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Alex Sink

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Alex Sink
File:CFO Alex Sink.jpg
2nd Chief Financial Officer of Florida
Assumed office
January 2, 2007
Preceded byTom Gallagher
Personal details
Born
Adelaide Sink

(1948-06-05) June 5, 1948 (age 76)
Mt. Airy, North Carolina, United States
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseBill McBride (1987-Present)
ResidenceTampa, Florida
Alma materWake Forest University
Professionbanking
Websitemyfloridacfo.com

Adelaide "Alex" Sink (born 5 June 1948)[1] is Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida and treasurer on the board of trustees of the Florida State Board of Administration. She is currently a Democratic candidate for Governor of Florida. Sink is also the first female CFO of Florida and, if elected, would be the first female Governor for the state of Florida.

Personal

Sink was raised in Mount Airy, North Carolina. Sink is a graduate of Wake Forest University. After graduating with a degree in mathematics, she taught in West Africa for three years.

Sink is married to Florida attorney and politician Bill McBride who was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida in 2002. They have a son, Bert, and a daughter, Lexi.

She is a descendant of the famous conjoined "Siamese Twins", Chang and Eng Bunker.[2]

Career

Sink is a former president of Florida Operations at Bank of America. She was appointed by former Governor Lawton Chiles to the Commission on Government Accountability to the People, and also served on Chiles’ Commission on Education. She was vice-chair of Florida TaxWatch. Sink has also served with the Florida Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, the Beth El Farm Workers Ministry, and as Chairman of the Board of the United Way of Hillsborough County.

Florida Chief Financial Officer

Sink was the Democratic candidate for Florida's office of Chief Financial Officer in 2006. She defeated Republican Tom Lee 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent.[3] She also was the first Democrat elected to the state Cabinet since 1998.[3]

2010 gubernatorial candidate

Main article: Florida gubernatorial election, 2010

Heading into the 2010 cycle, Sink was mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate or for Governor of Florida. In 2008, Sink stated that she would "assess the landscape after the first of the year, and make a decision then."[4] In January 2009, Sink announced she would not run for either seat, preferring to stand for reelection as CFO.[5]. But the announcement that Gov. Charlie Crist would forgo re-election to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez changed the state's political landscape. On May 13, 2009, Sink announced her intention to run for Governor. Sink, who is currently favored to win her party's nomination, will likely face urban designer and policy analyst Michael E. Arth in the Democratic primary on August 24, 2010. The winner of the primary will then probably go up against Attorney General Bill McCollum or State Senator Paula Dockeryin the general election.[6]

State plane usage

In 2009, Democrat Alex Sink and Republican Bill McCollum, both of whom are running for Governor of Florida, were the subject of reports questioning their use of state planes.[7] Both candidates have had ethics complaints filed against them by citizens, which are ongoing.[8]

Allegations of SBA Mismanagement

Main article: Florida State Board of Administration

Despite 39 audits dating back to 2000 warning of risky, complex, unregulated investments involving leveraged funds, the Florida State Board of Administration lost approximately one-third of the fund ($61.4 billion) between July 2008 and January 2009.[9] Nineteen of these audits warning of risk were issued while Crist, Sink, and McCollum were trustees, and Sink was functioning as CFO of the state and treasurer on the SBA board. Some of the losses included a $682 million investment with Lehman Brothers, which went sour when Lehman Brothers declared backruptcy on September 15, 2008. The SBA also lost as much as $250 million in real estate deals gone bad in New York City, involving high priced apartment complexes. Other losses occurred with Pinnacle Point, Catapult, and Luminent Star. A November 2007 audit revealed that the SBA had $2.2 billion in shaky securities. News of this leaked out and hundreds of panicked school districts and local government agencies withdrew billions of dollars before a freeze was ordered by the trustees.[9] As a result of this "crisis of confidence" SBA executive director Coleman Stipanovich resigned his job in December 2007.[10] By November 2008 the SBA admitted that $2.625 billion was under "financial stress."[11] [12][13][14]

On November 5, 2009, it was publicly revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had been formally investigating possible fraud by the Florida SBA since July 31, 2008. The investigation centers on whether or not the SBA and three firms, J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Lehman Brothers "'may have been or may be' involved in a scheme to defraud by making false statements about the risk and liquidity of investments purchased by the local pool and other SBA-managed funds."[15]

Electoral history

Chief Financial Officer of Florida election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Alex Sink 2,479,861 53.55
Republican Tom Lee 2,151,232 46.45

References

  1. ^ FLORIDA'S MOST INFLUENTIAL, Florida Trend (11-01-2004) p.26 ISSN:00154326.
  2. ^ Twins' great-granddaughter seeks a different kind of fame, St. Pete Times
  3. ^ a b "2006 Election Results". Florida Department of State. March 1, 2007. Cite error: The named reference "dos" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article784644.ece
  5. ^ http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090116/CAPITOLNEWS/90116013
  6. ^ Pat Hatfield, "DeLand's Urban Cowboy runs for governor: Can a Renaissance man with no money be governor?." West Volusia Beacon, 7-30-09, p. 1A, 12A
  7. ^ http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/gubernatorial/on-the-fly-floridas-cabinet-members-rack-up-miles-in-state-planes/1013152
  8. ^ http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/gubernatorial/on-the-fly-floridas-cabinet-members-rack-up-miles-in-state-planes/1013152
  9. ^ a b Sydney P. Freedberg, "How to scramble state's nest egg." St. Petersburg Times. 1-25-09 [1]
  10. ^ Helen Huntley and Scott Barancik, "State fund executive resigns" St. Petersburg Times, 12-5-07[2]
  11. ^ UPDATE ON STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION’S (SBA) FINANCIAL SECTOR INVESTMENTS, 9-15-08 [3]
  12. ^ Sydney P. Freedberg, "Florida's top officials never saw copies of a huge claim involving public investment money. Neither did you" St. Petersberg Times, 6-7-09 [4]
  13. ^ St. Petersberg Times,"Lehman woes have Florida implications" TC Palm, 9-11-08 [5]
  14. ^ "Who's watching the money?" Palm Beach Post Editorial, 6-28-09
  15. ^ "SEC investigating possible fraud by the Florida State Board of Administration" by Sydney P. Greenberg, St. Petersburg Times, 11-6-09
Political offices
Preceded by Chief Financial Officer of Florida
2007– present 		Succeeded by

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