Perspective

Redefining the Florida Republican

After six months in office, Crist is finding himself as a postpartisan governor.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published July 1, 2007

TALLAHASSEE

In his first hour as governor, Charlie Crist urged the people of Florida to "reject labels - red, blue, conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican."

"There is only one label that really matters - Floridian, " he said in his inaugural address Jan. 2.

As Crist marks six months in office Monday, he has lived up to those words by defying every attempt to pin a label on him.

Is he a conservative? Hardly.

Like most people, he wants lower taxes. But he favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and limits on greenhouse gases, and callers on hold to Crist's office can hear him praising Democratic legislators by name.

Liberal? No. But he has a handwritten thank-you note from former President Bill Clinton for seeking faster restoration of civil rights for ex-felons.

In two weeks, he'll share the stage at a climate change forum with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has called George W. Bush the worst environmental president in history.

Faulted as a candidate for trying to be all things to all people, Crist as governor appears at times to be following the same path.

He vetoed a bill that he said made it too hard to collect petitions on ballot initiatives, but signed two others allowing revocation of signatures and for landowners to choose which groups can stand on their property.

He says he's a friend of taxpayers and the environment, but he signed a bill allowing automatic toll hikes on private toll roads that environmentalists say will spur sprawl while allowing massive new state borrowing, too.

As the first postpartisan governor in the state's history, Crist has redefined what it means to be a Republican in Florida.

"It's just not the same, " says J.M. "Mac" Stipanovich, an adviser to two Republican governors and a lobbyist.

"Charlie has made a choice, to moderate the shrill ideological agenda of the past couple of decades in the Republican Party."

Stipanovich said Crist came along at a time when the public seems disenchanted with divisiveness and ideology and wants concrete results.

For Crist, results will be the supreme test.

By offering people hope, he may have over-promised, that their homeowners' insurance will cost a lot less and property taxes will "drop like a rock."

He has been highly vocal in his criticism of big business, especially utilities and insurance companies.

He led the way in creating a larger, state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. - to some, the antithesis of free-market conservatism.

"Florida's Folly" was what the Wall Street Journal editorial page called Crist's "campaign to socialize the insurance market."

His "nail in the coffin" remarks in May about cracking down on insurers' profits brought this from Michael Adams, editor of Florida Underwriter, an industry publication: "That is the most immature statement I have ever heard uttered by a serious policymaker ... what Crist has forgotten is who is in the coffin."

To maintain credibility with fiscal conservatives in his own party, Crist has kept up a push for low taxes, criticized cities and counties for hoarding billions in reserves and vetoed a single-year record of $459-million in legislative pork-barrel spending.

He blithely rejects the notion that any front-line police and fire employees will lose their jobs as a result of the tax cuts he touts.

"It won't happen, " he promises.

Crist also has established a first-of-its kind Office of Open Government, and a commission to study ways of improving public access to government.

Along with Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, he has begun to dismantle the outsourcing operations of his predecessor, Jeb Bush.

As a leader, Crist draws inspiration from everyday Floridians, and he speaks often about seeking advice from two popular former Democratic governors, Reubin Askew and Bob Graham, while rarely if ever mentioning Bush, the man he replaced.

As he rides an overall job approval rating in the low 70s, and in the 80s among Republicans, people think long and hard before blasting him.

"If I have this conversation, I'll be in big trouble, " said the normally outspoken state Rep. Don Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, one of Crist's biggest critics, who rejects Crist's vision of a larger-than-ever Citizens Property Insurance Corp. "Let me just say this: I've been very disappointed."

Brown, an insurance agent, rejects Crist's idea of expanding the role and financial risk to taxpayers, of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurer.

"I hate to see us gamble with the people's money, " Brown says.

State Rep. Jack Seiler, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, disagrees with Crist on issues such as property taxes, which Seiler predicts will hurt public education over time.

But Seiler said Crist has a disarming way of downplaying areas of disagreement and focusing instead on common ground.

"Look, " Seiler said, "intellectually, he's not the most intelligent guy in the room. But he more than makes up for it with his work ethic and his attitude, and he relies on intelligent people."

Seiler sees Crist as a governor without ulterior motives: "He seems to want to do the right thing for the right reasons, " the lawmaker said.

Highly focused and disciplined, Crist swims mornings, eats little during the day and takes as much time off as he can to relax in St. Petersburg and fish off his boat Freedom.

"That's how I recharge, " said Crist, who will turn 51 this month.

The job has been much more demanding than he expected.

In six months, Crist has helped Central Florida residents recover from deadly tornadoes, staffed an administration, held one regular and two special legislative sessions and gone to Israel on a trade mission.

"It's been fast and furious, " Crist said. "But I didn't get elected to mark time. I got elected to make a difference."

His goals include a program to provide consumers discounts for prescription drugs.

Then he faces another special legislative session, a drawn-out campaign over a proposed property tax cut and a presidential primary.

He says he's not concerned that he has drifted so far to the center that he risks alienating the conservative base of his party.

"My job is to be the governor for all the people and I'm trying to do that, " Crist said. "And I hope that I'm doing that."

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

After six months, the status of six of Gov. Charlie Crist's promises to voters:

ISSUE: Property insurance

STATUS: Promise of significant double-digit drop in rates hasn't happened. Larger insurers report 10 percent cuts; Crist is frustrated with slow pace of relief. It's easier for consumers to get into Citizens Property Insurance Corp. where rates are frozen until 2009, but taxpayers, not insurers, are fully exposed to financial risk from a catastrophic storm.

GRADE: D

ISSUE: Property taxes

STATUS: Voters will act on legislative homestead property tax exemption that's much bigger than Crist's plan, but Save Our Homes portability and relief for renters and businesses is absent. Mandatory rollbacks of local tax rates contain override provisions that will reduce the size of tax cuts. Crist's demand that taxes will "drop like a rock" may end up as more hype than help.

GRADE: I (Incomplete)

ISSUE: Open government

STATUS: Created Office of Open Government on first day in office and study commission on open government last month. State enforces public records law more diligently, and state bureaucrats are more responsive to information requests.

GRADE: A

ISSUE: Civil rights restoration

STATUS: Prodded by Crist, the Cabinet in April adopted rules that allow automatic restoration of voting and other rights for most nonviolent felons after they complete their sentences. But a requirement that full restitution be paid first frustrates some civil libertarians.

GRADE: A-

ISSUE: Higher teacher pay

STATUS: Despite promising that "we must pay them more, " Crist's $300-million bonus plan for excellent teachers was halved by the Legislature. No across-the-board raises.

GRADE: B-

ISSUE: Paper trails for voting

STATUS: Demanded and received a law requiring 15 counties to replace touch screens with optical scan units by July 2008 to restore faith in ballot counting. Some election officials say Crist moved too quickly.

GRADE: A-

[Last modified July 1, 2007, 02:08:16]