Gov. Charlie Crist (I-FL), who left the Republican Party a month and a half ago to run for Senate as an independent, is becoming one of the most vocal opponents of offshore drilling since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was destroyed in April, which led to an oil spill that has been characterized as one of the biggest environmental disasters in American history.
Most recently, he appeared on Face The Nation and spoke up for a temporary ban on offshore drilling. “I dare say that, you know, we need this moratorium. Look, if this spew in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico doesn’t tell us that we need to be more cautious and more careful about doing this in the future, I don’t know what else would,” said Crist.
“I mean, you know, we don’t have these rigs off the Florida coast. We are suffering from the one off the Louisiana coast and it troubles me greatly that that’s occurring. That’s why I think this is the greatest wake-up call ever that we need to go to alternative fuel. We need to have cre– cleaner fuel for our people. That’ll create greater independence and stop sending so much money over to the Middle East,” Crist continued.
As the St. Petersburg Times points out, Crist had previously opposed drilling off of Florida’s shores during his 2006 gubernatorial campaign. However, when the Republican Party embraced the “drill, baby, bill” slogan in 2008, the then-Republican Crist quietly backed away from his opposition to drilling. For a period in 2008, he was open to drilling: “We have to be sympathetic to the pocketbooks of Floridians and what they’re paying at the pump for gas and balance that with any way that our state might be able to contribute in terms of resources to have a greater supply and therefore lower prices.”
But in the aftermath of the spill, Crist took back the possibility of supporting offshore drilling. As he said in late April: “Clearly that one isn’t far enough and that’s about 50 to 60 miles out, it’s clearly not clean enough after we saw what we saw today — that’s horrific — and it certainly isn’t safe enough. It’s the opposite of safe.”
And Crist is no longer a Republican. In his more recent moves, Crist has been pushing for a special session of the Republican-held legislature, to put a constitutional amendment on the state’s ballot to permanently ban offshore drilling.
When asked for comment, the campaign of Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek told us: “Charlie Crist stood beside Sarah Palin applauding strongly as the ‘Drill Baby Drill’ chants were repeated over and over again. Charlie Crist’s record is clear – he supported offshore oil drilling, especially when Senator John McCain was considering selecting him to be a vice presidential running mate. Charlie Crist may want to run away from his drilling past, but that past will always following him,” said Adam Sharon, communications director for Kendrick Meek.”
Eric Draper, executive director of the Florida Audobon Society, told TPMDC in an interview that while he has in fact donated to Kendrick Meek, Crist’s independent Senate candidacy has created a big choice for the state’s environmental community. “I’ve known Kendrick for a long time, but you look at Crist, Crist has been a terrific leader on things,” said Draper, who praised Crist’s record on the environment. “And I think it’s causing a lot of both Democrats, which I am, and environmental leaders, of which I am one, to start considering our decision. I do know people who are gonna go with Crist.”
We asked Draper how much he thinks current political events, and Crist’s changing party identity, have affected Crist’s positions? “He’s a very capable politician, and I think he saw the opportunity and he seized it. In Florida, oil drilling has become an issue over the past couple years as there have been attempts to change the line in the Gulf of Mexico and bring it closer to the state,” said Draper. “And Crist for a while appeared to be softening his opposition to oil drilling. I think it was mostly the Republicans, and the Republicans in the legislature, who were beating a drum hard for oil drilling in the Gulf. And when he got kicked out of the party, it gave him a chance to create a significant difference between himself and the rest of the Republican Party in Florida.”
