Welcome back to season 2 of My Mayor, the Catalyst series that helps you get to know the person behind the policy. We sat down with each candidate and asked them each the same five questions, with a few follow up questions sprinkled in. For Episode 4, we asked:

  • If you could spend a week shadowing anyone, who would it be? 
  • What’s something you’ve become less certain about as you’ve gotten older? 
  • Tell me about a time you had to choose between being liked and being respected. 
  • What’s a misconception about success that you no longer believe? 
  • What’s a compliment you’ve received that has stayed with you for years? 

Joe: And we are back for the final episode of “My Mayor” before the primaries, and joining me is candidate Charlie Crist. Welcome, sir. And I want to wish you a very happy birthday today. It’s your birthday.

Charlie: Oh, good to be with you, Joe, always. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And you just had yours as well. Happy birthday. Hope it went splendidly.

Joe: It was great. Thank you. So we got five more fun questions for you, and we’ll dive right in. Number one: if you could spend a week shadowing anyone, who would it be?

Charlie: That’s an easy one. It would be my father, Dr. Charles Crist. I always tell people he’s the real Charlie Crist. I’m Charlie Crist, Jr. And he’s my best friend, and I’ve learned so much from my mother and father. Dad is still with us. Mom passed about six months ago, unfortunately. But he’s just a great example and role model to me, always has been, about doing the right thing. And it’s from him I learned the golden rule, Joe: do unto others as you would have done unto you. I think I’ve told you in the past, it’s the name of my 25-foot boat, my center console boat that I go out on Tampa Bay and clear my head when I have the opportunity. Not much lately, but at any rate, those things I learned from my father — about being respectful and decent to others, treating others well. Obviously, he dedicated his life to helping others, and I have too. Him, obviously, in the medical sense, and myself in the public service sense. So I’d have to say my dad, no doubt about it.

Joe: Wonderful. And having experienced such a strong mentor and a strong presence in your life — there are a lot of folks in the community who don’t have that blessing. Is there a role for local government to try to make that situation better, through programs, through supporting nonprofits to do that, or just through general leadership? Is there a place for that sort of work in local government?

Charlie: I think there’s a place for that at every level of government and in every institution in our society, and I like to refer to it, Joe, as leading by example. I’m striving to do that, and have my whole life, and certainly that’s at work in this campaign as it has been in others. And you just try to treat people with mutual respect. When you’re involved in a campaign and you’re the candidate, I think you have a duty to be especially sharp and kind and genuine, and set that example to everybody throughout the campaign. Because there’s an old expression, too, that a fish rots from the head. Well, it can also shine from the head. And if the leader is somebody who is a benevolent, kind, decent human being, I think that example can be utilized for the benefit of children, other citizens within the city — just try to do the right thing. What was it, Spike Lee that did the movie “Do the Right Thing”?

Joe: Yeah.

Charlie: Those words are important. Do the right thing.

Joe: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. What’s something you’ve become less certain about as you’ve gotten older?

Charlie: That’s a good one, and a tough one. But I thought about that kind of question. I think that it’s money. And it’s nice to have money, but it is not what gives me joy. Don’t misunderstand me, Joe. I like to be as comfortable as anybody else, and I enjoy going to a nice restaurant now and again. But it’s other things that really give me joy. It’s your friends around you, your family. These are the most important things, and money is never — it’s never been that important to me. I went to law school. I’m a lawyer. Served as attorney general. But any job that I’ve had, predominantly in the public sector in my adult life, it’s paid okay, but I’m not rich. And but I’m very happy. I couldn’t be happier, because I have a great family and great friends and a great community to live in called St. Petersburg, Florida.

Joe: Wonderful. Tell me about a time you had to choose between being liked and being respected.

Charlie: Well, that’s a pretty easy one. This goes back to my governor days, actually. There was a bill affecting education. This was 2010, approximately. The bill was Senate Bill 6. It became rather infamous. In my view, it hurt teachers. It graded them on a tough scale, which is okay, but it was viewed as pretty punitive, to be honest with you. And I ended up vetoing it. I was a Republican governor at the time, and my party wanted it. They passed it through the legislature. We had the majority. And so I know it upset a lot of folks, some very close friends. But I thought it was the right thing to do. It wasn’t easy to do, but I thought it was the right thing to do, and that’s why I did it. I wanted to help teachers. Two of my three sisters have been public school teachers right here in Pinellas County, in St. Pete. And so I care deeply about school teachers. They’re saints to me.

Joe: Thank you, all the teachers who may see this.

Charlie: Yes. Pay raises for all the teachers.

Joe: So with politics, obviously, like you said — close friends, you have to go a different way on things sometimes, and that is something that you have to deal with in that relationship. Some people are more vindictive and hold onto things than others. Some people are just very pragmatic and can flow between decisions and take some of the personal feelings or animosity out of it. How do you try to present yourself when it comes to knowing that you’re in a long-term situation with a lot of constituents, and that you don’t want to burn bridges and things like that? What’s your philosophy there?

Charlie: Well, that’s a great question. I think it’s just a philosophy of doing unto others. Again — and I don’t mind continuing to go back to the golden rule, but it’s important. It’s a guidepost for me. It really is. And sort of a North Star, if you will. And I try to be due north, good. And I fail many times, but I strive to do that each and every day. And I think it’s important to do that. And if you disagree with somebody, you can disagree with somebody and still have mutual respect. Not everybody’s going to agree with everything you say.

Joe: Right.

Charlie: Not meaning you, but meaning me, for example.

Joe: Yeah, of course.

Charlie: They’re not. And a mature person, I believe, who’s well-grounded and of sober mind, will understand that there are differences between we human beings —

Joe: Yeah.

Charlie: — and that it’s okay. People have a right to their own opinion, and we should all respect it. We’re the kind of country that believes in individual rights and individual freedom, and I thank God for America.

Joe: Nice. What’s a misconception about success that you no longer believe?

Charlie: Misconception. Well, I’ll tell you, having run for several offices, obviously — and I didn’t win all of them, that’s fairly clear. The losses, I think, are something that you learn more from than the victories, as strange as that might sound. But I think what happens, at least this is true for me — the losses you sort of overanalyze, because you’re anguished. You didn’t win. It’s like losing a football game, as I did when I played high school and at Wake Forest for a couple of years. But it’s the kind of thing where you do analyze the losses. Like, what could I have done differently in order to achieve a victory, whether it was in football when I was a quarterback, or as a candidate in a political race. And so I think that you learn a lot more from the losses. And you probably think that, well, losing doesn’t have any value. It does, and it’s hard to lose, but you have to lose with grace, in my view. And not let it get you angry or depressed or upset. Keep your spirit up. And that’s where something we talked about earlier — good family, good friends, good community — can keep you buoyed up and not let you get down. And that’s why family and friends are so important to me.

Joe: I’d imagine that when you lose, sometimes it feels like the dominant reason you could attribute to the loss is the right messaging, or sort of a lucky thing that gets trending. We were talking earlier about John Kerry with the swift boat captain type of thing. People throw a lot of stuff out there, and that one kind of stuck, and it did damage in some of his changing positions and stuff. But it was a narrative — a narrative that was somewhat disconnected, potentially, from him as a person, and that narrative was significant enough to maybe cost him the campaign. So do you come out of losses feeling like it was more a narrative battle, or a true choice? Does it feel just when you lose, or does it feel more like a tactical loss? If that makes sense.

Charlie: Great question. It’s always a disappointment, I’ll start with that. And it’s never easy. And some of them are close. I lost one governor’s race by literally one point. Congratulations to Governor Scott. He’s the one who beat me by a point. But at any rate, I think that you just have to stay focused on what’s next, and where you want to go, and what you’re striving to achieve in life. Be focused on that. And the loss, at the end of the day, is not the end of the world — especially if you’re a never-give-up person like I obviously am. I continue to run because I love public service, and I love it because you get the opportunity to help so many people and lift them, whether they’re teachers or police officers or whatever their endeavor in life might be, by doing something that helps them out. By reducing their property taxes, for example. That’s part of our platform in this race. And giving people an opportunity to have more of their own hard-earned money is a joyful experience. And there’s a lot of ways you can come back from losses and not let the defeat make you lose forever.

Joe: Wonderful. And you enjoying the new HQ there? You’re all set up and —

Charlie: Yeah. It’s wonderful. Yeah, I am enjoying it. We have a wonderful contributor who was generous to help us out with that. And yeah, it’s a great spot. It’s on Martin Luther King Street, and about Second Avenue North in St. Pete, of course. The one thing that’s really cool about it — it’s about a two-story building. And the one outside wall that faces north, so if you’re coming south on Ninth Street or MLK —

Joe: Mm-hmm.

Charlie: — you see it. It’s a giant American flag. The whole wall. It’s huge. It’s beautiful. I love it. It’s great.

Joe: Wonderful. As always, appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions, and good luck in the primary.

Charlie: Thank you, Joe. I appreciate it very much. Again, happy birthday, and have a wonderful afternoon. Good to be with you all.