Big contrast between Crist and DeSantis on cost-of-living issues

TALLAHASSEE — Charlie Crist's one term as governor of Florida was defined by many of the same affordability problems that Gov. Ron DeSantis is now facing.

Property insurance premiums spiked after eight hurricanes hit the state from 2004 to 2005. The housing market initially was booming during Crist's governorship from 2007 to 2011, driving up the cost of homes and property taxes. Electric utilities were moving to raise rates.

Crist — then a Republican, now a Democrat — ran a populist campaign pledging to hold consumer costs down. He famously said taxes would "drop like a rock," even holding up a rock at one event to illustrate his point. He also talked tough about reining in insurance companies and electric utilities.

What happened during those years — especially his record on property insurance — is now coming under scrutiny as Crist runs for governor again and Florida faces another cost-of-living crisis, one that will only worsen after Hurricane Ian slammed the state's already fragile property insurance industry and affordable housing stock.

Crist has made affordability concerns the central theme of his campaign. He is accusing DeSantis of not doing enough to help consumers, and touting his own policies as governor as the better approach.

DeSantis has fired back, implying Crist's governorship led to the current property insurance woes.

Crist convened a special legislative session to address property insurance in 2007, something DeSantis also did this year. In the lead-up to the special session, Crist did something unusual for a Republican lawmaker in Florida: He bashed big insurers, taking both State Farm and Allstate to task.

"Big insurance has a new day coming," Crist said, accusing the insurers of "profiteering on the backs of Floridians at a time of need."

Prodded by Crist, lawmakers agreed to a series of reforms.

They expanded the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which sells cheap reinsurance to all of the state's property insurers, allowing companies to hold down prices by limiting the cost of hedging against a major hurricane. And they froze rates at state-run Citizens Property Insurance while authorizing the company to write more types of policies.

Crist also issued an emergency order to temporarily freeze all insurers' rates until the legislation took effect, and he later vetoed a number of property insurance bills that he said were anti-consumer.

Crist's approach did result in a decrease in home insurance premiums.

The average cost of property insurance for a home worth $300,000 was $1,534 when Crist took office in 2007, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute. It dropped to $1,390 in 2008, a 9.4% decrease.

Property insurance premiums have risen 11 out of the last 15 years, often by double digits. The 9.4% drop in premiums in 2008 is the largest decrease during that time period.

Yet there's a lot of debate about Crist's insurance policies.

Insurance companies and free-market proponents fiercely resisted the reforms. State Farm famously threatened to leave the state and, along with other large companies, ended up dumping some policies. Many of those canceled policyholders ended up in Citizens.

Even some Democrats have since criticized Crist's insurance strategy.

"He actually destroyed the insurance marketplace," said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only Democrat elected statewide, in an interview with USA Today Network-Florida during her primary race against Crist, whom she has since endorsed. "What he did was a lot of our insurance carriers left the state, which caused Citizens' policy numbers to go through the roof ... he did a policy position that actually hurt the marketplace and ultimately hurt the consumers."

Fried's comments have been echoed by many Republicans, including DeSantis, and insurance industry leaders over the years.

Asked by a CNN reporter about the state's insurance woes during a recent appearance in Arcadia to assess Ian's flood damage, DeSantis said that one of the big reasons the insurance market is struggling is that "15 years ago they drove all the insurers out, all the big ones out." DeSantis didn't name him, but seemed to be taking a jab at Crist.

Yet big companies like State Farm never left Florida, despite their complaints about Crist's policies.

According to insurer rating firm AM Best, State Farm currently has the third-largest market share in the Florida homeowners market as measured by written premiums, right behind Citizens. Progressive — another national insurance giant — is fifth on the Florida market share list.

"It's 2022, stop trying to blame Charlie for a special session he called" in 2007, said Sean Shaw, the state's former insurance consumer advocate and a former Democratic state representative who is backing Crist. "That doesn't pass the smell test. It's clear rates went down when he was governor and now rates have gone up."

Property insurance isn't the only pocketbook issue that Crist dealt with as governor.

A massive real estate boom led to an affordable housing crisis, which Crist responded to by cutting property taxes. That issue fell by the wayside, though, as the Great Recession set in and housing costs plummeted.

Electric utility prices also were a concern.

Power companies were gearing up to raise rates, which Crist opposed. He appointed four members to the state Public Service Commission, which approves utility rates, who were seen as more consumer-friendly.

All four of Crist's appointees voted to deny rate hikes for Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy.

Nancy Argenziano, a former Republican state senator whom Crist appointed to the PSC, said the former governor never told her how to vote, only that he knew she'd "be fair."

"Charlie has always been more on the side of the consumers," Argenziano said in a recent interview. "Was he perfect? No, but he was more concerned about the consumers getting a fair shake than any Republican I ever worked with."

After voting to deny the rate hikes, all four of Crist's PSC appointees were promptly booted off the commission. The state Senate declined to confirm two of them, and the PSC Nominating Council decided not to consider Argenziano and another commissioner for reappointment, moves that were seen as the utilities flexing their muscle to overrule Crist.