Wire story on Florida education chairman misleads on Crist’s switch

A wire service story about the state Board of Education chairman’s resignation appeared in a number of Florida daily newspapers like The Miami Herald on Friday. The article provided details about shakeups on the board after new Republican governor Rick Scott began his term.

Former no-party-affiliation governor Charlie Crist is mentioned in the article allegedly because Crist had reappointed the chairman originally appointed by former governor Jeb Bush. There’s some spin about Crist in the article that should be corrected.

The wire services writer brought up Crist’s departure from the Republican Party in 2010, claiming Crist left “to mount a failed bid as an independent for the U.S. Senate last year.”

That statement is basically true except for a technical error. There is no such thing as “an independent” in Florida elections. The correct designation is “no-party-affiliation.” There is a complete list of Florida political parties on the Duval County Election supervisor’s website.

That’s a small quibble. The bigger issue has to do with the writer’s explanation for why Crist left the GOP to become an NPA.

The writer said, “Crist made the switch after vetoing a GOP-sponsored bill to put teachers on merit pay and end tenure for new hires, angering many Republicans.”

If you follow Florida politics, you know that sentence is extremely misleading.

Crist’s departure did come after he vetoed a bill rumored to have been tailored originally to include Crist’s own provisions.

But here’s the whole truth. Crist left the GOP because he was locked in a run for a Senate seat with a candidate Crist knew would best him—the man who is now US senator Marco Rubio. Rubio thumped Crist in a debate on Fox News and despite the fact Crist repeatedly pledged he would run as a Republican, Crist eventually switched to NPA because it was the only way he could be on the ticket in the midterm election.

Crist also lobbied traditionally Democrat groups for support.

I correctly predicted Crist’s move to NPA would impact votes for Democrat candidate Kendrick Meek. Most pundits incorrectly predicted Crist’s switch would split the GOP ticket.

I also believe the only reason Crist vetoed the bill was for political expediency—he desperately needed votes.

Wire service stories are sometimes prepared by employees at non-profit organizations most conservatives would describe as leaning left. There is no information about the writer of this story, however.

What we do know about the writer is that he not only made a glaring omission in details he chose to elaborate on—they weren’t critical to the story. The reasons given for Crist’s switch yield to political fact rather than reality. There was no real crisis of conscience over the education bill—there was a crisis of political expediency in the interest of gaining votes from the education sector perceived as traditionally supporting Democrats.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/March 25, 2011)

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Comments

[Jim Kress]

Regarding the "Tax Funnies" sidebar, if Wesley Snipes is to be used as an example of paying taxes not being optional, why isn't Charlie Rangle being used as an example of the fact, at least in his case, that the payment of taxes WAS optional?

[Kay B. Day]

Jim, I'll never figure out why you'd imprison someone with the earning potential of Wesley Snipes--he can't earn anything in prison. Rangel got off light as did Treas. Sec. 'Turbotax' Tim Geithner.