Governor Charlie Crist on Thursday hammered the budget proposed by the Republican-dominated state Legislature, saying that it is packed with last-minute deals just like in the days of Ray Sansom, the former House speaker. Sansom who currently faces criminal charges, had directed $6 million of tax payer dollars toward constructing an airport hanger for a frequent Republican party contributor and friend.
Crist told the Sun-Sentinel that the budget he proposed earlier this year was $69 billion, while the one passed by state legislators is $1 billion more at $70.4 billion.
Jerry McDaniel, Crist’s budget chief is going through the budget with a fine tooth comb with the view to having his boss veto any last-minute pork that was put it.
“They added over $1 billion over what I recommended — and they said that was too high – and a lot of it was added at the end,” Crist said. “Hundreds of millions flowing in. With Ray Sansom, that’s how it happened. There wasn’t a good vetting process. It’s rushed and hurried. I will take a very jaundiced eye to any of those (spending items) that came in during the closing days of the session.”
Crist also told the Sun-Sentinel he is trying to find a way to veto a $160-million raid on the state’s road-building program. Legislators linked the resources from the transportation fund to education spending, making it difficult for Crist to veto it without cutting classrooms. Crist said his lawyers are looking for a way to “decouple” the two.
“I would like to veto it,” Crist said of the raid on road funding. “I know we need roads. I am concerned about the cleverness of how they attached it to education, and I’m sure that wasn’t accidental. Our general counsel’s office is trying to see if there might be a way to decouple those (using) a line-item veto procedure.”
Crist has until May 28 to sign off on the budget.
