By Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau Posted: Apr 15, 2010 07:39 PM
TALLAHASSEE — With a stroke of his pen, Gov. Charlie Crist declared his independence from Republican policy and politicians. His veto of Senate Bill 6 (SB6) set the stage for a go-for-broke independent run for the U.S. Senate.
For Crist, such a defiant strategy would complete his political evolution. He called himself a "Jeb Bush Republican" when he ran for governor in 2006, and has governed as a non-ideological populist.
Any doubt that Crist would put the veto of SB6 to use for political gain was soon answered. Three hours after the announcement, he got a triumphant welcome at Leon High near the Capitol where a pep band and hundreds of cheering teachers and students gave the event the feel of a campaign rally.
"The people spoke and they spoke loudly," Crist told the crowd. "It is the power of people over politics."
Abandoning the Republican Party that helped him win three statewide elections and morphing into a nonpartisan "people's candidate" would free Crist of partisan shackles and pit him against Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek in November.
Crist won't discuss his candidacy plans, but the reality is he has little choice because of a loss of support in his own party. Rubio has recently outpaced Crist in fundraising while polls show the former House speaker with a commanding 20-point lead, a formidable weapon that will make it harder for Crist to raise money.
Running as an unaffiliated or independent candidate would be a game-changer for Crist. While Rubio would become the Republican Senate nominee, Crist would shift the contest to a high turnout November general election. A Quinnipiac poll Thursday showed that scenario would win Crist the three-way race.
Crist is boxed in politically. His political future is in peril. The ex-college quarterback who loves sports analogies needs to throw a Hail Mary.
Crist's veto action so angered legislative leaders that the next speaker of the House, Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, withdrew his Senate endorsement. Freshman Rep. John Tobia, R-Satellite Beach, also support.
Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, sponsor of the teacher tenure bill and chairman of the state Republican Party, was asked whether Crist is a "real Republican." His reply: "He's got an 'R' in back of his name right now."
Asked if Crist's veto damaged his chances of winning the Republican Senate nomination, Thrasher said: "I don't know what his chances are now. They don't look too good now, best as I can tell."
Thrasher and other Republicans said the veto was driven in part by misinformation spread by teachers through their union. But a Crist ally, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, disagreed.
"This was no longer a teachers' union issue,'' Fasano said. "This Senate Bill 6 took on a life of its own and I saw that in my district when hard-core Republicans, who vote in Republican primaries, were contacting me, telling me to urge the governor to veto the bill. This was no longer a union, or Democratic issue. This went beyond that.''
Crist's veto on the heels of his rejection of a leadership funds bill that was a priority of key GOP lawmakers further alienates him from the Republican legislative leadership.
It also could foreshadow more vetoes in the last two weeks of the session. If Crist decides to run as an independent candidate, he will revel in every opportunity to distance himself from party orthodoxy to demonstrate to voters that he's above politics.
About one of every five Florida voters is not affiliated with the Democratic or Republican Party. To win the Senate seat, Crist obviously would need to capture votes from both parties.
In a three-way race in November, Crist likely could count on the support of the Florida Education Association, the influential teacher union that is deeply indebted to the governor for his veto.
The union also will endorse Kendra Meek, leader of the union-backed 2002 class size amendment. Meek has been circulating a statewide petition to get the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and appears to have enough signatures.
"Somebody listened to us," said an emotional Terrie Brady, president of Jacksonville-based Duval Teachers United, where she said two-thirds of members are Republicans. "I can't believe that he did this. After today, we'll make a decision as a statewide organization what we're going to do."
Times/Herald staff writers Marc Caputo, John Frank, Mary Ellen Klas and Lee Logan and Times researcher Carolyn Edds cntributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.
Rightardia comment: SB6 was a reactionary bill that would have stripped teachers of tenure and based half of a teacher's evaluation on the results of standardized tests. New teachers would be put on five years probation and offered one year contracts thereafter. Essentially, teacher would server 'at will."It would have broken what many consider to be a weak teacher's union. It also included provisions for more student vouchers.
Many teachers would have resigned and left the state if this bill had passed. Older teachers waiting for retirement would have stayed around and punched out as soon as they were able to. We applaud Charlie Crist for vetoing a bill that was not in the best interests of Floridans.
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