Florida's GOP Governor Leaves GOP

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has announced that he is leaving the Republican party and running for U.S. Senate as an independent.  A New York Times blog-post title says it all: "Crist to GOP: Drop Dead."  Many Republicans, including Ex-Gov. Bush, don't seem too happy about it.

This should be interesting.  One thing that many of us Floridians agree on is that Gov. Crist was nowhere near as atrociously Republican as his predecessor Jeb Bush.  

The St. Pete Times suspects that Gov. Crist will be "tapping an unusually wide pool of potential donors that includes Democrats and liberal special interest groups like trial lawyers and the teachers union."

One thing that might help Gov. Crist with the teachers is his  vetoing a GOP bill a couple weeks ago  that had Florida's teachers and parents up in arms:

Crist's verdict [on the controversial bill]: "We must start over. This bill has deeply and negatively affected the morale of our teachers, our parents and our students. They are not confident in our system because they do not believe their voices were heard."

Another thing that might help Gov. Crist with angry teachers and parents would be if he did more to roll back ex-Gov. Bush's education policies.

Mr. Bush had set up a heavily test-centered system (FCAT) that has been a huge thorn in the side of teachers, parents, and students for some years now.  No one could figure out why Mr. Bush had been so reluctant to change the much-hated policies.

Perhaps coincidentally, Mr. Bush's brother Neil (of Silverado Savings and Loan fame) was part of a company called "Ignite Learning," which happened to sell software designed to help students study for standardized tests like the FCAT. Reportedly, Jeb's brother (or his company) made some $20 million selling FCAT software to Florida schools. 

God only knows how many other private contractors were making out like bandits due to Jeb Bush's education policy.  But I digress....

Once again, if Gov. Crist wants to make real headway with teachers and parents, he should do more to roll back Jeb's education policy.  That might be difficult, given that both houses of Florida's legislature have huge Republican majorities, and the Republicans aren't feeling particularly warmly toward Crist these days.  

Still, Gov. Crist could use his position to truly expose the mammoth flaws of the education policies that Jeb had left behind while Jeb was leaving thousands of Florida's children behind.

Education aside, Gov. Crist has done some good things for this state.  The first two that come to mind are Nathan Skop and Nancy Argenziano: that is, Crist appointed them to Florida's Public Service Commission--which is intended to protect consumers from monopolistic utility companies.  As I've blogged about here and  here (and here and here), Skop and Argenziano are two of the most consumer-friendly commissioners ever -- certainly more concerned with consumers than the hyper-utility-friendly commissioners that Mr. Bush had appointed.

Comments

[renaissance dresses]

Another one lured by the Democrat magic. :P

[Nursing apparel]

i heard from the news that Florida has a serious problem on their education. is it true?? or just another issue.

[wench costume]

He will run as an independent because he don't want to be associated with the republicans.

[Supra Shoes]

i heard from the news that Florida has a serious problem on their education. is it true?? or just another issue.

[vibram five fingers on sale]

Hey, thanks for the insightful article. Please do keep up the good work!
I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work.
Good indeed!! Thank you for sharing.
Really good, a lot of my friends would love this, gonna let them know about it right now. Cheers!
The author's writing is sharp, statement, smooth, people admire

[phoenix limo]

Read on to find out what these tips are so you can assure yourself some peace of mind.

[forum watches]

A number of us learn all of the compelling way you produce rewarding information through this blog and as well strongly encourage contribution from others on the area so my girl is in fact being taught a lot of things.

[uggs.com]

this is definately a way to sustain your growth. Who doesn't need more clients? Give it away if you can, and keep traffic coming in!

[Counseling Jacksonville]

I really appreciate your ideas and information you mentioned here. I also agree, and your common sense facts and information collected. Thank you for having here.

[moncler outlet online]

Gotta love a bike with dick-shaped handlebars. It might actually get me to ride a bike again.

[Evering2010]

Thak you for sharing them with us , I think it's worth reading