Victor Crist says ‘Taj Mahal’ not his fault — blames Marco Rubio

Victor Crist, Republican running for Hillsborough County clerk of court, thinks he has a great answer to anyone who criticizes his role in a 14-year-old scandal — the “Taj Mahal” courthouse in Tallahassee.

In response to a question on the subject at a recent Tampa Tiger Bay Club forum, he blamed Marco Rubio, along with Charlie Crist.

“I did not construct it, I did not design it, that was Charlie Crist, (then) the Governor, and that was Marco Rubio, (then) Speaker of the House,” Victor said.

Crist said he merely found financing for the building in his role as Chair of the state Senate Justice Appropriations Committee at the time.

The opulent, $60 million Tallahassee headquarters for the state’s 1st District Court of Appeals caused a statewide scandal when the late Lucy Morgan of the Tampa Bay Times exposed it in 2010 after construction had already started.

Crist said the financing plan he devised funded it “without a single taxpayer dollar.”

That’s questionable, according to Morgan’s reporting.

But Crist said the question he was asked at the Tiger Bay meeting was intended to be antagonistic, but that his answer “rocked it … hit the damn ball right out of the Field.”

What’s not disputed: On the last day of the 2007 Legislative Session, a time when action in the Legislature is always chaotic and confusing, Crist added a last-minute amendment to a 142-page transportation bill authorizing the court system to float a $33.5 million bond issue for the building. Several legislators said they were unaware of the measure when they voted.

Morgan documented the luxuries the judges demanded in the building: 60-inch TVs and private kitchens and bathrooms in each judge’s chambers; extensive use of mahogany paneling, granite countertops, and etched glass; a costly dome and columned front; and expensive art.

At the time, underfunded court systems statewide were laying off employees and dealing with deteriorating facilities, including a plague of mice in the Tampa courthouse and layoffs in the Hillsborough clerk’s office.

But two politically connected judges on the appeals court – one a former Victor Crist staffer – lobbied heavily for months for the expensive design and accouterments.

Crist said the new building provided space for records storage, for which the state had previously paid $300,000 a year in rent, which he said covered the debt service on the bonds.

At the time, Morgan reported that Crist told her he put the amendment on the bill at the request of then-Senate President Ken Pruitt. Pruitt denied that, but Morgan reported that Rubio and Pruitt had made their approval clear, and legislators could not go against the will of the Senate president and House speaker.

But she also reported that judges who wanted the building listed Crist as one of several legislators who were “especially helpful” in getting money for the building, and that until the scandal broke, the judges had planned to name Crist on a plaque in the building for his efforts.

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This story has been updated to reflect new information.