Crist: No to Rewarding Teachers

Today, Charlie Crist once again ignored the will of his party leaders in Florida, including his colleague, former Governor Jeb Bush, and voted with the Democrats and Teacher Unions by vetoing Senate Bill 6.

Crist’s motivations are unclear, especially considering he is losing support among the conservative base in his Senate Race. With this vote, he only confirms that he is a RINO- Republican in Name only. He is not someone that we want to send to Washington to vote on healthcare reform or cap and tax.

Immediately, after the veto, his own Attorney General, Bill McCollum put out this statement:

I am deeply disappointed Governor Crist succumbed to the pressure from Democrat Alex Sink and the unions by putting bureaucracy above the best interest of our children and teachers. The veto of Senate Bill 6 is a significant setback to our strides in education reform, which will limit Florida’s ability to compete on the world stage. We need to reward teachers and give them the tools to succeed, as was proposed in this legislation. As Governor, I will lead the charge to enact reforms that will ensure our children and teachers are positioned to be the very best they can be.

The final result of this move has not been seen yet, but several of Crist’s key supporters withdrew their support after his veto of Senate Bill 6.

Their has been speculation in recent days that Crist will pull out of the Republican Party and run as an independent in the upcoming General Election in November. So far, his campaign has not ruled it out as a possibility.

On the Docket…

At the last Executive meeting, David Simmons went over some of the agenda items on the docket for this upcoming session. These are issues that will affect every Floridan.

  1. Property taxes – Up for consideraton is increasing the homestead exemption.
  2. Bodily injury insurance only -No personal injury protection or Florida no fault.
  3. Education -Increasing teacher pay, at risk kids programs, uniforms for D & F schools, gender education.
  4. Sexual predators -Mandantory electronic monitoring devices.
  5. DUI -Interlock devices required after first incident.

A pretty hefty agenda. No doubt some of these will become campaign issues. So keep your ears and eyes open.