oversee insurance regulation, has never taken a lead on insurance reform even as property insurance rates have shot upward. In fact, he was largely quiet in the spring when lawmakers considered significant changes to the state's insurance code.

Crist - flanked by his transition team at a news conference at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel - pledged to build a state management team that would include members of "exemplary character," experience and diversity, including some Democrats.

He noted one of his transition team members, Miami lawyer Dean Colson, is a Democrat. Colson has been tapped previously by Bush for the state's ethics commission and the Florida Supreme Court judicial nominating commission.

Crist has required his entire transition team to sign an ethics code pledging they won't lobby a state agency they work with for at least a year after the transition.

"I will do everything to work with all parties, all ideologies and to do what is right for the people of state government," Crist said. "I want to reach out to everyone."

Web site offered

Crist - who will be the first governor from St. Petersburg - encouraged Floridians to visit the team's Web site, www.cristtransition.com, to file suggestions or apply for a job.

The transition team includes some of the same individuals, such as Martinez and his campaign manager George LeMieux, who took part in Crist's transition when he was elected attorney general in 2002. But the task awaiting this team is far greater than when Crist inherited the Department of Legal Affairs from preceding Attorney General Bob Butterworth.

The governor oversees 19 state agencies and appoints citizens to boards that lead many more, including the Board of Education.

Crist must decide in short order who will oversee the building of state roads, lead the state's social services and protect its environment, for example.

As a courtesy to Crist, Bush on Wednesday directed all his agency heads to acquire voluntary resignation letters, effective at the end of his term, from their management teams. Exactly how many high-ranking state employees will be affected is unclear, but Crist said he believed it included anyone overseeing individual divisions within agencies overseen by the governor.

Crist's transition, however, is expected to be less tumultuous than Bush's in 1998, when the Republican made wholesale changes after succeeding a Democratic governor.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 06:28:15]