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Governor Charlie Crist has five days left to take action on Senate Bill six, and the veto cries are getting louder. Around the state teachers are protesting the controversial legislation to end tenure and base pay raises on student test scores. As Whitney Ray tells us, teachers seeking a veto are jamming phone lines, while legislative leaders are offering to work with the governor to clean it up.

Efforts to reach the governor have been hectic since Senate Bill Six arrived on his desk Friday morning. Phone lines are jammed and this automatic message is bouncing back to people trying to email.

As of two o’clock Monday more than 14-thousand phone calls and 47-thousand emails hit the governor’s office, most of them calling for a veto.

Some lawmakers are making their own veto calls. Representative Julio Robaina, one of only a handful of Republicans who voted against the legislation, says the bill needs more work.

“If they had a chance to vote on it again, they would vote against it. They realized that they rushed through a piece of public policy, that although well intentioned wasn’t well thought out,” said Robaina.

Representative Will Weatherford, a key supporter, says the legislature is willing to make concessions if the governor will play ball.

“If the governor has issues with the bill what we would like is for him to tells us what they are and maybe we can address them,” said Weatherford.

While Representative Dean Cannon wants to hold Crist to an earlier promise.

“I still optimistic he’ll sign it,” said Cannon.

Crist has until Midnight Friday to act, but with the Governor Trailing in his US Senate race a veto would be a bold move that could pay off at the polls.

Teachers are capitalizing on that message. Florida has 175-thousand of them. About one in three is a registered Republican.

We mentioned the 14-thousand phone calls, but there are probably a lot more. The governor’s office is receiving a lot of calls from people simply saying “veto the bill.” The governor’s office isn’t asking callers to leave their name and to indicate what bill they are referring to.