Florida’s cap-and-trade law — a legacy of former Gov. Charlie Crist — would be repealed under legislation approved 82-34 Thursday by the House.

Before Crist abandoned the Republican Party and lost a U.S. Senate campaign as a no-party candidate, he had emerged as an environmental progressive, joining then-California Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger in pushing their states toward limiting carbon emissions.

But Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, said Thursday the move was wrongheaded. Plakon’s bill (HB 4001) would erase the Florida Climate Protection Act, which gave the state’s Department of Environmental Protection authority to push for a program to reduce greenhouse gas from electric utilities. The measure still has to clear the Senate.

Fighting the repeal, Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, said climate change affects everyone — and Florida’s coastline is vulnerable to rising sea levels. But ruling Republicans tarred the measure as a job-killer. Also infuriating, at least one GOP legislator pointed out, was that it came from Crist.

“We made a mistake then by passing this job killing legislation,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach. “Let’s ensure that we never have another governor concerned about being politically romanced in California than creating jobs for the state.”

Crist’s cap-and-trade measure was never implemented by the Legislature. But it has had a political afterlife not likely to disappear anytime soon.

The roles of former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, a Boca Raton Republican now running for Congress, and Republican U.S. Senate candidate George Lemieux, a former Crist chief-of-staff, in passing the cap-and-trade measure has been used against both men on the campaign trail.

Tarring Democratic opponent Bill Nelson as one of President Obama’s “lockstep liberals”, Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack said Tuesday that Floridians are looking for a change in the U.S. Senate.

“It’s pretty clear to me that this country, our country, is moving in the wrong directions,” Mack said in a conference call with reporters from his Fort Myers hometown.

Mack made his candidacy official Monday night in an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox-TV show. Mack, first elected to Congress in 2004, is the fifth Republican in the race to unseat Nelson, who is seeking his third term.

Mack is looking to win the same seat held by his father and namesake, former Republican U.S. Sen. Connie Mack. His dad defeated Democrat Buddy MacKay in 1988 after taunting him with the phrase, “Hey Buddy, you’re liberal.” And on Tuesday, the political apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“Bill Nelson has become one of Barack Obama’s leading guys in the United States Senate,” Mack said, deriding his Democratic rival for supporting the president’s push on health care, stimulus spending, and energy cap-and-trade legislation.

Nelson is among the “lockstep liberals in Washington” the president depends on to advance his agenda, Mack said. The Republican contender, however, disputed that he, like his father, is looking to win by demonizing liberals.

“It’s not an attempt to demonize,” Mack said. “It’s to point out the differences.”

When those close to Mack confirmed a few weeks ago that he was planning to enter the race, the congressman immediately became the favorite, according to polls.

 A Quinnipiac University survey earlier this month showed Mack with a formidable lead over the four Republicans already in the race. A Rasmussen Reports poll also showed Mack could be trouble for Nelson, with the congressman favored by 43 percent of voters to 39 percent for the Democrat. The survey of 500 likely voters had a margin-of-error of plus-or-minus 4.5 percent.

“The Legislature finds it is in the best interest of the state to document, to the greatest extent practicable, greenhouse gas emissions and to pursue a market-based emissions abatement program, such as cap and trade, to address greenhouse gas emissions reductions.”

That language was part of a 2008 energy bill co-sponsored by former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, and signed by former Gov. and former Republican Charlie Crist. Hasner’s office touted the legislation at the time as “responsibly addressing global climate change and anticipated national cap and trade legislation.”

Cap-and-trade is now disparaged as “cap-and-tax” by conservatives, so in his Republican U.S. Senate primary against Mike Haridopolos and George LeMieux, Hasner’s camp says the 2008 legislation actually gutted Crist’s cap-and-trade ambitions.

Find the reason for the explanation in this week’s Politics column.