WEEKLY ROUNDUP- CRIST: LABOR OF LOVE OR UNION BUST?

 (Recap and analysis of the week in state government and politics)

 By DAVID ROYSE

 THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

 THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 21, 2010......Weird.

 Nothing in Florida felt right this week.

 The big glob of oil was still floating out there somewhere in the Gulf, headed either for Pensacola, the Keys, Miami or maybe nowhere, and even though the beaches still look the same as they did last week, still all sugary and white, the Panhandle beach motels were eerily empty as the tourist season was about to start, the charter fishing boats idled and moored.

 In politics, the guy the Republican Party nominated for governor just about four years ago was talking about vetoing a measure sought by abortion opponents and stumping at a union convention like some left-winger. By the end of the week, the governor may have even been wearing an AFL-CIO T-shirt that he bought from a guy in a hotel lobby.

 Meanwhile, the state's teachers union, the Florida Education Association, whipping boys of the Republican Party second probably only to the trial bar, was also toying with the idea of throwing the Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist a bone. He vetoed a teacher merit pay bill despised by the union this year, and that certainly didn't go unnoticed.

 What's next, good economic news?

 Well, yes.

 On Friday, we heard something we haven't heard since 2006 - and it wasn't Jennifer Lopez singing. It was the phrase “Unemployment is down.”

 Florida's jobless rate dropped in March to 12 percent from 12.3 percent, the first time since that long-ago era when J-Lo was on the charts, Florida had a Republican governor and every carpenter and roofer in the state was backlogged and looking for help. Of course back in 2006, when the unemployment rate fell, it went from 3.4 percent to 3.3 percent - quite a difference four years makes.

 Still, economists said the drop could signal a turn-around, though they were hardly giddy, and in fact a little cautious. No one is arguing happy days are here again, really, though the University of Florida did report this week that consumer confidence in the state also creeped up a bit last month.

 Cue the scary birds flying overhead in some sort of foreshadowing of a bad event. Everything feels just a little off kilter.

 So Crist, who if you missed a couple of weeks of reading the Roundup you may think is a Republican, has lost so many GOP votes he's trying to steal votes from Democrats.

 Each day, Crist, who earlier this month dropped his party affiliation, seems to shake off another shackle of the Republican chains that bound him to that Grand Old Party. Crist acknowledged this week that he feels liberated (some might say liberal-ated) and better able to pursue policy positions that best represent what “the people” want. This week, the people Crist was trying to represent was the union people.

 OBVIOUSLY NOT A CLOSED SHOP

 A Republican hasn't talked favorably about the union since Abraham Lincoln - but Crist, is no longer a Republican, so he felt free this week to head over to the AFL-CIO's nominating conference and ask - grovel might not be too strong a word - for the support of the longshoremen, electricians, hotel workers and other union workers who typically vote pretty much in line with the Democratic Party.

 “I am asking for your help,” Crist said at the union umbrella group's endorsement conference - an appearance never made by the last GOP governor, Jeb Bush, who would have been about as popular there as a picket-crossing scab. Crist not only asked for the group's endorsement - he bought a T-shirt. Union made, likely.

 Hard to say how all this works out for Kendrick Meek - who was pro-union when pro-union wasn't so cool. But if polling shows Meek is having trouble getting his message out, and Crist continues his remarkable ability to be interesting enough to get all the press coverage, Meek may have to file a grievance.

 As for Crist's political positions, he sent signals this week that he's uncomfortable with a bill he's waiting for the Legislature to send him that would require some women to hear a description of an ultrasound before she can have an abortion.

 And late in the week he also hinted that he could break with the GOP on the “card check” issue and support legislation that would help unions get members, but is opposed by Republicans who say it would take away the secret ballot.

 Don't get the impression that the governor's move to the center-left means he's lost power - he continued to flex his lame duck muscles this week saying he may veto several line items in a budget that he says is now a little bloated, coming in bigger at $70 billion than the one he suggested. Those spendthrift Republicans.

 LEGISLATURE A BIT STANDOFF-ISH

 Lawmkers meanwhile are in a staring contest with the governor, with many Republicans saying they don't think they need to come back to Tallahassee, as Crist has suggested, to constitutionally ban oil drilling or to pass alternative energy legislation the governor wants. Crist had suggested earlier this month he would like to bring lawmakers back before Memorial Day, but had to acknowledge this week that negotiations continue and they won't be returning until at least after the holiday.

 Some cynics were left to wonder if it might be better for Crist's purposes to have them here as oil starts coming ashore to make the point that a ban is needed. The spill wasn't cooperating, though, as the currents and winds combined to keep it outside of Florida as much as a former Republican party official on expense account.

 But also being kept away from Florida's northern beaches were the people who usually start showing up about now. Vacations turned into staycations, just as the tourism industry was thinking things were looking up economically.

 The state and BP - hoping to be known as Beach Protector, not Beach Polluter - moved this week to do something about that, with the oil company earmarking $25 million for an ad campaign that shows that all is still well with our beaches here.

 That followed a visit to the Capitol this week by BP Chairman Tony Hayward, who met with Crist and said essentially, “we're doing what we can.”

 PSC

 Speaking of energy, two outspoken public service commissioners said this week they'll muster the energy to put themselves through the reapplication process, even with signs they may have an uphill fight.

 That's particularly the case for Nancy Argenziano, who despite being a former senator, acknowledged this week that her maverickyness (thanks Sarah Palin) will likely keep her from being reconfirmed. Argenziano, in fine form however, said she'll reapply anyway and make them kick her off.

 Also reapplying will be Commissioner Nathan Skop who said he has the experience needed to keep some continuity on the panel, which just lost two other members in a confirmation fight.

 PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEES PRESUMPTIVE

 Here's another thing that happened this week that was kind of strange. The words “presumptive nominee” stopped showing up in front of the words Bill McCollum and Alex Sink.

 In a blast from the past, Lawton Chiles III, the son of the late governor, started belatedly throwing his name around as a likely candidate for governor on the Democrat side, telling the AP that he was all but in, and complaining about Sink's sinking campaign. Chiles may be a bit late to the party, but the name recognition would certainly bolster him and make a primary interesting.

 On the Republican side, gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott was on TV more than that Bristish gecko selling car insurance. For McCollum, it looked a month ago that winning the Republican nomination would be so easy a caveman could do it, but there was millionaire Scott, coming on at 8:08:40, 8:15:20, 8:32:19, and 8:58:58 during the show 24 and creeping into the polling.

 Scott v. Chiles may be a longshot, but then if you'd said a year ago that the AFL-CIO and the state's teachers union would be entertaining the thought of endorsing Charlie Crist, well.....

 STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Charlie Crist goes looking for union votes while everyone keeps waiting to see what will happen with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

 QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I'm here.” Gov. Charlie Crist stating the obvious - but also the most newsworthy thing about a governor elected as a Republican showing up at Friday's AFL-CIO nominating conference.