Who will Charlie Crist pick to replace Mel Martinez?

By 1Sky summer intern Pier LaFarge. -- Luis

This Friday, Florida Senator Mel Martinez surprised the Senate by announcing his intention to resign his seat, effective immediately. We’ve known for a while that Sen. Martinez was planning to resign at the end of his term in 2011, but with more than a year left in the Senate, the announcement came as something of a shock.

Sen. Martinez is a well-liked Senator on both sides of the aisle, and is generally seen as a potential Republican swing vote on climate. But here’s the kicker: under Florida law, the man responsible for appointing his replacement in the fall will be Charlie Crist, the Republican Governor of Florida who has officially announced his own candidacy for the seat.

Technically, Gov. Crist would be allowed to appoint himself, but it is pretty clear that this isn’t going to happen. Crist has raised $4.2 million in the first seven weeks of his campaign, and is seen as a strong frontrunner in the 2010 election. That means that Gov. Crist is likely to appoint a placeholder to serve out Sen. Martinez’s remaining year in the Senate rather than taking the risk of appointing himself and angering Floridians. Plus, he’s a moderate Republican himself, and this year will present some extremely tough votes on health care and climate.

So, who will he pick and how will he make the decision? If there is a chance that Gov. Crist will pick someone sympathetic to climate, the evidence will be in his own record on the issue. Despite some recent pressure from the GOP to tamp down his efforts on climate and energy, Governor Crist has actually been quite progressive. In 2007, Crist signed three executive orders calling for a reduction in Florida’s greenhouse gas emissions, improved energy efficiency and increased investment in renewable energy. In 2008, he supported and signed legislation that called for the creation of a statewide cap-and-trade system and established the Florida Energy & Climate Commission, a body tasked with coordinating Florida’s efforts to grow its clean energy economy, bring green jobs to the state and cut emissions.

During a visit to a solar panel manufacturing company, Gov. Crist said,

Florida is truly seeing the ‘gold in green.' We are thankful for projects that are furthering economic development and creating green jobs here in the Sunshine State. Continuing our commitment to a clean, diverse and secure energy future, as well as investing in alternative and renewable energy technologies, will help protect our state for generations to come.

That’s pretty strong rhetoric for a Republican Governor, at least one that hasn’t played a homicidal robot from the future. His record makes it pretty clear that Gov. Crist wouldn’t be against appointing someone that would be a swing vote on climate. Of course, in politics, personal convictions don’t always have the last say. Gov. Crist will want to make sure that he doesn’t appoint a candidate that turns out to be too liberal, energizing his more conservative 2010 Republican primary opponent. Nor would he want to replace the moderate Martinez with a conservative, risking a backlash from Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Still, as the drama unfolds and speculation runs rampant over who Gov. Crist will drag out of the depths of Florida’s Republican Party to replace Sen. Martinez, it is important to understand his record on the issue. I just hope he bases his decision on his own actions as Governor, and gives our nation a better shot at achieving the same clean energy future that he envisions for Florida.