CRIST, FLORIDA GOP DIFFER ON HOW TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

You can hear the social conservatives raising their voices in disgust this morning after reading Joe Follick's piece for the New York Times Florida Newspaper Group. In it, Follick notes that Governor Charlie Crist has said that the Republican Party of Florida should not contribute any funds to the group Florida4Marriage.org and it's efforts to place a constitutional amendment ban on gay marriage on the ballot next November.

The FPOF was the largest contributor to the effort, providing $300,000 to the campaign which failed to get the measure on last year's ballot.

While party chairman Jim Greer said Monday that the state GOP would continue to support the amendment, the governor replied that the party should spend it's resources on other things, "like elections, for example. I think that the people care about issues like insurance premiums, they care about property taxes, they care about public safety. And I think it's important that not only those of us in government, but the party focus on those issues, too." Asked later whether he thought voters should decide the matter next year, he avoided a direct answer.

"We only have so much time and we have to prioritize what we put our energy into," he said.

While Crist has voiced the opinion during last year's election campaign that he supported gay civil unions, he also signed the Florida4Marriage petition.