by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Chief Financial Officer candidate Alex Sink has plenty going for her these days. With a little over a week before the election where Sink — a Democrat — will face Republican Tom Lee of Tallahassee, she’s raised plenty of money, has a strong financial background and has some very strong, and perhaps radical, ideas about how the CFO’s office should be run.
Her only problem right now is informing the voters as to exactly what the CFO for the State of Florida does day in and day out. The CFO is the state’s accountant. They are responsible for everything from monitoring the state insurance industry to overseeing the state’s budget.
To Sink, who has been in the financial industry most of her professional life, the job is an end-all, not a resume-builder.
“I am the only candidate in the race with financial experience and that’s really important,” said Sink, who is from the Tampa area and was in Jacksonville Thursday for the First Coast Business Hall of Fame luncheon. “This is not a stepping stone to another job. That’s how we got in the mess we are in with insurance.”
Sink says homeowner’s and small business insurance rates are a co-joined issue that, unless dealt with soon, could ultimately cause major problems for the state’s once-thriving economy. Hurricanes over the past few years have created enormous jumps in insurance rates, something that’s putting small business owners on the verge of bankruptcy and forcing some to sell their homes and move out of Florida.
“I am paying a lot of attention to the job and I will find good solutions to the insurance mess we are in,” said Sink, who is married to Bill McBride, a managing partner with the law firm of Tampa-based Holland & Knight. “The governor (Republican Charlie Crist or Democrat Jim Davis) will be and should be heavily involved. If we don’t get this resolved, it’s going to bring the whole economy down.”
McBride sought to unseat Gov. Jeb Bush four years ago and lost. Still, Sink says her husband’s campaign taught her a lot about running for office. She’s faring well in North Florida and that may be due, in part, to the fact she worked here several years ago.
“I am doing well here and I am building on relationships I made when I was in banking here,” she said. “I would not have done this well without Bill’s race. Somebody asked me the other day if there have been any surprises. Honestly, I haven’t had any surprises.”
Sink and McBride have two children. Their son is a freshman in college while their daughter is a senior in high school and plans to attend Wake Forest, Sink’s alma mater.
Both Sink and Lee have raised a little over $3 million during the race.