Marathon Pundit: Charlie's sorry drift on EFCA

I can't think of a single Republican who supports the so-called Employee Free Choice Act. If passed it will, among other things, replace workers' rights to a secret ballot with a free-to-peek petition sign-up called card check. A union member, perhaps your boss, might hand you that petition. The opportunities for intimidation are obvious.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who was a Republican until a few weeks ago, is now running for an open US Senate seat as an independent--because conservative GOPer Marco Rubio would have knocked the snot out of him in the upcoming Republican primary.

At 12 percent, the Sunshine State's unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation. Florida needs jobs--and EFCA will mean fewer of them.

Other than for himself, I don't think Crist stand for anything. The Florida Times-Union was there when Crist was caught shifting on that odious bill.

Gov. Charlie Crist took six questions from the crowd at the AFL-CIO conference in Jacksonville Friday. Two of them were about the Employee Free Choice Act, which Crist could be voting on if he's elected to the U.S. Senate.

The bill has been somewhat of a lightning rod between Republicans and Democrats. It would help workplaces unionize, but there have been some worker privacy concerns and over-arching concerns about what unionization could do to businesses.

Crist didn't give a hard answer but he said he'd meet with union officials to learn more. That netted some applause.

Everybody should have the right to have an opportunity to be able to organize. How, and the direct means by which, we do that is something we need to dialogue about, candidly. I want to make sure we do it the right way. I am here.

Rubio's campaign responded quickly:

Floridians have a right to know where Charlie Crist stands on critical issues like ensuring that workers keep their right to a secret ballot. Unfortunately, in his effort to say and do anything to win an election, Charlie Crist would rather say nothing than take a position. Floridians deserve principled leadership, not a typical politician who doesn’t think they deserve straight answers,” said Rubio for Senate spokesman Alex Burgos.