Video: Alex Sink and the art of question dodging

Sometimes it's the silent treatment. Other times it comes with a cheery "Merry Christmas." Either way, Florida's Chief Financial Officer knows how to dodge questions.

Banker v. lobbyist = Sink v. McCollum

Picking up a line of attack begun months ago by the Florida Republican Party, gubernatorial hopeful Bill McCollum is accusing his Democratic rival, Alex Sink, of using ``deceptive loan practices'' while she was a top banker.

It's a risky political strategy, considering McCollum's history with the mortgage industry. As a member of Congress from 1980 to 2000, McCollum served on the committee overseeing financial services and co-sponsored 1999 legislation that tore down the Depression-era firewall between investment banks and commercial banks.

After he left Congress, McCollum lobbied for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and for a nonprofit with a down-payment assistance program that was later outlawed by Congress after the Internal Revenue Service dubbed the program a ``scam.''

More here

Inside FDOT's breakfast 'scandal!' Secret codes revealed!

So here's the content and attachments of the breakfast gate emails. The level of conspiracy and wicked government skullduggery and abuse of public records laws is shocking! (look here, here, here and here for more background). Beware, these attachments contain highly classified info.

From: Thibault, Kevin
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 10:11 AM
To: Kopelousos, Stephanie
Subject: Pancakes

As requested.

Download Providing a Dedicated Funding Source

.............................................................................................................................................

FDOT breakfast egg on Alex Sink's face

In her zeal to score political points over breakfast-gate, state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink's governor's campaign sent out a screed lambasting the Gov. Charlie Crist's administration for a Sunshine Law violation because DOT officials used words like "French toast" and "pancakes" in the subject header of emails dealing with the SunRail legislation.

"It's not cute, nor clever. It is outrageous," Sink's email states in bold type, referring to the use of breakfast terms. "That's why I called on Governor Charlie Crist to investigate this violation of Florida's 'Sunshine Law' and hold every government official involved in this scheme accountable."

Huh. So in one day Sink has morphed from calling for an investigation into being judge and jury by determining the law way broken.

To borrow a breakfast analogy, Sink is going to have a lot of egg on her face if she can't back up the allegation of illegality.

Campaign spokesman Paul Dunn says he's looking into it.

Sink spokesman Kyra Jennings was more forthright: "It's possible that the campaign may have just made an unintentional misstatement on their email."

Jennings followed up with an email noting that she had no authority to speak on behalf of the campaign.

UPDATE: Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican candidate for governor, issued a statement through his campaign: "CFO Sink's rush to judgment in this serious issue for the apparent goal of political expediency is disturbing." (McCollum has repeatedly criticized Sink for not speaking out  forcefully on a range of issues, such as a public option element of a national health care bill).

Even Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland and a governor's candidate as well, among the harshest critics of the rail legislation, has not ever accused the state of violating the Sunshine Law in this instance. And it was her office that obtained the emails in which the breakfast foods were used and it was Dockery's office that first noted the suspicious nature of the emails.

Poll: McCollum 44, Sink 39

From Rasmussen Reports: Florida's 2010 race for governor is looking a little more competitive. A new Rasmussen reports telephone survey in the state shows state Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican, ahead of Democrat Alex Sink 44% to 39%. In October, McCollum had a 46% to 35% lead. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate, and 12% are undecided. Sink, the state's chief financial officer and the best-known of the Democrats who have announced for the race, is hoping to be Florida's first woman governor. McCollum was a member of the U.S. Congress for 20 years before quitting to run unsuccessfully for the GOP Senate nomination in 2004. He faces little opposition so far for his party's nomination.

Crist commutes sentence in Tampa manslaughter

From the Times' Meg Laughlin: Jennifer Martin, who was convicted of manslaughter in a 1998 car crash that killed a passenger, had her sentenced cut in half Tuesday by Gov. Charlie Crist. She will be released Wednesday from prison.

Martin, 30, was sentenced in 2000 to 16 years in prison for her role in the Interstate 4 crash that killed Josh Nicola, 23, and severely injured Scott Schutt, 23.

Crist's decision followed a clemency hearing last week at which Martin's former prosecutor had sought mercy. Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink had championed Martin's clemency bid after reading a story in the St. Petersburg Times.

The other two members of the state's clemency board, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson and State Attorney General Bill McCollum, also voted to commute Martin's sentence.

Crist orders IG to look into Breakfast-gate

Looks like the madness over the pancake and French toast e-mails will continue on for a little while longer. Gov. Charlie Crist just asked his Inspector General to look into the matter.

"I agree with the letter that was just received from Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink," he said in a statement. "Accordingly, I have directed Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel to conduct an inquiry of the Department of Transportation.”

Here's Sink's letter asking Crist to order the inquiry:

Is Dockery campaign over before it began?

Not so long ago, the Republican Party of Florida was fielding an all-white, all-male slate of statewide candidates in 2010.

But three credible female contenders have recently emerged: state Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland is taking on Attorney General Bill McCollum for governor and former state Rep. Holly Benson of Pensacola and Hillsborough County prosecutor Pam Bondi are challenging Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp to be attorney general.
The GOP can't exactly take credit for grooming these strong women since they are running against the party's establishment candidates. In contrast, Chief Financial Officer Adelaide "Alex'' Sink, the Democratic front-runner for governor, has got the party machine working overtime.
Her Republican colleagues couldn't be more distinct. Benson is the brainy but awkward Ivy League bond lawyer who recently served in Gov. Charlie Crist's administration. Bondi is the head cheerleader/Junior League-type whose blonde hair, pearls and zeal for catching bad guys made her a popular talking head on cable news. Dockery is the feisty citizen lawmaker who stayed up late doing her homework and made a career out of fighting a proposed rail system in Central Florida.

And about that rail deal. It passed the Legislature on Tuesday. The McCollum campaign proclaimed the vote "may very well signal the end of Dockery's fledging campaign effort.''

Maybe not. Keep reading here.

Cabinent signs order rescinding rights

Gov. Charlie Crist and his fellow Cabinet members quietly signed an order Wednesday to revoke the civil rights mistakenly restored to 11 felons.

State auditors conducted a review of the Parole Commission that found a 6 percent error rate in sample of 203, meaning that 13 felons were granted the rights without authorization. Two felons are still incarcerated and no action was necessary to rescind their rights.

"There's human error involved in a lot of things that happen," Crist said. "These people are trying to do the best that they can and sometimes mistakes occur. When they do, you try to rectify it and that's the best that you can do."

An opinion piece in the St. Petersburg Times today, written by Mark Schlakman, suggests more work needs to be done.

McCollum reports mortgage modification progress

Attorney General Bill McCollum said he is making progress in helping people in troubled mortgages, but acknowledges the state can't force the national banks to lower the rates because it has no regulatory authority.

He met with Bank of America executives Wednesday who assured him that they would put staff in Florida in January to meet with people to modify their home loans, instead of forcing homeowners to call a toll-free phone number.

"They are at least going to come in and make some effort to have some person-to-person, face-to-face contact and it's something I think is critical to do," McCollum said this morning before entering the Clemency Board hearing. "I think it's outrageous that banks have not provided this."

It's no coincidence that McCollum is highlighting his meeting with Bank of America -- the company of his gubernatorial rival CFO Alex Sink -- even though he has asked all major bank presidents to meet with him. But McCollum denied politics had anything to do with it. "There is no politics to this at all," he said, noting that BofA assumed Countrywide, the company with the largest number of trouble mortgages in Florida.

McCollum said state officials need to put pressure on Congress to push banks to help those with trouble mortgages.

-- John Frank