Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed $371 million from the state budget Friday and signed a spending plan that strips away key proposals backed by major Republican lawmakers.
Crist, now running for U.S. Senate as an independent, waited until the afternoon of his last day to sign the budget. And what he signed was a slimmed-down, slightly-more-than $70 billion spending plan rid of a much-debated raid on transportation funds, a reduction in Medicaid funds to nursing homes and many local and higher education projects.
In reviewing every item in the budget, I have taken great care to fulfill my constitutional duty to ensure the appropriate use of the peoples money, said Crist in a news release. Additionally, the people of Florida deserve an open and transparent government so they have every opportunity to shape the services and programs they support with their taxes."
But it took under two hours for frustrated members of the newly independent governors former party to denounce his decision, although they couldnt hide their surprise.
Its just very unfortunate that his personal and political vendetta has risen to this level, said Senate Budget Chief J.D. Alexander, a Lake Wales Republican who saw a $35 million allocation for a new University of South Florida Polytechnic campus and a $10 million allocation for a pharmacy school there taken away from the budget.
The newly independent governor had been critical of the price tag of the Legislature's proposed $70.4 billion budget, roughly $1.2 million higher than Crists proposed $69.2 billion equivalent. He said several times in the lead-up to his decision that he was preparing for a line-item veto of projects championed by members of his former party.
"Gov. Crist's actions are disappointing but not surprising, said incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon in a statement
Crist vetoed a $160 million raid on the state Transportation Trust Fund, long fought for by House negotiators Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, and House budget chief Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami. The House plugged the money into education funds.
Crist also vetoed a Senate attempt, led by Alexander, to take a borrowed $19 million from the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.
The veto decision has the House Speakers Office mulling litigation, with Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, issuing a statement that calls Crists actions unconstitutional."
The House has successfully challenged the governor when he has exceeded his constitutional authority before, and we are prepared to do so again, he wrote.
The budget, which injects $433 million expected to result from the Seminole gaming compact Crist signed into law last month, has also been stripped of a House-backed proposal to cut Medicaid reimbursements to nursing homes by 7 percent.
House budget chief Rivera, a supporter of Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Marco Rubio, saw $64.5 million in projects in Miami-Dade county, his district, stripped from the budget. This includes a $32.5 million allocation for a health building at Florida International University.
"Today, Charlie Crist once again put politics over people, Rivera said. "By vetoing critical education and health initiatives, all he did was hurt those across the state served by those programs and institutions."
Democrat-backed projects, such as Sen. Chris Smith's bid for a $1 million performing arts center in Lauderhill, also got the axe.
Senate President Jeff Atwater took particular umbrage at cuts to higher education projects, emphasizing that the budget negotiators kept the process public this year as universities presented their projects.
After weeks of fabricating criticisms of our budget process, a process that has been universally praised as the most open and transparent in Florida history, it is most unfortunate that [Crist] chose to cut initiatives that would have put Floridians back to work, he said in a statement.
Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said he was glad that Crist vetoed a proposal that prohibited the use of state funds for human embryonic stem cell research, but the budget was ultimately a bad spending plan for the state. Kindergarten through 12th grade spending rises by $1.22 per pupil in the budget, but Gelber said there was little actual gain.
To me, the budget is defined by public education, and it still falls way short in that respect, said Gelber, who is campaigning for attorney general.
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson of Tallahassee said he felt the budget was as good as it can be in tough economic times.
He said the governor did well to veto the USF Polytechnic allocation backed by Alexander and several other South Florida education projects he thought were added late in the game.
The new $8.5 million Crestview Education Center at Florida A & M Universitys Crestview campus, listed as a turkey by Florida TaxWatch early this week, supported by Lawson and Crestview Republican Sen. Durell Peaden, did not get axed in Crists budget.
I was not critical of the governor on every move he made, and I think that plays into it, Lawson said.
Alexander said Crists vetoes are unsurprising and motivated by his shifting political stance.
Of course, well wait until tomorrow, and maybe theyll change, he said sarcastically.
Reach Alex Tiegen at atiegen@sunshinestatenews.com or at (561) 329-5389.
