When Charlie Crist appeared on a Pensacola beach with President Barack Obama last month, there was no hug. Yet the widely publicized photo op didn't mean Floridians were embracing their "independent" governor, either.
Conventional wisdom in the media suggests that Crist has raised his profile, and his popularity, amid the oily mess spewing in the Gulf. Recent polls showing him retaking the lead in the U.S. Senate race point to the governor's role in protecting Florida's shores. A cartoon in the Miami Herald even showed him walking on water while a marooned Marco Rubio looks on.
But what, really, has the governor done?
Panhandle lawmakers criticized Crist early on, saying the governor was slow to pick up on the impending crisis.
In late May -- a month after the gusher began -- state Sen. Dan Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Florida's tourism marketing efforts were falling short, and he blamed the state's chief executive.
We have two poorly crafted ads that were thrown together, it seemed to me, at the last minute in somebodys basement, said Gaetz, who had joined with Panhandle lawmakers three weeks earlier in urging Crist to be more proactive
Hes a very gracious person, Gaetz said. He needs to be an effective governor.
Last Friday, Gaetz, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on the Economy, asked Crist for a detailed schedule of uses of BP funds provided to the state.
Gaetz's panel meets July 12 to explore "how effectively the state is deploying funds to support Northwest Florida and the Gulf Coast."
U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Pensacola, has never been a big Crist fan. He endorsed Marco Rubio for Senate even before Crist bolted the Republican Party to run as an independent.
When the state finally began spending $25 million on marketing to soften the spill's impact on tourism, Miller questioned why only $8 million was earmarked for the Panhandle region.
Not surprisingly, Crist's Gulf performance has been criticized by his rivals in the Senate contest.
"Marco Rubio believes there is a sharp distinction between Governor Crist, who has actually praised the federal government's response, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who has held its feet to the fire for its incompetent response," said Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos.
"Leadership is not judged by photo ops and camera time, it's judged by results, which Charlie Crist has not effectively pressed the president and administration for, given his political predicament."
In between campaign fund-raisers, Crist said of the spill, "Everything is secondary now. My first duty is to do my job and I'm going to do it."
He is skipping this weekend's National Governors Association meeting in Boston and, instead, "will be in the Florida Panhandle ... leading response and clean-up efforts along the coast," Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey said Wednesday.
If the Florida media are buying Crist's spiel hook, line and sinker, national pundits haven't been so impressed.
The Washington Post ranked Jindal as the ninth "most influential Republican" in the country, saying:
"With oil continuing to spill into the Gulf, the Louisiana governor has emerged as the highest profile foil to President Obama. Jindal has been everywhere during the spill, working to flex the organizational expertise that is at the root of his political brand."
The Post was even more bullish about another Gulf governor, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
Though the Republican took heat for initially downplaying the spill's impact on tourism -- "We get tar balls all the time" -- the Post's handicappers reported:
"Increasingly there is chatter that Barbour is a likely 2012 (presidential) candidate."
Meantime, Crist's chief Democratic opponents in the Senate contest have jumped on the governor's erratic stands over offshore drilling.
Kendrick Meek, Jeff Greene and Maurice Ferre all say they have steadfastly opposed drilling for oil off Florida's 1,700-mile coastline.
In 2008, during the presidential campaign in which he was briefly considered as a running mate with pro-drilling Sen. John McCain, Crist warmed to the idea. He favored expanded drilling -- as did Obama -- until the BP blowout. Crist now says Florida should impose a constitutional ban.
Greene goes further in attacking Crist's financial ties to Big Oil. The billionaire businessman said last month:
Unlike my Senate candidate opponents Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek all who have received money from the oil industry, I wont take a single penny from the oil industry. I believe that in addition to a moratorium on oil drilling, we should also have a moratorium on campaign contributions by oil companies."
Since 1998, Crist has received 119 contributions from oil and gas companies totaling $70,650, according to the Federal Election Commission and the Florida Division of Elections.
Charlie Crist is running to every photo-op available but he cant run from his record of being in the pocket of Big Oil," said Greene spokesman Luis Vizcaino.
Both Greene and Attorney General Bill McCollum beat Crist to the punch by demanding that BP establish an escrow fund to pay for damages to the state.
On June 8, Greene called on BP to invest $100 million a year for 10 years in an escrow account that Florida can use for alternative energy, environmental cleanup, economic recovery and health-related issues.
"While Charlie Crist tries to pretend he didnt support offshore drilling, we all know both Crist and Rubio supported drilling off the coast of Florida, which is a huge mistake, Greene said.
McCollum followed two days later, calling on Crist to pursue an escrow account.
State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, claimed he floated the escrow idea first.
In a May 5letter to Crist, the state attorney general candidate wrote: "Florida should be insisting that an interest-bearing escrow account be established, under the control of the Cabinet or CFO, with each responsible party in this disaster committing a share to total $1 billion."
Indeed, Democrats now appear to be driving Crist's oil and energy agenda, making him appear more political and reactive than proactive and principled.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink was the first to articulate the need for a special legislative session to deal with spill-related issues. She subsequently suggested that the state unload its BP stockholdings.
Crist said he was "open" to a special session, and now supports a constitutional amendment barring offshore drilling.
But Republican lawmakers have been lukewarm to the idea, noting that state law already prohibits coastal drilling.
Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, and House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, also have parried the governor's Gulf gambit by challenging him to come up with a specific agenda relating to energy.
Crist has yet to do so.
Meanwhile, political prognosticators continue to search for substance as the governor trolls the Gulf coastline on a weekly basis.
"It's not even the oil spill itself keeping Crist's poll numbers up. It's the proximity of Crist to cameras near the oil spill," Republican political strategist Rick Wilson was quoted recently as saying. "What you're seeing is an awful lot of substance-free Charlie television specials."
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
