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CharlieCrist

Charlie Crist

Florida Governor Charlie Crist

Contents

Bio

Crist was born in Altoona, Pa., and moved to St. Petersburg as a child, where his father served on the school board. He served as the class president of St. Petersburg High School and briefly as vice president of the Florida State Univerity student body. He played football in high school and at Wake Forest before transferring to FSU. He earned a law degree from Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. He interned in the Florida state attorney's office and worked for Major League baseball before beginning his career in politics working for Sen. Connie Mack. He worked as a lawyer with the firm of Wood and Crist before running for public office. Crist is divorced and single, he is a Methodist.

Contact

  • E-mail: Online form
  • Address:
    • Office of the Governor
    • The Capitol
    • Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
  • Phone: 850-488-7146
  • Fax: 850-487-0801

Links

Blogs

Issues

  • Abortion: Stated he would sign a South Dakota type abortion ban so long as it provided exceptions for rape and incest victims.
  • Abortion: Would ban all abortions with exceptions for incest, rape and to save the life of the mother.
  • Abortion: Critics say he opposes a 24-hour waiting period for abortions.
  • Adoption: Would offer financial incentives for people to adopt or foster children.
  • Adoption: Would create and Office of Adoption and Child Protection.
  • Adoption: Provide a $3000 subsidy to adoptive families.
  • Affordable Housing: Wants to put more money into affordable housing. (8.8.06)
  • Children: Would increase the number of investigators assigned to Internet crimes against children.
  • Class Size Amendment: He has committed to putting tens of billions of dollars into reducing class sizes, as the state Constitution requires. (8.8.06)
  • Crime: Proposes the "antimurder" bill, which would crack down on probation violators and would cost, by one legislative analysis, $118-million a year by 2010. (8.8.06)
  • Death Penalty: Defend the current law allowing non-unanimous juries to recommend the death penalty.
  • Education: Proposed increased funding for education. (2.2.07)
  • Education: Proposed increased funding for class-size reduction. (2.2.07)
  • Education: Would give 10 percent annual pay raises to the top 25 percent of teachers in Florida. First-year cost: $150-million. (8.8.06)
  • Education: Would add reading coaches to all public schools, at an annual cost of $100-million. (8.8.06)
  • Education: Wants to create a grant program to help incoming teachers finance home purchases, (8.8.06)
  • Education: Would spend at least $1-billion more every year on public schools. (8.8.06)
  • Education: Continue to be an advocate for parent choice in education, including stringent testing and vouchers. Crist encourages standardized testing "to guarantee that each student receives a year's worth of learning in a year's worth of time."
  • Elections: Proposed increased funding for paper trails in elections. (2.2.07)
  • Eminent Domain: Strengthen current legal protections. Crist has stated that he believes the Kelo decision could have negative ramifications for Floridians. In August 2005 he asked the chairman of the Select Committee to Protect Private Property Rights for several changes to Florida law that would more clearly define when eminent domain can be applied.
  • Environment: Proposed increased funding for the Everglades. (2.2.07)
  • Environment: Continue the net ban aimed at protecting aquatic wildlife.
  • Family Values: Support the right of municipalities to limit the sale of pornography and birth control within their city limits.
  • Foster Care: Provide a $5000 subsidy to those providing foster care to families who adopt foster children.
  • Gambling: Oppose any expansion of gambling, but not support the repeal of the Broward County slot machine amendment.
  • Gay Rights: Will not support ending the ban on gay adoption. Crist has previously indicated he feels that the state Constitution already forbids gay marriage, but subsequently supported the gay marriage amendment.
  • Gay Rights, Supports civil unions.
  • Gun Rights: Balance gun owner rights with private property rights of employers. Crist has not taken a position on an NRA proposal to punish businesses that prohibit employees from keeping guns in their vehicles on the company parking lot.
  • Hate Crimes: Stop the "clear pattern of growth" in crimes motivated by sexual orientation.
  • Health Care: Require prescription drugs to be tracked from the manufacturer to the pharmacy to ensure drug safety.
  • Hurricane Insurance: Opposes allowing big insurance companies to spin off Florida-based companies in order to insulate themselves from Florida losses. (8.8.06)
  • Insurance: Agreed to freeze both homeowners insurance rates and policy cancellations. (2.13.07)
  • Health Care: Proposed increased funding for health and human services. (2.2.07)
  • Health Care: Proposed increased funding for mental health. (2.2.07)
  • Lawsuit Reform: Support elimination of joint and several liability.
  • Property Tax: Allow homeowners to move within the same county and between different counties while maintaining their previous property tax level.
  • Right to Die: Promote the availability of end of life choices, including living wills and coordination with hospice care. Crist would not support government involvement in end-of-life decisions, siding with the ACLU in criticizing Governor Bush's actions in the Terri Schiavo case.
  • Stem-cell Research, Supports embryonic stem cell research.
  • Taxes: He wants to double the homestead exemption to $50,000, subject to voter approval. (8.8.06)
  • Taxes: Supports changing the Save Our Homes property tax cap so homeowners can take the tax break with them when they buy a more expensive home anywhere in Florida. (8.8.06)

Media

History

  • Governor, 2007-
  • Attorney General, 2002-2006
  • Commissioner of Education, 2000-2002
  • Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, 1999-2000
  • Candidate for U.S. Senate, 1998
  • Florida Senate, 1992-1998
  • Candidate for Florida Senate, 1986

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Page last modified on July 30, 2010, at 07:35 AM