Maurice Ferre, the first Hispanic elected Mayor of Miami, slammed Gov. Charlie Crist for his belated decision to oppose Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination in a hard-hitting op-ed printed in the Miami Herald today.

Ferre attributes Crist’s delayed reaction to Sotomayor’s nomination to the Governor’s desire to please both primary and general election voters. He writes that Crist’s sudden reversal was prompted by pressure from GOP opponent Marco Rubio and is “a sad commentary on Crist’s political leadership, and a preview of how he would act as a senator.”

The former six-term Mayor lauds Sotomayor’s achievements and her compelling background, before teeing off on Crist’s assertion that he’s been too busy as Governor to take a stand on Sotomayor or any other federal issue, calling it “ludicrous in view of the amount of time he has spent promoting and raising money for his U.S. Senate candidacy.”

Read Ferre’s full op-ed here.