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Charlie Crist

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. (born July 24, 1956), is an American politician of the Republican Party and the current Governor of Florida. Crist was Florida's attorney general when he won election to governor, thus becoming the first Florida cabinet official in 95 years to be elected governor (since Park Trammell).

Early life and education

Crist was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania to Dr. Charlie Crist Sr., an American physician of Greek Cypriot descent, and Nancy Lee, who is of Scotch-Irish American descent. The surname had originally been "Christodoulou". Crist moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, as a child. He attended Wake Forest University for two years, where he played at quarterback for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team. Crist earned his undergraduate degree from Florida State University where he was elected Vice President of the student body. He received his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law in Alabama.

Career

Early career

During law school, Crist interned in the State Attorney's Office. After graduating, Crist failed the Florida bar exam twice but finally passed it. After being employed as the general counsel to the minor league division of the Baseball Commissioner's Office and as a staffer for U.S. Senator Connie Mack, he entered the private practice of law.

Elective offices in Florida (1992 to present)

Crist has held elective office in Florida since 1992, except for 1999-2000 when he was the appointed Deputy Secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation following his defeat in a U.S. Senate race.

Florida State Senator (1993-1999)

Crist was elected to the Florida Senate in 1992, representing parts of St. Petersburg. He received the nickname "Chain Gang Charlie" on account of his support of chain gangs for state prison inmates. He supported teacher salary increases. He co-sponsored pieces of legislation that created charter schools, required felons to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences, and created a license plate to raise funds for the Everglades.

Failed U.S. Senate race (1998)

Crist gained statewide name recognition in 1998 as the Republican challenger to the popular incumbent U.S. Senator, Democrat Bob Graham. Crist lost to Graham by 26 percent.

Florida Education Commissioner (2001-2003)

In 2000, Crist was elected Education Commissioner of Florida, and he served in this capacity until 2003. This office was converted to an appointive one in 2003 in accordance with a 1998 constitutional amendment.

Florida Attorney General (2003-2007)

In 2002, Crist was elected Attorney General. Supporters of Crist's candidacy included America's Most Wanted host John Walsh, who publicly filed Crist's gubernatorial candidacy paperwork, citing his work with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. During his tenure as attorney general, Crist was lauded by civil rights and consumer groups for expanding the powers of the Attorney General to prosecute civil rights and fraud cases. He received acclaim for his work to combat spam e-mails, freeze utility rates, end telecom deception, and protect the environment. He was strongly criticized by some advocates of government intervention in the Terri Schiavo right to life case when he abandoned further official attempts to keep Schiavo on life support. He was also criticized for not using his powers to investigate Schiavo's missing Department of Children and Families file.

Canadian anti-consumer-fraud activist and author Les Henderson criticized Crist's handling of the Lou Pearlman-Wilhelmina Scouting Network affair in his September 2006 book Under Investigation. Henderson's book presents documentary evidence that Assistant Attorney General Jacqueline Dowd was forced to resign by Crist's office when she refused to stop investigating the scam, and that she had been intending to file charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. A lawsuit stemming from the alleged Lou Pearlman Ponzi scheme and investment scandal alleges that Crist delayed or interfered with investigations into Pearlman in return for campaign donations, use of private jets, home, and skyboxes.

Governor of Florida (2006-present)

The race

Crist consistently led Democratic opponent Jim Davis in statewide opinion polling during the fall of 2006, and so opted to skip a politically risky appearance with President George W. Bush. Crist had reasoned that the Pensacola area was already firmly in his camp, and instead decided to appear in a more closely contested area with Arizona Sen. John McCain. Davis accused Crist of trying to avoid being associated with the unpopular President, whose job-approval rating stood at 34 percent nationally and merely 29 percent within Florida.

Crist also led his opponents in fundraising throughout the campaign, but his activities were occasionally controversial. One of Crist's backers was real estate mogul Donald Trump, whose guests at a Crist fundraiser included a former Ukrainian official in the country illegally, as well as the owner of a company under investigation by Crist's office. Crist later returned the donations from the companies under investigation, while the Ukrainian official's fee was paid by another guest. Further controversy set in, however, when ethics complaints were filed against Crist and his chief of staff for failing to investigate a major donor, personnel firm Convergys, that has been plagued by lawsuits and prison sentences for its role in the inadequate protection of state employees' social security numbers.

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, a member of Crist's team and the Worldwide Christian Church, also generated controversy after being dismissed from his position on the Broward Judicial Nominating Commission for calling Islam a "cult" and a "dangerous religion", and opposing the construction of a mosque on the grounds that "we don't want our area to be a breeding ground for terrorists". When questioned about Dozier, Crist initially declined to take action on Dozier and said that he was "happy" with the help he got. However, Crist later told his staff to remove Dozier from all campaign committees, saying "While Charlie Crist respects Rev. Dozier's right to express his political and religious beliefs, he does not agree with Rev. Dozier's recent statements and writings concerning Islam".

Crist's platform as a gubernatorial candidate included a "pro-life and pro-family" approach to abortion; $3,000 subsidies to adoptive parents and $5,000 subsidies to foster parents; advocation of parent choice and strict, standardized testing in education; prescription drug tracking for assurance of safety and proper health care; less expensive homeowners insurance; report cards for insurance companies; abolition of citizens insurance; support for right to die including respect for living wills; legal protection in eminent domain cases; lawsuit reform through elimination of joint and several liability; property tax flexibility; support for Florida's Defense of Marriage Act; cautious support for the death penalty; gun owner rights (endorsed by the National Rifle Association as an "A+" candidate); efforts to stop the "clear pattern of growth" in hate crimes; support for closed borders with promotion of legal immigration; opposition to further statewide expansion of legal gambling; and support for environmental protections such as a ban on off shore oil drilling near Florida's coastline.

Record in office; selected policy areas

= Emission controls =

In July 2007, Crist announced plans to sign executive orders that would impose strict air-pollution standards in the state, with aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 80 percent of the 1990 levels by 2050. Crist's orders would set new emissions targets for power companies, automobiles and trucks, toughen conservation goals for state agencies, and require state-owned vehicles to use alternative fuels.

= Creation of Research Flagship Universities =

During Florida's 2007 Legislative Session, Governor Charlie Crist signed into law SB-1710 which allowed the Board of Governors to allow Tuition Differential only for the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of South Florida (determined by law as the Research Flagships of the State University System). This legislation ultimately created a tier system for higher education in Florida's State University System.

= Disputes with insurance companies =

In 2007, Governor Crist became embroiled in public disputes with property insurers over homeowners' insurance rates. Governor Crist had expected insurers to lower their rates with new reinsurance coverage available from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. However, insurers have found that although the FHCF will offer them complete coverage, there are significant doubts in the marketplace as to whether the FHCF will be able to make good on those claims. Ratings agencies (such as Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and A. M. Best) have warned insurers that if they accept too much reinsurance from FHCF, they risk being downgraded. With such a warning in hand, insurers have instead gone to the private reinsurance market for much of their reinsurance, and have found significantly higher rates.

= Race relations =

Florida state representative Terry Fields (D-Jacksonville) referred to Crist as the state's "first black governor".

He is the first Republican governor to accept the state's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) invitation to a convention. Crist endorsed legislation requiring paper records of all ballots cast during an election, stemming from criticisms from those who believed votes were being undercounted in black communities by computerized voting machines.

In March 2007, Crist recommended that a deal which would have awarded $10 million to the family of Martin Lee Anderson, a teenager who died at a boot camp style juvenile detention facility in Bay County. This was done prior to the verdict in the trial of the guards accused of beating him. Despite the acquittal of the guards and the medical examiner's report that Anderson died from complications of a sickle cell trait, the family was awarded $7.4 million.

= Death penalty =

Crist is a longtime advocate of capital punishment. He has commented, It's very difficult. I feel the weight of that duty. Yet I understand that justice requires it.

During his tenure as attorney general of Florida, he represented the state in 10 death penalty cases resulting in execution. As governor, Crist extended the moratorium on executions which his predecessor, Jeb Bush had imposed in late 2006 in response to the botched lethal injection of Ángel Nieves Díaz. Crist resumed signing death warrants in 2008. Mark Dean Schwab was executed on July 1, 2008.

= Repeal of ban on adoption by homosexuals =

Florida banned gays and lesbians from adopting children in the 1970s. As of March 2008, it is the only state that has such a ban. Crist has said he opposes any change to the ban.

Personal

Crist is a member of the First Methodist Church of St. Petersburg.

In July 1979, Crist married Amanda Morrow. The couple had no children and divorced less than a year later.

In January 2007, reports surfaced of a 1989 paternity claim by Rebecca O'Dell Townsend, nee Wharrie, who gave birth to a girl and put her up for adoption, claiming Crist was the father. Crist signed an affidavit and other paperwork in May 1989 stating he was denying paternity and claimed no parental rights. However, the issue came up again eighteen years later, some say because it was raised by Crist's political enemies, others because the girl had reached the age when she wanted to know more about her birth parents. The St. Petersburg Times questioned the Governor's office about the possibility of DNA testing and were told by the Governor's staff that the question was "inappropriate".

Crist and his fiancee, Carole Rome have announced a wedding date of December 12, 2008.