Charlie Crist Appoints Owner of Lewd Nightclub to Regulate Public Utilities

From the DSCC:

As Charlie Crist races around the country fundraising for his Senate campaign, he seems to have forgotten that he still has a job to do – govern the fourth largest state in the country. According to a new report from the Miami Herald, Crist is demanding that the Florida Public Service Commission postpone a key ruling until his two new appointees to the Commission take office. However, Crist has been under serious fire for his latest appointment of Steve Stevens to the Commission. Not only does Stevens own a racy nightclub that hosts “dominatrix night” and “lingerie fantasy fests,” but Stevens actually fudged on his initial application to the Commission. According to the Palm Beach Post, Crist said that Stevens had been working at the Escambia County Sheriff’s office during a time period when in fact he did not. After hearing all the criticism of his appointee, Crist has done nothing to silence the questions about his lack of judgment as he continues to say that Stevens is the right man for the job. Crist’s highly controversial appointment of Steve Stevens to the PSC and now his demands that the PSC wait until his appointee takes office to make a key decision calls into serious doubt Crist’s judgment and ability to lead.

“After a full search and vet, the best Charlie Crist can come up with is the owner of a girls gone wild club, Steve Stevons,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Eric Schultz. “The latest controversy over Crist’s appointee to the PSC just underscores what many have known all along – Charlie Crist shows a stunning lack of good judgment. With Crist perennially preferring to focus on his campaign, maybe he ought to focus on his current responsibilities to the state of Florida.

This latest episode is hardly the first time that Crist has come under fire for placing his own political ambitions before the job he was elected to do. As the unemployment rate in Florida continues to go up, the foreclosure crisis continues, and the population of the state actually shrinks, Crist continues to shrug off criticism while he flies around the country to raise money. Several weekends ago, Crist was in Michigan speaking to a group of national Republicans in what is largely viewed as an audition for 2012 presidential candidates. Crist told the audience that Michigan should look to Florida for guidance on how to fix a slumping economy. This resulted in a brutal Orlando Sentinel column lambasting Crist for his handling of the Florida economy. Crist was also taken to task in a St. Petersburg Times column, which chastised him over the way he has been mis-governing Florida.

Charlie Crist was recently panned by nearly every major Florida editorial board over his appointment of his right-hand man George LeMieux to the Senate back in August. Crist was the subject of eight brutal editorials penned by Florida newspapers outraged over Crist’s appointment of LeMieux. The Pensacola News Journal accused Crist of cronyism, the Florida Sun Sentinel wrote that Crist “made the wrong pick at this critical juncture,” the Orlando Sentinel said “it’s all about Mr. Crist,” and finally, the St. Petersburg Times wrote that Crist “made a self-serving choice.”