Sink hires veteran of congressional races to manage her campaign

Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink made it official today and named Paul Dunn her campaign manager for her 2010 run for governor. Dunn has run two races for Democratic women in the past, leading the successful campaign of U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas's in 16-point win over a three-term incumbent Tom Feeney in the 2008 election cycle and serving as head of field operations for U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who won her Missouri race 51-49 in 2006.

Dunn was also the New Hampshire Field Director for John Edwards' Presidential primary campaign. In Florida, he also worked on the Committee for Fair Elections, a campaign to reform congressional redistricting and Floridians for All, a campaign to raise Florida's minimum wage. He is a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"He's a great choice,'' said Steve Schale, the former campaign director for Barack Obama's Florida campaign, "He comes from field world. The legacy I hoped we proved about Florida is field does make a difference. TV and money is what goe us in the game and what got us over the top is everyday people.''

Sink draws two more complaints over state plane use

Republican activist Jose Blas Lorenzo has filed a second ethics complaint against Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, as well as a new complaint with the state Ethics Commission for her use of the state plane, after she used campaign cash to reimburse her office $17,000 last week for her travel.

The Herald/Times reported that Sink's campaign made the payment to her own agency for 20 airplane trips to different cities where she had state business -- and campaign events. Sink's aide said Tuesday they made the payment "because it's following the law." State law, however, is silent when it comes to a candidate who travels on official business and campaign events using commercial aircraft but Sink repaid her agency for the cost of that travel as well.

Lorenzo's ethics complaint alleges that Sink violated state law because she failed to timely report her use of the state plane for campaign purposes in the first quarter of the year and "corruptly used her official position to secure a special privilege or benefit" when she used state planes to travel for official business in conjunction with campaign events. Sink's $17,022 check repaid the state for her travel over two reporting periods.

The elections complaint alleges she violated state election laws by waiting to reimburse the state for her "gift" of state plane use until the second quarter when several of her events were scheduled in the first quarter and that gift exceeded the $500 campaign contribution limit. Download Alex Sink Elections Commission Complaint Download Alex Sink Ethics Commission Complaint

For the record, McCollum has no comment on Sink's plane payment

Maybe we put this in the Building Integrity and Lasting Leadership column. When Attorney General Bill McCollum was asked what he thought of his gubernatorial opponent's decision to use campaign funds to reimburse the state for her use of the state plane, he said. "I don't have any comment on that. None, whatsoever."

Remember the BILL Fund is McCollum's CCE. The AG may not have any comment, but we'll wait and see if his CCE or another political committee that supports him does take the opportunity to comment on Sink's decision. We'll keep watching.

We also asked the AG if he was convinced that his use of the state plane is not commuting? He answered: "Yes. I'm definitely convinced that it's not. I think it's perfectly appropriate. I've never commuted between Tallahassee and Orlando on the state plane -- that's my home. Never.''

Sink camp pays state for $17K in plane trips

The biggest expenditure in Alex Sink's second-quarter campaign report stands out: On June 26, her campaign wrote a check for $17,022.75 to her agency, the Department of Financial Services, for "travel." The payment looks to be another example of Sink seeking to defuse questions over her use of state aircraft.

In a memo to the Sink campaign a day after the Miami Herald reported on the CFO's questionable air travel, Sink's chief of staff, Jim Cassady, found 11 instances in 2009 when Sink, first used a state aircraft on official business but also engaged in fund-raising or other campaign activity after she reached her destination. As Cassady put it in a memo: "While CFO Sink engaged in activities for state business using state aircraft, she also included some activities to further her candidacy." The cost of those trips: $15,471.

In addition, Sink used commercial flights in nine other instances when state business and campaign activity overlapped. She reimbursed her agency an additional $1,552 for those travels.

Nine of the 20 trips took place in the first quarter of 2009, when Sink was running for re-election as CFO. Her office on Friday could not answer the obvious question of why Sink waited until now to reimburse taxpayers for flights she took six months ago, when she could have reimbursed her agency in April.

The costliest trip was on a state aircraft on Jan. 29 from Tallahassee to Naples, for a reimbursement expense of $2,460.

The biggest expenditure in Alex Sink's second-quarter campaign report stands out: On June 26, her campaign wrote a check for $17,022.75 to her agency, the Department of Financial Services, for "travel." The payment looks to be another example of Sink seeking to defuse questions over her use of state aircraft.

In a memo to the Sink campaign a day after the Miami Herald reported on the CFO's questionable air travel, Sink's chief of staff, Jim Cassady, found 11 instances in 2009 when Sink, first used a state aircraft on official business but also engaged in fund-raising or other campaign activity after she reached her destination. As Cassady put it in a memo: "While CFO Sink engaged in activities for state business using state aircraft, she also included some activities to further her candidacy." The cost of those trips: $15,471.

In addition, Sink used commercial flights in nine other instances when state business and campaign activity overlapped. She reimbursed her agency an additional $1,552 for those travels.

Nine of the 20 trips took place in the first quarter of 2009, when Sink was running for re-election as CFO. Her office on Friday could not answer the obvious question of why Sink waited until now to reimburse taxpayers for flights she took six months ago, when she could have reimbursed her agency in April.

The costliest trip was on a state aircraft on Jan. 29 from Tallahassee to Naples, for a reimbursement expense of $2,460.

Democrat's use of plane prompts GOP call for probe

From the Palm Beach Post:

A group of four House Republicans – Chris Dorworth of Lake Mary, Steve Crisafulli of Merritt Island, Mike Horner of Kissimmee and Matt Hudson of Naples – is asking state CFO Alex Sink to call an independent investigation of her use of the state plane.

Sink has ordered her office to conduct a “thorough and immediate review” into whether she misused the state plane to pick up and drop off family members. Sink reimbursed the state for the cost of those flights before questions were raised.

More here

Common ground for Sink and McCollum: the ethics defense

Attorney General Bill McCollum "misused his public position in violation of the law'' by using the state plane to divert flights from Tallahassee to the Sanford airport, close his to Longwood home, according to Ken Quinnell, a Democratic activist who filed an ethics complaint against the Republican AG today.

The arrival of the complaint Tuesday now makes it even. Chief Financial Alex Sink, a Democrat who is running for governor, drew an ethics complaint Monday from Republican activist Jose Blas Lorenzo, Jr.

Both complaints accuse the cabinet officials of wasting taxpayer money. Both complaints cite the plane logs that show that each of them had planes diverted to their hometown airports on the way to or from official business. And both provide copies of their appointments calendar.

According to the Herald/Times review Sink diverted the plane 44 times, and had state business 30 of those times. McCollum diverted the plane 53 times, almost always to and from state business. 

Given that the ethics law appears to apply to each of them for the similar allegations, does this mean these two rivals now have one thing in common: their ethics defense?  Download Ethics Complaint Sink Download Ethics Complaint McCollum

Auditors say they can't investigate plane misuse by gov & cabinet

Top Florida officials misused state resources to travel between the capital and their homes, costing taxpayers at least $51,000 and raising potential IRS violations, according to state investigators' findings that were removed from a final auditor's report.

Meanwhile, Tallahassee lawyer Jose Blas Lorenzo Jr. also filed an ethics complaint Monday accusing Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink of ''abusive, unauthorized use of state aircraft'' following reports by the Herald/Times and other news outlets.

Sink, along with Attorney General Bill McCollum and Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, spent $51,000 of taxpayer money from July 1, 2008, through Feb. 15, 2009, commuting to their homes or taking ''unnecessary legs during business trips,'' according to the Department of Management Services' March 3 audit. Sink spent the most -- $27,200 -- while McCollum spent $12,600 and Kottkamp spent $9,900, according to auditors. 

But those details, as well as recommendations and conclusions, were left out of the final report. "We did not have any manpower to further investigate that," said Cathy Schroeder, DMS spokeswoman. 

Read full story here. Examples follow:

Sink orders review of state plane use as more details emerge

Chief Financial Alex Sink has ordered her office to ''conduct a thorough and immediate review'' of her use of the state plane after questions were raised about whether the plane was being used strictly for official duties.

Meanwhile, the Herald/Times review of state plane records reveal more details about how they use the plane. The Herald/Times review found that of the 44 times Sink diverted the plane to bring her to Tampa in the past 2 ½ years, she had official events scheduled in the same city 30 of those days. Attorney General Bill McCollum used the plane less frequently. Of the 53 times the plane flew to Sanford for McCollum -- Sanford is the closest airport to his home -- he only occasionally had events scheduled in the area.

State law prohibits state officials whose office is in Tallahassee from commuting from outside the capital and Sink and McCollum have said they only travel to their hometowns if it's on the way to and from official business.

Read the full story here and here's Steve Bousquet's column about the story behind the story.

Below is a snapshot of several of the flights in which Sink and McCollum diverted the state plane to pick them up or drop them off at the airports closest to their homes.

Sink's want ad: Donors without rap sheets

Two donors rejected by Democrat Alex Sink's campaign for governor this week apparently were good enough for other political candidates.

Ex-Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton donated the maximum amount to Democrat Annette Taddeo when she tried to unseat U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 2008. And George Lindemann of the Bass Museum of Art has given to a slew of politicians, including U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, Sen. Bill Nelson, and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, according to the Center of Responsive Politics.

Click here to read Beth Reinhard's column on vetting donors.

Sink axes fundraiser's co-chair

Democrat Alex Sink is removing another organizer of a reception planned for Monday in Miami Beach. Her gubernatorial campaign said it failed to vet participants and did not know that co-chair George Lindemann, the wealthy chairman of the Bass Art Musem's board of trustees, had served time in the 1990s for insurance fraud related to the killing of his show horse.

On Wedneday, Sink removed as a co-host ex-Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton, who was suspended from office after a drunken fight with police. On Friday, Lindemann was out, too.

"We make decisions on a case by case basis, and Lindemann was convicted of insurance fraud," said Sink spokeswoman Tara Klimek. "This particular circumstance is over the line, making him not an acceptable co-host."

Seeking comment from Lindemann...