By Catherine Dolinski, The Tampa Tribune
TALLAHASSEE - The son of the late former Gov. Lawton Chiles has decided against suing the state for draining $700 million from a public fund that bears his father's name.
Bud Chiles slammed Gov. Charlie Crist and lawmakers for emptying the $1.26-billion Lawton Chiles Endowment fund of more than half of its assets on Monday – calling it "sleight of hand leadership" that takes the public "trust" out of trust funds. But after threatening legal action for months, the younger Chiles said he no longer believes that he could prevail in a lawsuit over the action.
Created in 1999 with tobacco settlement money, the fund supports health and education services for children and the elderly. Lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist decided in January to take $700 million from the fund this month to stave off a deficit this fiscal year.
"It probably is legal," Chiles said. "It certainly doesn't make it right."
He cited language in a bill passed in January that created a six-month window during which the state could transfer up to $700 million from the fund. Chiles complained that the language was inserted "surreptitiously," by a "scribe" acting in the "dark of night."
Nonsense, said Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, who said that Chiles' description was a "political characterization of what happened. The proposal to take the money was well-known among lawmakers, he said, and the lawmakers waited three days before voting on the final version.
But Alexander also said he shared Chiles' concerns about the fund and its future. State law requires the state to repay the money eventually, but with Crist running for U.S. Senate and lawmakers facing eight-year term limits, Chiles complained Monday that no one will be accountable.
Alexander said repaying the fund is a high priority for him during his remaining time in office, though that will end in three years.
Told of Chiles' criticism, spokeswoman Erin Isaac responded, "The children of Florida need help now."
It's been a tough year in more than one sense for the Chiles fund, which dropped in value from $2 billion by about half last year due to the turmoil raging on Wall Street. The $700 million withdrawal that lawmakers authorized in January follows their decision in spring 2008 to take about $300 million from the fund to shore up threatened health care programs.
The Chiles fund is now expected to pay out only $18 million in 2009-10, compared with the $55 million it paid out in 2008-09, according to the state Board of Administration.
Chiles, who also threatened to remove his father's name from the fund, said his family has decided against resorting to that. Instead, he is leading Worst to First, a grassroots movement to pressure the state for greater support of education, health care and other services that children need.
This is a battle we've lost on the endowment," he said, "but we're convinced we can win the war."