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 meets with farm workers, promises help

Southwest Florida farm workers Wednesday urged Gov. Charlie Crist to act to eliminate slave-labor conditions in agriculture.

Crist said the injustice and arrogance of the situation has angered him, and that he would have a statement on the situation in a few days.

“That concerns me greatly,” Crist said after the meeting. “We want to be a continuing partner to help.”

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Senators: Does ‘Rachel’s Law’ compromise go far enough

Irv Hoffman and Margie Weiss are the parents of Rachel Hoffman, who was killed last year while working as a confidential informant for the Tallahassee Police Department, appeared Wednesday before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee

A push to regulate the use of confidential informants cleared an important hurdle on Wednesday, but only after the heart-wrenching pleas of a grieving father left some lawmakers wondering whether “Rachel’s Law” goes far enough.

The bill is named after 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman, a recent FSU graduate who was slain last year after she was recruited to serve as a confidential informant for the Tallahassee Police Department.

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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 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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