By Don Germaise

Covering the State House is certainly different now that Charlie Crist is Governor. I always had great rapport with Jeb Bush, and when reporters crowded Jeb for an interview, he always stopped in front of me, so we got a great camera angle. With Crist in office, it’s a little different. With Crist, I need to work on time management skills!

Last Thursday morning, while I was covering the special session in Tallahassee, my cell phone rang. It was Crist’s aide offering me a one-on-one interview with the Governor at 9:45. I was already committed to another interview then, and told the aide I couldn’t make it. He responded, “Don’t worry. Whenever you get here is fine.”

I showed up at the Governor’s Capitol Office around 10:30 and watched as a group of six or seven capitol beat reporters left. They had spoken to Crist at an impromptu Press Conference. All of a sudden I hear someone shout, “GERMAISE!” It was our Governor.  He greeted me warmly and then walked me back to his office for an interview. The Governor spent about three minutes in interview mode. We talked about the special session, PIP and property tax reform. Apparently, that wasn’t all Crist had on his mind.

We then spent more time talking about the Bulls, the Bucs, my daughter, the price of toothpaste (I’m not kidding about that), the hotel we stayed at, grocery shopping, which of us is the most frugal, civics, politics, and how fun it is to live in Tampa Bay.  It was so congenial, I felt like if it was after 5:30, he’d have offered me a beer! That’s the kind of Governor Charlie Crist is. At least so far.

We got so tied up shooting the breeze, I didn’t get out of his office until close to 11:00 and I almost missed my noon live shot! Can you imagine explaining to the boss, I missed my noon live shot because I was having a gab fest with the Governor? Time management, baby!