Sparks in Florida: Lawton Chiles's son will sue if they raid fund.

[The Backlash Cometh]

These are the battles that Dems should be prepared to fight.

The son of late Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles is threatening to sue if lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist try to patch up a dreary budget by draining the trust fund for health care that bears Chiles’ name.

Lawton “Bud” Chiles III said Friday in a letter to Crist, Senate President Jeff Atwater and House Speaker Ray Sansom that tapping $1 billion from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund was an "affront to all Floridians," and threatened to "seek full relief in the courts" if they proceed.

The fund was created to pay for children’s health care programs after Chiles’ death a decade ago and funded with a portion of Florida’s $17 billion settlement with tobacco companies – a legal fight Chiles helped lead.

But lawmakers began draining some cash from the fund last spring to balance the state’s sagging budget and authorized the governor to tap the fund again if revenues continued to fall.

Now that the state is facing a $2.1 billion shortfall over the next seven months, Crist’s office and lawmakers have been studying plans to sweep the full $1 billion, possibly in a special session next month.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/