Watching the flurry of bill signings and vetoes coming out of Florida Governor Charlie Crist's office in recent weeks has been akin to watching a confounding, if not outright conniving Republican remake of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Call this version, Gov. Crist & Mr. Candidate.
While Gov. Crist still gives every indication of doing the business of governing, his alter ego is already campaigning to be Florida's next Republican U.S. Senator. To that electoral end, Mr. C wants and needs Gov. C to be viewed as a moderate Man Of The People, a Middle Class-friendly, bi-partisan vote getter.
And so, in the days since signing a much-maligned new state budget -- a budget that puts plenty of extra hurt on Florida's most vulnerable citizens without asking for any significant sacrifice from its more prosperous ones -- Gov. Crist has been playing a strategically savvy, oh-so-selective "I'll make it up to you" game with recession-battered working and struggling families.
First, he vetoed a bill that would have imposed a 2% pay cut on 5,000 state employees making more than $45,000 a year. Then he signed a bill that extends unemployment benefits for 250,000 Floridians. Then he put his pen to a bill that makes it quicker and easier to get uninsured children enrolled in the state-subsidized Kidcare health insurance program. And all signs are that Gov. Crist will make another popular, populist decision, to veto a bill that would allow insurance companies to raise rates on homeowner's policies without regulatory approval.
You can be sure that when the Senate race picks up steam next year, we'll all be endlessly reminded by Mr. Candidate and his advertising campaign, about how Gov. Crist has had the backs of The People, how he has pushed back against special interests when it counted. Hmmm...
You see, Mr. Candidate has a very different guiding principle these days than does Gov. Crist. Turns out Mr. C is already facing a bit of a battle for the Republican nomination, as former House Speaker and hardcore conservative, Marco Rubio, gnaws away at his right flank. Seems that Rubio may even be able to raise some real money for his David vs. Goliath candidacy. This circumstance -- combined with the baseline enormity of the economic challenge involved in mounting an effective statewide campaign -- means that Mr. C's camp has to first and foremost solidify support and fundraising momentum with the business and special interests that will finance his own race for the Senate seat now "held" by Mel Martinez.
No need then, to explain how or why on the same day that Gov. Crist vetoed the proposed pay cut for state workers, Mr. Candidate vetoed a bill that would have reduced the massive state budget deficit just a little, diverting money from a trust fund established to ensure that people buying guns in Florida wouldn't have to be inconvenienced in the event of a backlog of unprocessed concealed carry permit applications -- which, what do you know, is exactly what put upon gun buyers have created ever since the election of Barack Obama as President. But no problem, for in the Gunshine -- er -- Sunshine state, the powerful gun lobby had Mr. Candidate on their Second Amendment-loving side.
It shouldn't be necessary to delve into the reasoning behind the gubernatorial sign-off on a bill that puts strict limits on the fees Florida workers injured on the job can pay lawyers to appeal their denied workers' compensation claims -- limits only on fees paid to workers' lawyers, mind you, with no limit whatsoever on the fees that insurance companies can pay their lawyers. Luckily for the Chamber of Commerce and Business interests, Mr. Candidate needs to fill the campaign coffers, and he just happens to share Gov. Crist's commitment to keeping insurance rates down.
And without question, there's no mystery behind the signing into law of a "new" approach to Florida Growth Management, overturning 25 years of efforts to rein in rapacious overdevelopment and suburban sprawl. Here's a new law that gives developers a green light to build housing/office/retail and mixed use complexes, with no more of those pesky requirements that had been in place for a generation, like requiring that they first demonstrate viability and funding of the infrastructure -- little things like additional roads and schools -- so often needed to prevent such development from ruining the quality of life for all the current residents and businesses in the surrounding area. Those real estate developers, construction companies and the like, they got a little worried watching all those warm and fuzzy, people-friendly bill signings and vetoes. But in the end, no worries. Mr. Candidate chooses his spots carefully, and this was one very, very carefully chosen sweet spot.
These then, are but a few revealing glimpses we get of the other, darker side of Gov. Crist, the second skin kept in the shadows as much as possible, the face of Mr. Candidate, willing to do whatever needs to be done to get what he most wants to get. If you or one of your unsuspecting friends or neighbors happen to run into Gov. Crist in a dark alley -- or at a campaign event, or on television -- dive for cover and send an emergency tweet to your favorite political blogger.
For the governor may well seem friendly and fair-minded enough at first glance, but look more closely and you'll see Mr. Candidate lurking in the darkness right beside him, ready to pounce. Screw that Man Of The People stuff, Mr. C whispers loudly as he shoves Gov. C aside. There are favors to curry, pointed quid quo pros to be aimed at the rich and the powerful. Better be ready to duck, fight back, or get caught in the line of fire.