Crist's first day: Enforcing open records, banning jargon

Article Courtesy of The Miami Herald

By MARY ELLEN KLAS AND BETH REINHARD

Published January 4, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - On his first full day on the job, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wasted no time acting on one of his Inauguration Day promises. He signed an executive order creating an Office of Open Government to enforce the state's public-records laws, and ordered that bureaucratic jargon be banished from state documents.

But matching words to actions on his other vows -- to lower hurricane insurance rates, reduce property taxes and raise teacher salaries -- will take more than putting pen to paper. It will take a commitment to detailed solutions, which have been slow in coming since the days of Crist's campaign.

''The honeymoon ends today,'' said House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. ``He's a likable guy who espouses populist policies. Now he has to govern.''

In the weeks ahead, the new Republican governor must present his plan for repairing the state's property insurance crisis, submit a comprehensive state budget to the Legislature, appoint the heads of six state agencies, and decide whether to resume the execution of inmates on Florida's Death Row.

Add to that his self-imposed goals of passing a constitutional amendment to double the homestead exemption and finding money to pay for teacher salary raises, and Crist's plate will be full.

Crist's first test comes in less than two weeks, when the Legislature meets for a four-day special session on windstorm insurance, beginning Jan. 16. He has said he will not be satisfied until a solution that lowers rates is found -- a statement that has raised expectations among consumers and goes further than what House and Senate leaders have said.

''Charlie is in the middle of it,'' said Sen. Rudy Garcia, a Hialeah Republican who campaigned for Crist. 'He's made a commitment to Floridians and consumers in his speeches and on the campaign trail. To say `the Legislature didn't give me what I wanted' won't be good enough.''

Crist has promised to present his own insurance fix. He proposes to expand the windstorm insurance market by prohibiting companies from operating in Florida if they sell property insurance in other states but refuse to offer it here. He said Wednesday he will ask lawmakers to repeal some of the elements of the controversial insurance fix they passed last spring.

Crist is also trying to give the impression of a fresh start without criticizing the popular former governor, Jeb Bush. He has copied much of the ethics code that Bush established for state employees and his immediate staff, including placing all of his personal assets in a blind trust. But the code differs from Bush's regarding drug testing. The former governor required it of all senior employees, while Crist's personnel code says drug tests ''may'' be required.

The creation of an Office of Open Government and Crist's launching of a ''plain language initiative'' are clear departures from Bush, who often found that fulfilling public-records requests was a hindrance to accomplishing his policy goals.

Crist noted how he ''admired'' Bush but also said there was a ''sense of arrogance'' in the jargon commonly used by state agencies.

Crist must also find a way to achieve a consensus on his pledge to ''reduce property taxes'' for all Floridians. He repeated the promise in his inaugural speech, but left unclear whether he is open to alternatives or wants to stick by his campaign pledge to expand the homestead exemption to $50,000 from the current $25,000.

House Speaker Marco Rubio said he is ready to call a special election this year to change the state Constitution to reduce property taxes. But he is not ready to embrace Crist's plan to double the homestead exemption.

''What we're proposing is to look at the issue comprehensively,'' Rubio said.

Civil rights advocates will also be watching Crist to see whether he follows through on his campaign pledge to support felons seeking to vote after they complete their sentences.

Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, unsuccessfully pressed Crist during the campaign to specifically commit to signing an executive order allowing felons the right to vote. Crist did not respond.

But Simon noted that the governor's new website repeats his campaign promise on voting rights.

''How this gets done is important, and it can be done by his leadership,'' Simon said.

Crist will also have to deal with the inevitable surprises. On Wednesday, the surprise took the form of a story in The New York Post suggesting that someone in the Crist campaign had swiped and copied Rudy Giuliani's presidental campaign playbook.

The tabloid reported that the internal document was taken out of an aide's luggage while the former New York City mayor campaigned in Florida with Crist.

''I hope it was a good one,'' Crist quipped of Giuliani's White House strategy.