Crist will leave behind big unfinished agenda

Aaron Deslatte | Tallahassee Bureau
5:31 PM EDT, June 11, 2009

Tallahassee - Charlie Crist was inaugurated governor in 2007 pledging to lower property taxes and insurance rates and proclaiming Florida's "best days are not behind us, but before us."

With a broad ambition to transform Republican politics, he launched an aggressive agenda to cut property taxes and insurance premiums, reduce Florida's greenhouse emissions and enact a host of other reforms.

He enjoyed some early success, thanks to his effervescent personal touch, a compliant Legislature and the fading embers of the state's once white-hot economy.

But Crist's decision to skip a second term and run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 means much of that agenda won't be finished on his watch.

Critics and supporters alike say that Crist's signature issues have fallen victim to economic pressures, GOP intransigence or his administration's own lack of follow-through.

"He came in with great challenges, and he's leaving lots of things undone," said state Sen. Dan Gelber, D- Miami Beach, a candidate for attorney general who has worked closely with Crist.

"Because of his choices, it's hard to define what kind of a governor he's been because he's left so much hanging."

Brian Ballard, a top Crist fundraiser and lobbyist, takes issue with that. "It's going to be easy to say ‘Charlie's leaving in a tough time.' But we've been through a tough time already," he said.

"I don't think he is walking away from a tough fight. I think he feels he's done what he can here and is ready for a new challenge."

Crist has justified his move by arguing that Florida's economic problems stem from national trends he can better address in Washington. Privately, advisers say, he is frustrated by his inability to enact more of his policies as state revenues collapse.

"At different times over the last three or four months, he would say ‘You know, our hands are tied,'" said George LeMieux, his former chief of staff. "I think that's frustrating to him, and he thinks he can do more in Washington."

Still, Crist will leave a lot incomplete or undone. Consider:

Crist stitched together Cover Florida to provide bare-bones (and low-cost) health insurance for the state's estimated 3.8 million uninsured. But after a year, it has enrolled just 2,434 people.

 Civil rights groups praised Crist in 2007 when he returned the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of non-violent convicts, calling it "the right thing to do."

But tens of thousands of ex-felons haven't been notified of their rights because of budget cuts - and many more convicted of violent crimes still can't vote. "The effort is incomplete, at best," said Mark Schlakman, of the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University.

 The governor wooed green groups in 2007 with a pledge to make Florida a leader in capping greenhouse gas emissions from homes, cars and power plants. He kicked it off with a high-profile summit in Miami that drew national media attention.

But legislators this year rejected his bill to impose California-style auto emissions standards and require that utility companies draw 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.

 Crist and lobbyists for U.S. Sugar Corp. agreed in 2008 to pay $1.75 billion for the company's 187,000 acres of land, its sugar mill and other assets "lock, stock and barrel" to enable a restoration of the Everglades.

But the economy soured - and legislators complained - so the deal was scaled down to $536 million for 73,000 acres, with a 10-year option to buy 107,000 more. And without Crist, long-term prospects are murky.

The governor also shocked environmentalists this year by signing a growth-management bill that guts the requirement that developers build enough road-capacity to handle the extra traffic they create - and, last year, by reversing his position against offshore oil drilling.

Said Linda Young, director of the Florida Clean Water Network. "It's not going to be sad at all to see him go."

No issue will loom larger over Crist's legacy than his handling of property taxes and insurance. So far, results have been mixed.

Property taxes have fallen, but largely for reasons beyond Crist's control. "Taxes are going down because the market is going down, not for any other reason," said Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan.

The plunge in property values has largely masked the impact of Crist's property-tax changes, the largest of which was 2008's Amendment 1 expanding the $25,000 homestead exemption, among other tweaks to the property tax system.

"Really, it's been swamped by what's happening in the economy," said Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research.

Home values have plummeted: the $132,900 median sales price in Orange and Seminole counties in April was the lowest since January 2003 - down from $211,000 a year ago, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.

"What we passed was a poll-driven product, and we're paying the consequences for that," said former House Speaker Marco Rubio, a West Miami Republican who pushed for much larger property tax cuts in 2007 and is now running against Crist for Senate.

"You can't just lead by what your pollster says is popular," he added.

Likewise, insurance rates have decreased by a statewide average of 15 percent since lawmakers passed sweeping reforms in 2007. But those reforms also put all Florida insurance buyers on the hook for as much as $28 billion in the event of another Andrew-sized hurricane.

Florida biggest private carriers, State Farm and Allstate, responded by gradually dropping their home insurance business. Dozens of new, smaller companies were given business breaks to write replacement coverage.

But the industry has managed to convince policymakers that the 2007 reforms only exacerbate the state's insurance problems. This year, lawmakers -- with Crist's blessing - partially repealed the reforms.

Under a bill Crist signed last month, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., now Florida's largest insurer with nearly 1.3 million homeowner policies, can raise rates up to 10 percent a year until it is financially solvent. Private insurers will also be freer to raise rates, as the state backs away from its pledge to cover their losses after massive storms.

"Did we go too far in 2007? Absolutely," said Rep. Bryan Nelson, R- Apopka, an insurance agent who sponsored the bill to scale back the 2007 reforms. "Fortunately for us, we didn't have a storm. Otherwise, we'd of been in bad shape. We got lucky."

Crist inherited Florida' worst recession in three decades.

Since he took office, the unemployment rate has tripled, to 9.6 percent. While foreclosures around the nation slow, the 59,000 foreclosures filed in Florida in May were up 50 percent from a year earlier, according to Realty Trac.

But rather than making any dramatic moves this year, Crist and lawmakers largely did nothing.

"The whole country is dealing with the issue of real estate and what's happening in the market," Crist said. "By and large compared to other states, if you look at our budget, our solvency, our [credit] rating ... I'm very pleased with where Florida is."

Crist said recently he is "not really" thinking about what he might leave unfinished.

"We're trying to finish everything now," he said.