(Cross-posted from FL forum)
Crist changes positions on 3 hot issuesBY MARY ELLEN KLAS
October 19, 2006
Charlie Crist has switched positions on several key issues, and his new stances bring him closer to the views of his opponent in the governor's race. Until recently, Charlie Crist said he was a strong believer in denying felons an automatic right to vote after they left prison.
He was equally emphatic that the FCAT tests as they are now administered are fine.
And he declared that Citizens Insurance, the state-run company that provides windstorm insurance, should be abolished.
Those stances have one thing in common: Crist has changed his position on all three.
Questioned about the reversals, the Republican candidate for governor calls them ``an evolution.''
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But Crist's late-season conversions, coincidentally or not, target issues that Davis has been using to make inroads into Crist's sizable lead in the polls. The Democrat has launched a series of television ads critical of Crist's position on the FCAT and has used the felons' voting rights issue to shore up support among black voters.
Crist defends his approach, saying his goal is to listen and learn.
''Life's a journey,'' Crist told The Miami Herald editorial board this week, explaining why he changed his mind on felons' voting rights. He said elected officials need to be ``willing to continue to learn, to take in new data and to appreciate different circumstances and evolve. They call it wisdom.''
The felon-vote issue was accompanied this week by another zigzag, when Crist said he wants to allow flexibility in the way the high-stakes FCAT test is handled, including allowing parents to see the tests and focus on the exam as a ''diagnostic tool'' rather than as punishment for schools' poor performance.
Those are all positions that Democratic opponent Jim Davis has staked out. They are also contrary to Gov. Jeb Bush's approach -- which Crist had earlier said he supported.
snip
Opponents point to other examples of Crist's changing positions over the years, on issues ranging from abortion to Everglades restoration. But they say the latest flip-flops, with less than three weeks to go before the election, are particularly galling.
Three black state legislators held a conference call with reporters Wednesday to blast Crist as a ''Charlie come late'' on the felons voting issue, saying he never offered any help when they repeatedly tried to pass legislation to change the law.
snip
''We are seeing a candidate for what he really is -- one who will do whatever it takes to win an election,'' said Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mendingall of Miami. ``But it's not going to work. We're not stuck on stupid.''
--snip
''People have a right to know where he stands on issues, but he takes principled positions on both sides of every issue,'' said Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. ``I expect soon he will come out in opposition to Germany's invasion of Poland and in favor of Shaq's trade to the Heat.''
snip
Why would anyone vote for a cheap imitation, when they can vote for an authentic, Bob Graham-style Democrat who will immediately start the process of governing for the good of Floridians, for a change? We must shed all traces of the Jeb Bush plague in order to start.
Charlie is Jeb Bush-tainted, a lightweight on understanding the critical issues facing us, and lacks the breadth of experience to serve as Florida's governor.
Jim Davis is standing ready to serve the people of Florida.
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