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Crist Ducks CSX, Abortion, Evolution Issues

Posted Apr 28, 2008 by Nicola M. White & Catherine Dolinski, Tribune Tallahassee Bureau

Updated Apr 28, 2008 at 01:58 PM

TALLAHASSEE Gov. Charlie Crist paid an unannounced visit to the House press gallery today, quickly prompting reporters to swarm around him.

He said he’d continue to push for a gas tax holiday – a plan being pushed by presidential candidate and Crist ally John McCain – and praised lawmakers for funding Everglades restoration.

On thornier topics, though, he ducked.

The controversial abortion ultrasound bill? He’d wait to see how it looks when it reaches his desk, he said.

Allowing teachers to debate the basis of evolution?  Ditto.

And the plan to bring commuter rail to Central Florida by giving CSX Transportation, a private company, sovereign immunity?

Déjà vu: “I’m interested in seeing the final product and look forward to reviewing it when it gets to my desk,” he said.

When asked if he was uncomfortable about giving immunity to a private company – CSX wants to be off the hook if there are any passenger accidents on its train tracks – he said “not necessarily.”

“It depends on the context and what the purpose is and what the rationale would be and you have to kind of factor all those things together when you’re deciding whether to sign something or not,” he said.

Last Friday, Florida CFO Alex Sink sent a letter to Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio to caution them against the idea and to keep Florida’s taxpayers in mind (see here).

The public relations company hired to back the commuter rail project almost immediately sent an email to reporters, directing them to a recent clip of Gov. Crist on WFSU TV’s Face to Face program where he said he supported the idea of commuter rail. 

In his impromptu news conference Monday, Crist also implied that his negotiations with the House over their competing health insurance plans are advancing. The Senate has passed Crist’s low-cost, limited-benefits package for uninsured residents; the House bill contains both Crist’s plan and another to create a little-regulated “marketplace” of insurance and other health care products to be overseen by a new public-private corporation.. Crist and his staff have criticized the House plan for being costly and bureaucratic and pushed their own – but Monday, Crist said he has come to the conclusion that the two plans are not mutually exclusive.

The jury appeared still to be out, however, on the $1 million price tag that the House plan carries. Crist said he would prefer an initiative that doesn’t cost the taxpayers a dime.