With campaign contributions pouring in, Crist avoids GOP trouble with tabled climate summit
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 by Michael C. Bender
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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