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.

Another Sink donor with checkered past

Democrat Alex Sink's decision to reject ex-Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton as a co-host from an upcoming fundraiser -- see Miami Herald story here -- raises questions about where candidates draw the line when vetting donors.

One of three co-chairs of the fundraiser slated for Monday in Miami Beach is George Lindemann, who was sentenced to 33 months in prison in 1996 for insurance fraud. He collected $250,000 on his show horse after it was electrocuted by a hit man.

Another co-chair of the Sink reception, publicist Seth Gordon, was removed as a volunteer campaign advisor to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in 2000 after police told her he was a suspect in the 1975 death of his first wife. Gordon has denied murdering his wife and never been charged.

"We strive to vet all hosts and co-hosts, but there was a breakdown in this particular case,'' said Sink spokeswoman Tara Klimek. "We're going through this invitation now."

Klimek declined to go into specifics about how these decisions are made, saying "It's on a case-by-case basis."

New poll shows McCollum leads Sink 42 to 34

A new Rasmussen Reports survey shows Republican Bill McCollum ahead of Democrat Alex Sink 42 to 34 percent in the 2010 governor's race. Undecided voters comprised 18 percent.

The poll found male voters leaning toward McCollum and female voters evenly split between him and Sink, who would be the state's first female governor. Incumbent Gov. Charlie Crist received approval from 60 percent of the voters. All the numbers are here.

Rasmussen Reports also looked at the U.S. Senate race, where Crist leads Democratic frontrunner Kendrick Meek by 18 points.

Sink boots disgraced Miami pol from fundraiser

Alex Sink, the frontrunning Democratic candidate for governor in 2010, is removing ex-Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton as a co-host for a fundraiser slated for Monday.

Winton was suspended from office by Gov. Jeb Bush after a drunken, profane scuffle with police in 2006.  (See mugshot, left.) Gov. Charlie Crist refused to give him his seat back after he pleaded guilty to charges of misdemeanor battery and disorderly intoxication.

Winton's reputation was also damaged by revelations that he had quietly partnered with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and former City Manager Joe Arriola in a real estate deal. He paid a $750 fine and accepted a reprimand from the Florida Ethics Commission in 2007.

He has since kept a low public profile, but his name was among 22 co-hosts listed on a invitation circulating for a Sink fundraiser at the Miami Beach home of developer Andi Greenwald. Download Alex_Sink_for_Governor_6.29.09_(4)

After The Miami Herald asked the Sink campaign about Winton, spokeswoman Tara Klimek said he would be removed as a co-host.

"He was added without our approval,'' Klimek said. "We don't think it's appropriate for someone with that type of history to co-host a event.''

Jeb for McCollum

Former Gov. Jeb Bush is headlining a fundraiser for Attorney General Bill McCollum's campaign for governor on June 30 at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

Co-chairs of the event include sugar baron Jose "Pepe'' Fanjul, Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, Brickell Motors owner Mario Murgado and former Wall Street Journal managing director Radames Soto.

Bush -- an icon in the Republican Party -- will help McCollum close out his first fundraising quarter in a big way. Download McCollum Reception with Special Guest Jeb Bush

Endorsements are for losers

Sigh. If only politicians set aside a fraction of the time they spend chasing and flaunting campaign endorsements for real work. The economy would be humming, the terrorists would be losing, and affordable health care would include weekly massage treatments.

But as we head into the dog days of summer, when most voters are paying closer attention to their cuticles than to elections, candidates have nothing better to do than fund-raise and name-drop.

At this early stage in the election cycle, endorsements are not directed at voters seeking assurance. They are for impressing donors, intimidating opponents and returning favors. Keep reading here.

Sink calls McCollum's anti-Obama attack 'ridiculous'

Asked to respond to Republican opponent Bill McCollum's recent tirade that the Obama administration is moving the U.S. toward "socialism,'' Democratic candidate for governor Alex Sink called it "ridiculous."

McCollum assailed the administration's spending and increasing intervention in the private sector during his recent speech to the Miami-Dade Republican Party. He also suggested Sink would be a pawn for Obama.

"I'm nobody's puppet,'' asserted Sink, in Miami today to address the Latin Builders Association. "When the people of Florida get to know me and where I came from, they'll have an opportunity to see that for themselves."

Sink, a former banker and the state's chief financial officer, called herself a "fiscal conservative'' and said she was concerned about the increasing deficit. But she added that many economists recommended the federal government's spending package to stimulate the floundering economy.

"We're in historic times,'' she said. "Government does have a role to play in stabilizing the financial industry and stabilizing our markets, at the same time government shouldn't overreach."

Sink risks political whiplash in So Fla

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democratic frontrunner for governor in 2010, will be working opposite ends of the political spectrum in South Florida over the next two days.

Tomorrow night (along with Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, a potential Republican contender for attorney general in 2010) she will address Democratic leaning trial lawyers at the Florida Justice Association's annual conference at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club in Aventura.

On Friday, she is the keynote speaker at the Republican leaning Latin Builders Association's monthly meeting at the Hotel Sofitel in Miami.

As a statewide officeholder, Sink -- like her Republican opponent for governor, Attorney General Bill McCollum -- has a built-in public platform for speaking to influential groups around Florida without costing her campaign a cent.

Sink promises change, wants your spare

Echoing the campaign slogan of you know who, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is promising "change" if Florida elects her governor. And in a play on words, the Democrat is asking supporters in an e-mail today to donated their spare "change" to her campaign.

"The change Florida needs is not complete, and that's why with your help and support I am determined to be Florida's next governor.'' Sink said at the Florida Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson dinner last month.

Republicans, however, are trying to saddle Sink with the controversial aspects of the Barack Obama administration -- the bailouts, the deficit, et al.

"The last election they tried to sell us change,'' Senate President Jeff Atwater told Miami-Dade Republicans last week. "Now we know they sold us change we cannot afford."

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Republican frontrunner for governor, has tried to put his own twist on the "change" slogan, calling for "a new way up."

Still waiting for the Florida candidate who will try to sell us hope.

McCollum channels McCain, Joe the Plumber

Bill McCollum, the Republican frontrunner for governor, sounded kind of like Republican presidential nominee John McCain in his "Joe the plumber'' days.

"Socialism failed in Europe and socialism will fail here,'' he told the Miami-Dade Republican Party tonight. "We believe in individual liberty, in opportunity, in free market, and growth. We believe in growing wealth, not resdistributing it."

McCollum awkwardly tried to sound bi-partisan and inclusive while defending the Republican party's basic philosophy.

"We'll invite everybody to participate in governing this state,'' he said. "We do not have all the best ideas sitting in this room tonight. Somebody else may have some great ideas. We've got to find those common grounds, but we will do it with our principles, from our vantage point, because we know that the way that we believe, and the way that we understand how the world works is the right way, the way forward, the way up, what I call a new way up for Florida."