The Big Story: ‘Empty Chair’ Charlie kicking off legislative session
March 4, 2008 at 10:31 am by Wayne Garcia
The state is in a recession. His property tax reform plan is a drop in the bucket — at best. Big Insurance still has its way with our state. The budget is headed for multibillion-dollar deficits. The honeymoon is over with Democrats, who launched an attack this week against him for spending relatively little time on the job, opting instead to barnstorm with Republican presidential nominee John McCain as his name is floated on possible VP nominee lists. Republicans are losing patience as well, with some legislators pushing for radical tax cutting and elevating the divisive fight over teaching evolution. He even upset the GOP faithful by saying he would not attend a Broward County charitable event he told organizers he would attend so he could hang out with McCain at the senator’s AZ home.
So it ought to be one helluva State of the State Address tonight by Gov. Charlie Crist as he tries to put a positive spin on the pile of dung that Florida finds itself in this year.
As he takes the podium, the first sustained attack against him by the Florida Democratic Party is no doubt ringing in his ears:
What if you elected a Governor and he never showed up to work?
That’s the question the people of Florida are asking these days after seeing their Governor constantly at John McCain’s side – in Virginia, New Jersey, Arizona, and other places – while there’s been little movement from the state’s government to deal with the Republican Recession facing Florida.
Incredibly, in the first month and a half of this year, Governor Charlie Crist took more days off than he actually worked – only a 48.3% attendance record during 30 potential work days.
The Florida Democratic Party even launched a new website to drive home the point. It says Crist has been out of the office more than he has been in it so far in 2008.
Crist’s press secretary responded in a Miami Herald blog:
Crist’s spokeswoman, Erin Isaac, did not dispute the numbers but said that the governor has been with McCain outside of Florida only when they traveled together on Feb. 4 and 5. Their schedules overlapped during two consecutive weekends in Washington, where Crist was attending meetings with members of Congress and other Republican governors.
“Gov. Crist has campaigned with Sen. McCain just two days outside of our state,” Isaac said. “There is no doubt Gov. Crist has been focused on Florida.”
It is a smart preemptive move that has nothing to do with Crist’s performance as governor and everything to do with the fight to win Florida in the November presidential election. If Crist remains as popular as he is now, the Republican nominee takes Florida easily. So it is strategically necessary to knock Crist down a few notches in the public’s eye.
Of course, this doesn’t make the legislative session that starts today any easier, politicizing a process already saturated with partisanship.
Crist’s State of the State is set for 6 p.m., a time later than normal so the Gov can garner a larger viewing audience. Given the state of the state, he might want to reschedule it again – for midnight, perhaps.
