Crist and Rubio take questions after they spoke to the Christian Family Coalition in Miami. Bender/Post

1. No, Gov. Charlie Crist is not giving up his Republican registration. But it’s pretty clear now that he’s decided to promote the independent streak that won him national attention as he built a bipartisan image his first year in office.

2. Speaking of Crist’s first year: With his final State of the State coming on Tuesday, here’s a timely look-back at our coverage of his 2007 speech, when he called for more environmental preservation and a voting paper trail and included a quote from Robert Kennedy:

“For him to get up there and do what he did today, he said: ‘I’m my own man,’ that was a strong message,” said Sen. Victor Crist, R-Temple Terrace, who is not related to the governor. “When he gave his final quote from Robert Kennedy, that was bold, and I watched Speaker Rubio’s face, and I turned to the two House members on either side of me, and I said, ‘Oh-oh.’ “

House Speaker Marco Rubio said Crist’s style has helped improve the tone in Tallahassee. “By far the most optimistic first day of session in the eight I’ve been a part of,” said Rubio, R-West Miami. “I think there is a general tone of cooperation.”

3. By portraying himself as an independent Republican (someone who loves guns, hates taxes and can work across the aisle), Crist is hoping to steal some of the sizzle of Rubio’s image as the anti-establishment candidate. In Broward County, Crist tried to use Rubio’s campaign against him:

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Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer said this afternoon he will resign effective Feb. 20. Some background on his recent troubles here.

“This distractions and attacks on each other within the party is not what we should be doing. These individuals who have turned their guns on fellow Republicans instead of focusing our efforts on defeating Democrats have done nothing to serve our party. But at the end of the day the future of the party must come first.”

Listen to the conference call here. (Questions start at the 11:10 mark)

Rep. Mackenson Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, ceremonially is administered the oath of office in the House chamber by House Clerk Bob Ward as the state's newest member of the Florida House of Representatives. (House photo)

In an odd twist, Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, actually cast his first vote today before taking his oath in front of the House.

But Bernard’s swearing-in this morning was only ceremonial — he officially took office shortly after winning a special election to replace Priscilla Taylor, who resigned after Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to the Palm Beach County Commission.

Bernard addressed his new colleagues after taking the oath. Listen here.

Here’s the latest video from the Republican Majority Campaign of Florida, a 527 political action committee whose parent group raised more than $4 million during 2008 (most of which was spent campaigning for GOP presidential nominee John McCain). You might also remember the group from a fund-raising e-mail they sent earlier this year warning that Congress wanted to give President Obama “total control of the Internet.”

The web video focuses on the Gov. Charlie Crist’s support of the federal stimulus package, the central theme of former House Speaker Marco Rubio’s campaign against Crist in the state’s U.S. Senate Republican primary.

Crist, meanwhile, is attempting to add some nuance to his feelings about the stimulus package. He told CNN last night that he didn’t endorse the proposal and that he “didn’t even have a vote on the darned thing.” Here’s a fact-check of sorts from the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, click here to listen to Crist explain to reporters this morning his seemingly evolving position on the subject.

Crist

Here’s what Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said this morning when asked about the pros & cons for his party if there’s a GOP primary in the governor’s race. Crist is facing his own an primary in the U.S. Senate race.

But how committed is Crist to that idea of competition? Consider his answer to this question just 60 minutes later. Crist has declined to answer any debate requests (here and here) from his primary opponent, Marco Rubio.

McCollum

State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, is considering her own gubernatorial campaign against McCollum.

During the past two days, state economists have given the same presentation on the state’s dismal economy an estimated 1,942 times. Or maybe it just felt like it.

But this morning, House budget Chairman David Rivera, R-Miami, summed it in less than 30 seconds.

Listen here.

Gov. Charlie Crist speaks opens his first Florida Summit on Global Climate Change at the Miami InterContinental Hotel in July 2007. | Post photo

This story was printed Aug. 12 on page 1A of The Palm Beach Post.

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist’s plans for a third high-profile climate summit have been indefinitely postponed as the Republican weighs the political cost of the event’s expensive price tag.

But Crist’s reluctance to appear out of touch with financially frustrated Floridians — and perhaps his party’s conservative base — has not stopped him from asking the event’s sponsors to help fund his U.S. Senate campaign.

Campaign finance reports show Crist has collected $106,500 from individuals and companies tied to past sponsors of his climate summits. That total is 40 percent of the costs of his 2006 summit and nearly 20 percent of the expenses of last year’s event.

Postponing the summit has also raised questions about whether Crist, who is facing an aggressive primary challenge and a restless base in the state GOP, is backing away from the environmental issues that marked his first two years in office.

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Brogan

“It’s great to be home,” Brogan said at a press event at the governor’s office today.

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“Not much,” Crist said.

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist was censured on Saturday by the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee. Read Palm Beach County Republican Jack Furnai’s account here

The move was to embarrass Crist for failing to support local Republican congressional candidates in 2008 and for his embrace of President Obama’s stimulus plan. Although it sounds like the vote mostly embarrassed the county GOP chairman, Joe Stich.

Palm Beach County Republicans will consider a similar censure motion next week. Asked about that vote, Crist implied that he wasn’t concerned about the outcome.

“I’ll wait until Election Day,” Crist said.

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Presidents from 10 of Florida’s 11 universities stormed the state Capitol today to urge lawmakers to keep the college’s budget whole. The issue over how much to spend on higher education is holding up the closed-door budget negotiations between the two chambers.

Lawmakers will probably hand them the power to raise tuition up to 15 percent next year, but the presidents said that was not enough. Further cuts, the presidents said, would force colleges to shut down programs, lay off teachers and furlough staff.

Cut would also kill the state’s efforts to pull through the economic recession.

Here’s a sample of their comments today (click on the links to hear their full statements).

UF President Bernie Machen

“If we are crippled to the extent that we’re unable to be responsive, everybody suffers. It’s a clarion call from the presidents to try and make sure the entire state understands the seriousness of the situation.”

FIU President Modesto A. Maidique

“This is not just another budget reduction, another cycle that we emerge from in a year or two and things will be fine … This is armageddon.”

“It takes generations to build universities, but they can be destroyed in a very short period of time - a period of two or three years.”

UCF President John C. Hitt

“This indeed a grave situation. The fact that 10 of us are here today speaks to that.”

FAMU President James H. Ammons

“Jeopardizing our future by failing to continue to invest in higher education in this budget is not the path to a bright future … This would drastically change the way Florida A&M operates.”

UNF President John Delaney

“We’re not trying to attack or be critical, but we’re very, very concerned about where the numbers are at this point in time.”

The content of the podcast informed this story that was published Sunday. The interviews are still timely and, by at least one account, still entertaining.

The first 14 minutes is an interview with designated House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders of Key West talking about how Republican leaders are more interested in “hijacking” bills than fulfilling their responsibilities. He admires Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, for her “blatant partisanship,” anticipates the next “memo” from House Republican Majority Adam Hasner, apologizes on behalf of the Democratic caucus “for not being stupid,” and says he’s going “do my best” to flip the 76-44 majority the GOP enjoys in the chamber.

“We are the minority party,” Saunders says. “We are their conscience.”

The 12 minutes that follow is a separate interview with Hasner, R-Boca Raton, who gets in his own jabs. He says the House Democrats “have become a party of no” — just like Republicans in the U.S. House. He says their a “continental divide” in the minority party and that the stimulus will “potentially create more problems in the future than it solves.”

Listen to the podcast here. (Right click on the link to download)

UPDATE: This blog was updated to include the correct value of the sales tax exemption.

At two different times today, Gov. Charlie Crist teased reporters about an afternoon meeting he was having with his budget director, Jerry McDaniel, in which they were going to talk about a budget cut that would not hurt education spending or health programs for the poor.

We caught up with him at the governor’s mansion before a Torah dedication tonight to ask about the meeting.

Crist said he wasn’t prepared to talk about cuts and instead mentioned looking at “the other side of the ledger,” like fees.

“There’s some exemptions that I would encourage the legislature to look at, too,” Crist said. “There’s one that relates to automobiles when you have a trade-in. For some reason, and I don’t know exactly when it happened an exemption was carved out, and in my conversations with Jerry could mean as much as a half a million billion in dollars that we could use to help education. We’re just starting to look at that and study it.”

So if Crist’s estimate is right, that brings the budget deficit down to $2,999,500,000 $2,500,000,000.

(For some background on sales tax exemptions, click here.)

In the first meeting in nearly three weeks for the House’s top two budget councils, chairmen Marcello Llorente and David Rivera, both Miami Republicans, read from the same script in separate meetings today to inform budget writers about the tight schedule.

They said appropriations committees (essentially budget sub-committees) will receive spending totals (known as allocations) by the end of the week and will have to approve budget details by Thursday, April 2.

Republican leaders want councils to vote on the budget before Wednesday April 8, take Thursday and Friday off for Easter and Passover and let the chamber vote on the bill April 17th.

That would leave the Senate and House about a week to iron out differences in conference committees so the respective chambers can consider the changes in time for the the scheduled last day of session, May 1.

The national fight over ensuring secret ballots for union votes erupted Wednesday in an emotional quarrel between two Palm Beach County lawmakers that included one calling the other a “jerk” in a Florida House committee meeting.

Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, called Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, a “jerk” from her seat in the House Policy Committee. Her microphone was turned off, but her comment was audible from at least the third row in the meeting room.

Listen to their dialogue during the committee here. Then read the rest of the story here.

About 300 people showed up in front of the state Capitol today to hear Stuart Milk, left, nephew of slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, support several gay rights bills introduced in the legislature this year. The rally with Milk, of Broward County, was organized by Equality Florida.

Two of the proposed changes he wants the legislature to approve come from Palm Beach County lawmakers.

Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, has legislation (HB 413) that would let gay couples adopt children.

Rep. Kelly Skidmore and Sen. Ted Deutch, both Boca Raton Democrats, have companion bills (SB 2012 & HB 397) that would make it illegal to fire someone or deny them housing based on sexual orientation.

Brandenburg’s bill hasn’t received a committee hearing the past two years and probably won’t fair much better this year. Skidmore told the crowd today the gay rights bills have an uphill climb in the legislature.

Last year, Democratic CFO Alex Sink forged a friendship with Republican House Speaker Marco Rubio over their shared goal of returning some of the state’s hurricane risk to the private insurance market.

This year, it sounds like Sink is the conservatives’ sweetheart again.

On Thursday, Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, opened the House Government Operations Appropriations Committee by praising her for doing “what I think is a great job.”

Hays, however, flubbed the start of the meeting when he didn’t notice Sink waiting in the room.

Later, Rep. Clay Ford, R-Gulf Breeze, tried to cover by noting that Sink was “small and delicate.”

After appealing to Warren Buffett to bankroll potential hurricane-related losses last year, Gov. Charlie Crist and other state officials will look to the federal government to help cover costs from a major storm this year.

“From the federal government’s standpoint, it would be one of the least risky things they’ve embarked on here in the last few months,” said John Forney, Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund financial adviser.

Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and state CFO Alex Sink all agreed Tuesday to push for a federal line of credit in case a major storm hits the state.

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Gov. Charlie Crist this morning reiterated that he’s not feeling “warm and fuzzy” about a cigarette tax increase, but indicated his feelings may change Friday, when state economists give lawmakers an update on the budget.

“I’ll give a clear direction at the appropriate time,” Crist said.

Some argue that direction should have come during his state of the state speech last week (see some discussion about that speech here).

But today Crist said he was trying to strike an appropriate balance in that address.

Gov. Charlie Crist said today he will head to Miami, Daytona Beach and Tampa on Friday to promote a series of state web sites that are supposed to help Floridians find work, buy cheap prescription drugs and get health coverage.

“I know that people are hurting,” Crist said. “People can’t sign up for it if they don’t know it exists.”

Other tidbits from the press conference:

*The state’s 26,000 employees receive free health insurance, a perk that Crist said he wasn’t inclined to change.

*Crist shrugged off a suggestion that he oversold an unrealistic budget proposal to a legislature.

*And said he hoped that a possible tax on businesses would not prevent the state from accepting $444 million in unemployment benefits from President Obama’s stimulus package.

Gov. Charlie Crist is pushing lawmakers to embrace the federal stimulus plan, but CFO Alex Sink said this morning that Florida could be losing billions by not aggressively applying for federal grants.

Sink put some of the blame at the doorstep of the governor’s office in Washington D.C., which she said was created in part to help coordinate the grant process.

“We’re not sure what they’re doing,” Sink said.

Read Sink’s report here.