During his campaign and even as governor Charlie Crist has been ambivalent on gay rights and same sex adoption, but he sent a strong signal to the religious right today, appointing Jim Kallinger—who has been director of development for the Christian Coalition of Florida —as director of the governor’s Office of Adoption and Child Protection. His formal title is Chief Child Advocate.

“We have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us – our children,” said Governor Crist.  “Jim will work to increase the number of adoptions in Florida to ensure that all children have the chance they deserve to live in a loving, safe and permanent home.”

Lst year during the campaign, Crist had said he was undecided about gay adoptions but later told The Tampa Tribune editorial board he opposes it. On the other hand, he said he didn’t want Republican party money spent on the antigay marriage amendment some are trying to pass.

The Cristian Coalition job was the most recent for Kallinger, who served in the Florida House from 2000 to 2004. He had been chairman of the Trades, Professions and Regulated Business Committee and vice-chairman of the Select Committee on Constitutional Amendments. He has also been general contractor and president of Kallinger Construction Co., a company that specializes in handicapped accessibility projects.

While in the state House, Kallinger led an effort to give private school vouchers to public school students and filed a bill to ban cloning, saying that the therapeutic use of stem cells was “highly speculative.”

He was one of 21 state legislators filing a friend of the court brief in 2002 arguing that Florida’s ban on gay adoption is not unconstitutional.

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