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Crist knows the steps of the legislative dance

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published April 21, 2007

If he hadn't chosen politics as his life's work, Charlie Crist might have gained fame by writing theme music, like Henry Mancini.

It's a daily ritual. Reporters eager to pin down the governor on the big issues in the final weeks of the session badger him to take a stand and choose either the House or the Senate property tax plan.

Implicit in the question is a request that Crist fault one side or the other. But the former state senator knows the drill, and he won't take the bait.

For Crist, these are days of wine and roses.

"I don't want to overpraise, or overcriticize, any plan," Crist said after attending a Miami-Dade County Days luncheon Wednesday. "My job is to set out an overarching theme."

That theme, he says, is that "we need significant property tax relief, and we need it now."

The way he says it, with that perfect sound-bite cadence, you can almost dance to it. But with two weeks left in the 2007 session, the House and Senate are poised to negotiate details of two strikingly different property tax plans.

Someone's going to win, and someone's going to lose. There will be compromises, but the final result will look a lot more like one side's plan than the other's, and the betting here is that the more cautious, deliberate and moderate Senate will prevail.

Crist's strategy is to let the House and Senate go as far as they possibly can, with the governor hoarding the political capital from a 73 percent approval rating for as long as is humanly possible.

If legislators simply can't make a deal, Crist, the old quarterback, can come in off the bench with less than two minutes left and somehow pull off a victory.

What's striking about Crist's lavish praise for legislators is that they have been absolutely ho-hum about his priorities.

Adult stem cell research? The Legislature has no money for it. Paper trails for voting machines? The Senate wants to pay for that with federal money. Vaccine for avian flu? Crist asked for $37-million, and the House scrounged up $8-million.

His proposal for a state adoption office is one of many initiatives twisting in the late-session wind.

"We may not get all of it, and I understand that," Crist said. "But for the conclusion of property taxes, if the session ended now, I couldn't be happier for the people. I'm very encouraged that in the last two weeks, we can continue to get a lot of good things done. And I know that we will."

"I think we're making progress," said Crist's chief of staff, George LeMieux. "I don't think it's a question of the issue. It's a question of dollars."

"He's let us work," said Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden. "He's basically set the 30,000-foot view that we need to lower property taxes."

Many who have seriously tried to get something out of the Florida Legislature have had their hearts broken. And so Crist, who well understands the Legislature's power of the purse, refuses to bite the hand that feeds him.

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.

[Last modified April 21, 2007, 02:12:30]