The recent announcement that Florida Governor Charlie Crist, elected as a Republican, would run in the state’s general election for the U. S. Senate as an Independent has caused quite a stir on the political media scene. The reports indicate he is so far behind former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio in the polls seeking the Senate seat as a Republican, that a switch away from the Republican party was necessary to save his political career. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned in the events that contribute to this scenario.

Other political news stories possibly factoring in this controversy include an investigation into abuses in expense spending in the Florida Republican Party.

Several sources have reported that the party spent $7 million on expenses from January 2007 through Feb. 20, 2010. The former state party chairman, Jim Green, selected by Governor Crist to fill that position, charged $500,000 on his American Express credit card during that period. We need to learntwo things from this - if the governor is able to select the chairperson of his or her political party that makes the position of governor more powerful than I realized and if the state political parties can raise enough money over three years that they can spend $7 million in expenses, they don’t need me to contribute my lowly funds.

The Florida Senate situation seems a lot like our situation here in Arkansas in the number of people seeking the position.

The truth is I don’t spend much time listening to news commentators as they try to make news out of every event, political or otherwise. They all seem to talk about the same situation as if they discovered it themselves, and at times they seem to out number the available listeners. By the time they get down to our former GovernorHuckabee there isn’t much new to be said.

My question about this is whether perhaps we are seeing the start of a shift - however slight - away from major party affiliation. Is it possible people, perhaps influenced by the T.E.A. party movement, are starting to object to the influence of the money and pressure of the major parties? Whether we like the individuals are not, the willingness of a successful candidate to go against the will of the party may be a positive influence on the political scene. Connecticut elected Senator Joe Lieberman as an Independent when he couldn’t win their Democratic Primary.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont chose to be an Independent when he ran for seat the held by retiring Senator Jim Jeffords, also listed as an Independent.

(Both Sen. Lieberman and Sen. Sanders are best described as Independent Democrats based on their affiliation with the Democratic Caucus.) And, how about Sen. Lincoln’s television ads expounding on her voting against her ownparty on issues “important to Arkansans”? There must be something to be gained at this point in time if you are an outsider.

The two major political parties may be trying to ignore all this unrest that exists in the heartland of America, but there is no question that when Massachusetts elects a Republican to replace the deceased Sen. Kennedy, we need to watch the political events closely. There just might be more to this frustration under the surface than meets the eye.

We are a long way from November’s general election and the numerous states party primaries could tell us a lot about how the Congressional elections will go.

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Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].

The opinions of the writer are his own, and are not necessarily those of The TIMES.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 05/05/2010