Kottkamp to back McCollum for governor, likely run for attorney general himself

By Bill Cotterell

Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp said today he will probably run for attorney general, not governor, as dominoes continue falling across Florida’s 2010 political landscape.

That means Attorney General Bill McCollum, who won’t say officially that he’s running for governor, will probably go for the top prize next week. Kottkamp said he plans to be with McCollum for the announcement of McCollum’s gubernatorial candidacy expected next week in Central Florida.

Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who is term-limited out of his Cabinet seat next year, is still considering a bid for governor. Like McCollum, he has said he will announce his plans next week.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, who has been working for the past few months to have as few GOP primaries as possible, said Thursday his efforts are making progress. Gov. Charlie Crist’s long-expected announcement that he is running for the U.S. Senate Tuesday touched off the political chain reaction in GOP circles, as Democrats united around Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

“I anticipate being there on Monday to support this party,” Kottkamp said of McCollum’s plans. “I’ve been by the governor’s side for the last two and a half years and I’ve seen what it takes on a day-to-day basis to be governor, and I think Bill McCollum is capable of doing that.”

Pledges, endorsements fly in Crist v. Rubio

By Bill Cotterell

Both Republican candidates running for the U.S. Senate have now taken Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge.

Gov. Charlie Crist’s campaign announced this morning that he was the first candidate to sign the “taxpayer protection pledge” of the Washington-based group Americans for Tax Reform. Hours later, ATR announced that former House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, had sent in his pledge, too.

By signing, they promise to “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses … and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar-for-dollar by further reducing taxes.”

Norquist, the nationally known president of ATR, has been offering politicians the pledge since 1987. So far, 34 senators and 172 House members have signed, along with six governors and over 1,100 state legislators.

But the governor also pulled off a bit of one-upmanship with another headline — announcing that Sen. Mel Martinez, the man they both want to replace, will serve as a co-chairman of his campaign, along with former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, the man who gave Crist his start in politics as an office aide more than 20 years ago.

Crist: Stimulus plan a boon to Florida

By Jim Ash

Tallahassee – Gov. Charlie Crist, President Barack Obama’s favorite Republican cheerleader, said Monday the state can expect to rake in more than $12.2 billion over the next three years from the federal stimulus package just passed by Congress.

“It passed with great gratitude from Florida,” Crist said.

 It’s still not clear whether Florida will have to ask for special permission from the federal government to claim $3.6 billion in education dollars. A feature of the federal plan denies education money to states like Florida that have slashed their school budgets.
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Crist’s approval still soars

Gov. Charlie Crist’s political teflon keeps shining, even in the middle of a grinding recession and after slashing more than $6 billion from the state budget in the last two years.

A poll released this morning shows Crist’s approval ratings at a stratospheric 73 percent.

The poll was conducted for the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Political Institute by Public Insight Research, an arm of Cherry Communications. The survey of 610 likely voters was conducted from Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 and has a 4 percent margin of error.

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Crist seeks to ‘protect the most vulnerable’ with budget plan

Gov. Charlie Crist said today he tried to make budget cuts as painless as possible in laying out his plans for plugging a $2.3 billion state-revenue shortage in next month’s special session.

Crist and his wife, Carole, visited a senior citizens center a few blocks from the Governor’s Mansion. He was asked about dipping into the Lawton Chiles Endowment for $600 million and gambling on quick ratification of his Seminole Tribe casino compact for another $135 million, which were pieces of the plan Crist sent to lawmakers late Tuesday.

Crist said the Chiles money will be repaid promptly. The late governor’s family has threatened legal action if the state includes the health-care fund among its sources of borrowing, and may ask that the Chiles name be removed from the endowment if it is treated like a regular revenue source.

More here: Crist seeks to ‘protect the most vulnerable’ with budget plan

Crist proposes cuts, sweeps to make up $2.3 billion gap

Gov. Charlie Crist has proposed spending cuts, sweeping trust funds for extra money, using Seminole gambling money and borrowing to build prisons to meet a projected $2.3 billion shortfall in the state’s spending plan.

The Legislature is set to meet in special session starting Jan. 5 to fix the budget. An economy in recession and a burst housing bubble has continued to drain tax revenue.

Crist’s proposal, released this afternoon, includes $561.5 million in spending cuts.

It pulls extra money from a variety of sources. The biggest is $600 million from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Trust Fund, set up with a portion of proceeds from the state’s settlement in tobacco litigation.

Read the rest of the post here: Crist proposes cuts, sweeps to make up $2.3 billion gap

Crist gives state workers two days off; Dec. 26 and Jan. 2

As a holiday thank-you to state employees, Gov. Charlie Crist today announced that Florida government will shut down on the Fridays after Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Since the holidays fall on Thursdays, the governor said, a lot of employees use a vacation day for a long weekend. But with the state budget tightening, excluding any pay raises or other improvements in benefits over the past few legislative sessions, Crist said he wanted to show appreciation for state workers.

He also paid tribue to state Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, who suggested the paid time off. She joined Crist at a news conference and said she’d tried for a week or two, but was glad to get employees the two days.

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