Sink Pledges To Keep Politics Out Of Finances

Bill McBride, right, holds hands with his wife, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, just after Sink took the oath of office Tuesday in Tallahassee.

By CHRIS URSO / Tribune

By CATHERINE DOLINSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jan 3, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The line of people waiting to meet Alex Sink on Tuesday afternoon snaked through the Department of Financial Services like a line of teenagers waiting outside the back door of a rock concert.

The serpentine of faces ended with the new chief financial officer herself, beaming in Republican red, alongside the stuffed Democratic donkey gracing the desk of her new Capitol office.

It was an apt blend, given the former NationsBank executive's longstanding pledge not to play politics with the job, which officially started when she was sworn in Tuesday as the lone Democrat in the state Cabinet.

"I promised this office would not be run in a partisan political way," said Sink, a self-declared fiscal conservative from Thonotosassa. "This office should be all about running the business of this state, and making decisions that are going to improve the quality of life for Floridians."

On that score, Sink may have an ally in Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, whom she complimented for disavowing partisan bickering in his inauguration address. Crist gave her the public nod by promising at the inauguration to work with her to solve the state's property insurance crisis.

But depoliticizing has its limits.

Sink's declared priority to scrutinize and investigate state outsourcing "smacks a bit of partisanship," given the emphasis that former Gov. Jeb Bush and other Republicans have placed over the years on privatizing services, said University of South Florida political scientist Darryl Paulson, a Republican.

There's nothing political about privatization per se, Sink said, particularly given the series of procurement controversies in recent years.

"The question is whether or not we're contracting services out with truly competitive bidding, whether or not there are accountability measures, … and is it a good deal for the people of this state to contract out, as opposed to providing a service internally," she said. "It's totally a business decision."

Facing the state' s property insurance crisis will demand tough philosophical decisions about government involvement, said former Senate President Tom Lee, decisions that often have divided Republicans and Democrats.

Lee, the Republican candidate from Valrico who lost the race for chief financial officer to Sink, smiled and shook hands in the crowd below.

"It's going to be important for Democrats and Republicans to work together when elections are over," he said afterward. "But frankly, she is going to be a standard-bearer for the Democratic Party, and she's going to have an obligation to advance the agenda of the Democratic Party, and that will invariably put her at odds with the Republican administration."

House Minority Leader Dan Gelber disagreed.

"I don't think there's that kind of pressure on her, because I think the CFO job is not a partisan job," he said. "I don't think she sees it that way, and I don't think Floridians see it that way. … I hope that Gov. Crist will respect and appreciate that."

Sink said the critical first step toward solving the insurance problem is expanding the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and providing less expensive reinsurance, "which should enable insurance companies to begin writing more policies and stabilize or bring down rates."

In so doing, however, the state must extract commitments from participating insurance companies to "have a positive impact on the policy cost."

As the highest state officeholder in her party, Sink said, she embraced her opportunity to help restore the Democrats' faded prowess. Her husband, Bill McBride, ran in 2002 as a Democrat for governor but lost to Jeb Bush. On Tuesday, he joined her on the inaugural dais.

Sink also acknowledged the significance of being the first female Democrat in the state Cabinet in 16 years and the first to become chief financial officer. During her open house, Sink cried out, "right on, right on," as political scientist Susan MacManus applauded the arrival of a woman to the office.

"A lot of women in office have reached plateaus in Florida," MacManus said. "She's the hope that maybe we can break the glass ceiling."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com.