Is Crist circumventing Florida law on judicial appointments?

Although I think he's a rather genial guy (I've found that to be the case on Twitter, at least), I usually would be loath to agree with U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R-West Miami) on most any issue, except maybe whether to have steak or seafood. But I think we've found one political thing on which we can concur: questioning the actions of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in establishing "shadow panels" to vet possible nominees to the bench:

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is opposing Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination next year, said the panels operate “outside the public light” and have politicized the process.

“It appears the decision is being made to appease certain demographic groups,” Rubio said. “It’s so he can say: 'I appointed judges like you.' ”

Crist spokeswoman Erin Isaac defend the practice.

“To get to know and best assess the legal abilities of candidates, we sometimes engage respected and knowledgeable individuals from the community,” Isaac said.

The Florida Constitution provides for a Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC), whose members are appointed by the governor. The JNC reviews applications for vacancies on the various state courts and compiles a list of three to six names from whom the governor must appoint the new judge. This is very clearly spelled out in the Constitution (Art. V, sec. 11; Art. V, sec. 20, para. 5 et seq.), and there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of wiggle room. So while the Constitution concededly doesn't address informal advice to the governor, Crist's custom of creating these "shadow panels" arguably takes the process away from the JNC and, therefore, may be unconstitutional. At the very least, it gives the appearance of impropriety in a process that ought to be free from undue interference as much as possible.

I mean, the governor already selects the JNC. Does he really need another layer of sycophantic advisors to help him make these decisions? Marco Rubio wants to know and, frankly, I do, too.