Governor Charlie Crist

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.

Crist urged Education Commissioner Eric Smith to call his counterpart at the U.S. Department of Education on Monday afternoon to press for answers. Crist this weekend applied for a waiver to the stimulus rules just in case.

Crist earned the wrath of fellow Republicans — all GOP members of Florida’s congressional delegation voted against the stimulus — by energetically pushing for the plan, including appearing with Obama last week at a town hall forum in Fort Myers.

At the same time he is asking Washington for forgiveness for reducing the education budget, he is preparing to roll out a massive wave of property tax-cut proposals for the 2010 ballot that could cut education funding further. Crist was not fazed by the paradox.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Crist said.

While lawmakers are looking for ways to deal with a potentially $5 billion budget shortfall next year, it’s still not clear how much of the stimulus money can be used to meet Florida’s constitutional requirement to balance the budget.

“A lot,” Crist shouted to a reporter as he darted through a doorway.

Jerry McDaniel, Crist’s budget chief, said that the state will likely get the most relief from the $1.3 billion in new Medicaid money that is a feature of the plan this year. However, most of the other stimulus money, including $1.4 billion in transportation dollars, cannot be used to replace state spending.

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.

Here’s what respondents were asked: “Do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Charlie Crist is doing as governor?”

The results:

• Strongly Approve, 19 percent
• Somewhat Approve, 54 percent
• Somewhat Disapprove, 13 percent
• Strongly Disapprove 7 percent

“Governor Charlie Crist’s approval rating is again rising, up from 68 percent in the November Florida Chamber of Commerce poll,” said Marian Johnson, vice president of Political Affairs for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “Clearly Florida voters appreciate the governor fighting to put people back to work during the past few months, and this rising approval rating reflects that.”

A Quinnipiac Universty poll released Jan. 21 pegged Crist’s approval rating at 65 percent.

–Jim Ash

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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