Published: Friday, Jan. 09, 2009

Updated: Friday, Jan. 09, 2009

Crist promises to pay back Chiles fund

Critics want promise written into budget bill

While Gov. Charlie Crist will not back off his plan to take $600 million from the Lawton Chiles Endowment to plug the state’s budget deficit, he has agreed to pay back the money with the first payment of the anticipated federal stimulus package, according to attorney Steve Yerrid of Tampa, who met Crist on Thursday afternoon.

“Gov. Crist agreed it was vitally important to save the Chiles Endowment; that’s a first,” said Yerrid. “Second, he agreed to immediately appoint new members to the advisory council that oversees the fund. That council no longer exists because members’ terms were allowed to expire without new appointments being made in 2005 under Gov. Jeb Bush.

While some House and Senate members agree the Chiles fund should be used to help balance the budget, they differ on the amount that should be withdrawn. The Senate calls for a $700 million transfer from the fund, which has just $1.1 billion left in it to fund services for children and seniors. The House plan would take $400 million from the Chiles fund, but could take $600 million more to reimburse the budget stabilization fund. Both chambers seek to transfer the Chiles money in June and would reimburse the fund with federal bailout money expected from Congress.

Crist told Yerrid he is confident that Congress will pass an economic stimulus package that will help Florida, and the first dollar that comes to Florida will be put back into the endowment to repay the millions withdrawn.

“Those are major concessions,” Yerrid said. But he wants those promises in writing. “I’ve learned over the years that promises from politicians are not very bankable,” said Yerrid, who was involved in original negotiations about the fund with legislators and Gov. Jeb Bush.

The Tampa attorney and member of the legal team that got an $11.3 billion settlement from tobacco companies in 1997, which helped create the endowment, met with the Democratic House caucus as well, urging them to make sure the governor’s promises are inserted into the final budget bill.

Lawton “Bud” Chiles III, son of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, accompanied Yerrid on his visits with lawmakers in Tallahassee, said Bernie Campbell, spokesman for the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund petition drive to stop lawmakers from dipping into the fund.

“There is a deep well of concern,” said Campbell. “This fund was put together in perpetuity to look at long-term needs of children and the elderly. It was a dedicated fund that was supposed to be protected.”

Thousands of people have signed petitions circulated online by the fund, Campbell said.

“Especially now in these hard times, we cannot afford to cripple the fund and endanger those it serves,” the petition reads. “Selling the fund’s assets now at dramatic losses would make it almost impossible for the fund to survive. Florida needs long-term solutions to the budget crisis, not shortsighted stop-gap measures.”