Crist votes by proxy in Congress. But he manages to campaign for governor in person | Editorial

U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist has taken “working from home” during the COVID-19 pandemic to a new level.

Or, to use plain English, Crist has been phoning into work in Congress while he runs for Florida governor. While the U.S. House took votes on things like suspending normal trade relations with Russia, the Democrat was present only in spirit — or “by proxy,” to use the technical term.

The Herald reported this week that Crist ranks sixth among members of the House who have most used a pandemic rule that allows them to designate someone else to cast a vote on their behalf. Speaker Nancy Pelosi instituted the rule as an emergency measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Crist voted by proxy 107 times between January and April 7.

In a April 26 letter to the House clerk, Crist wrote he wouldn’t vote in person “due to the ongoing public health emergency.” But in February, Crist himself penned a column for the Sun Sentinel, titled “It’s time to move past COVID.” He wrote: “Finally, it’s time to get back to normal.”

Normal, we assume, would include showing up to work while taxpayers pay you an annual salary of $174,000.

On the day of the vote on Russia on March 17, Crist campaigned at a Pinellas County Democratic Party meeting, according to the online publication The Dispatch. In photos his campaign posted on Twitter, he’s seen not wearing a mask. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz cast a vote on his behalf.

Crist faces Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Miami state Sen. Annette Taddeo in the Democratic primary. The winner will challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis in November.

Not the only one

Crist is not the only member of Congress to use the proxy rule. Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson of North Florida has not cast a single vote in person this year and ranks first in the state delegation for using proxy voting, the Herald reported. Miami’s U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, also a Democrat, cast 101 proxy votes from January to April 7.

This is not the first time members of Congress running for another office showed less than full enthusiasm for some of their duties. Former President Barack Obama missed 24.2% of votes in his brief Senate career. Florida’s U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio had the worst absentee rate among senators running for president in 2016, missing 41% of votes between March 2015 and March 2016, PolitiFact reported.

Last year, Rubio, who’s running for re-election, came under Democratic criticism for missing 14 Senate hearings in a period of two months. Many of his absences were part of a GOP boycott of the Small Business Committee or a pledge to not vote for any of President Biden’s State Department nominees, the Orlando Sentinel reported. But protest absences are not a luxury most of his constituents have.

Crist’s campaign told the Herald, “The proxy offers a great way to ensure his constituents’ voices continue to be heard on legislation under consideration in Congress.” In-person voting in a gridlock Congress isn’t the only responsibility of House members, whose work also include constituent services and other forms of advocacy.

But when voters send representatives to Congress, they expect them to actually be in Congress as often as possible. Crist is either worried about the pandemic that he can’t show up for in-person votes, as he told the House, or he believes his own words that “it’s time to get back to normal.”

This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 12:55 PM.