Less than four years ago, Governor Charlie Crist described himself “”When I was in the state Senate I was nicknamed ‘Chain Gang Charlie.’ It’s hard to get right of that,” he told the Ledger. Full article here. 

I stumbled upon this article while searching for articles about a completely different, non-political Polk County topic from the same time period. It seems you cannot traverse the internet without stumbling upon some aspect of Governor Crist’s history.

Crist’s record in the State Senate will be fully broken down in the future on this site. His stonewalling of Governor Chiles’ appointees, his endless investigations of the then Democratic controlled Executive Branch, his push for standard Republican 1990s “tough on crime” legislation, his  anti women’s reproductive rights votes and how that contrasted with his record on Civil Rights and environmental legislation where his views were already to the left of many Republicans at that point in time. The Civil Rights and environmental issues were probably Crist’s “moderating” tenets as he plotted his statewide political career.

As Commissioner of Education, Crist now backed by teacher’s groups was a strong advocate of school “choice” and other Republican innovations that have sent our state’s rate of academic achievement tumbling. As Attorney General, Crist’s views again evolved. We will cover all of  this in greater detail in the near future.