Attention Floridians! - Charlie Crist Works Hard to Spread GOP Liberalism

John Rizzi - Human Events

Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting competition these days for being the most liberal Republican governor in the nation. When it comes to embracing global warming and retreating from cultural conservatism, the Republican chief executive in Florida, Charlie Crist, is mentioned almost as frequently as the famed “Governator” of California.

And unlike the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger, Crist -- who has been profiled recently in national media outlets from Time magazine to Fox News -- is eligible to be President. There has even been talk among some Sunshine State Republicans that the former state legislator and two-term attorney general might be a good vice presidential candidate on a ticket headed by Rudy Giuliani, who tops the field of presidential hopefuls in most surveys of Florida GOPers.

Although Florida’s 27 electoral votes would make any governor an attractive prospect for a national ticket, the growing media interest in the 51-year-old Crist seems less to do with geography than with ideology. Like New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in the 1960s and Massachusetts Gov. William Weld in the 90s, Crist stands out in the media because, in a Republican Party that has been moving to the right, the Floridian is increasingly non-conservative.

The inevitable contrasts are being made between Crist and his Republican predecessor in Tallahassee, Jeb Bush, who, unlike his father or brother, rarely had his conservative credentials doubted. As Governing magazine noted: “It’s true that Crist has started to roll back some of Bush’s privatization efforts and is unimpressed by Bush’s faith in standardized tests as the be-all of education policy. Crist rejected 283 of Bush’s late board and commission appointees and has not shied from putting some former Bush enemies in positions of power.”

Contrasting Crist’s regularly consulting Democratic legislators on policy matters with Bush’s passionate conservatism, state Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller told reporters: “I don’t recall our inviting Gov. Bush to any of our meetings. Since Gov. Crist has taken office, there really has been a new day in Tallahassee. For the first time, we feel like we are dealing in a partnership with the governor instead of having someone to dictate to us.”

... Left-Leaning Social Agenda

In terms of social issues, the governor has said he doesn’t want the state Republican Party to spend any more money on promotion of a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In his words, “I just think that their money can be better spent on other things that may be more pressing, like elections.” While running for governor last year, Crist endorsed and even signed a petition for the Florida Marriage Amendment Protection Act.

In addition to civil unions for gay couples, the governor’s social agenda also includes support for embryonic stem-cell research and restoration of voting rights to former felons.To be sure, Crist has promoted a property tax cut that is the largest in state history and actually vetoed more pork-barrel spending in his first year than Jeb Bush did in any single year.

But in terms of the environment, privatization and many cultural issues, there is a case to be made that Charlie Crist is more than just a “Republican In Name Only” (RINO), but, in fact, is what the American Spectator called a “RINO’s RINO.” Crist himself refers to his philosophy as “post-partisanship.”Whatever it is, it has certainly put the governor of the nation’s fourth-largest state in the national limelight and could even lead to a spot on a national ticket.