Govenor Charlie Crist has made his choice to replace Senator Mel Martinez, who is resigning.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced Friday he will appoint George LeMieux, his former chief of staff, to succeed Sen. Mel Martinez after the Republican incumbent resigns his seat in early September.

LeMieux, who ran Crist’s successful 2006 campaign for governor, currently serves as the chairman of the law firm Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, which has offices in major cities across Florida.

I don’t know anything about LeMieux, but I’ll be looking. If you know anything about the appointee, please leave a comment.

I hope, and will be working to ensure, that Marco Rubio will be replacing LeMieux in 2010. You can follow @MarcoRubio on Twitter. For anyone in the Lakeland area of Central Florida, Rubio will be speaking at a luncheon in Lakeland on September 2nd. I will be there. Will you?

UPDATE: LeMieux is reported to have remarked that he, “is a Charlie Crist Republican” following the announcement of his appointment. Well that’s not good news.

UPDATE II: Rubio calls the choice “disappointing.”

“This is a disappointing pick for Florida. George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor’s best friend, but that doesn’t make him the right choice to represent Florida in the Senate. Governor Crist had a wealth of consistent and principled conservative candidates to choose from, all of whom would have been a reliable check and balance on the excesses of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda.”

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