Sink takes on Scott in contentious debate

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink came out swinging against Republican Rick Scott in their first debate Friday, calling him a liar, slamming him repeatedly for the fraud scandal at his former hospital company and accusing the multimillionaire of trying to buy the office.

Scott, who weathered the same accusations through a bitter Republican primary campaign, remained mostly unruffled by the volleys and tried to stay on message as Sink at times openly scoffed and chuckled at his answers to panelists' questions.

Scott also took a few shots of his own, accusing Sink of mismanaging the state's pension fund as Florida's chief financial officer and claiming that her office licensed a convicted felon to work in the insurance business.

"Rick, the people of Florida can't trust you," Sink shot back at one point. "You've just proven it right here and now. You don't know what you're talking about."

The debate was taped in Univision studios for airing Friday night on the network's affiliates in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers/Naples. The candidates, locked in a statistical dead heat in most polls, will debate at least two more times before the Nov. 2 election.

Riding an antiestablishment wave, the 57-year-old Scott jumped into the governor's race in April and spent around $50 million of his own money to beat attorney general Bill McCollum in the GOP primary. On Friday, Scott calmly stuck to his message that as a proven businessman he is better suited than Sink to create jobs and has a better plan for turning around the state's economy.

As he has done in TV ads, Scott painted Sink as a supporter of President Barack Obama's policies who would raise taxes. Scott said the former bank executive refuses to take responsibility for the worsening state economy since her 2006 election.

"My opponent is a Tallahassee insider. She's had her shot," Scott said. "We've got to elect somebody who is a business person who knows how to create private-sector jobs."

Taking a page from McCollum, Sink kept coming back to the Medicare fraud scandal at Columbia/HCA, the hospital conglomerate Scott that founded and led in the 1990s. He was forced out by its board in 1997 amid the federal investigation, which led to the company paying a record $1.7 billion to settle criminal charges.

"He says he wants to bring his business experience to Tallahassee," Sink said. "I can't think of anything more frightening."

Scott has said he didn't know anything about fraud occurring at Columbia/HCA. He again lamented that the company didn't do a better job of oversight when it came to Medicare billing.

The pair agreed that building small businesses is vital. Scott's plan for creating 700,000 jobs in seven years involves deep tax cuts and eliminating state services and jobs to balance the budget. He vowed to run state government like a business. Sink said that plan is unrealistic because state services wouldn't be adequately funded.

She is offering targeted tax cuts and other incentives for small businesses that create jobs.

Speaking to reporters after the debate, Sink said she had become accustomed to hearing false attacks in Scott's commercials. But, "to have him here in person continue to express these lies right to my face," she said, "it raises serious questions about (his) character and integrity."

Scott refused to speak with reporters afterward, dispatching in his place former Gov. Jeb Bush, U.S. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart, and his running mate, state Rep. Jennifer Carroll. Carroll said "everything that we have stated in this campaign has been backed up with facts." She called Sink "combative" and denied that Scott was evading the press.

Bush, who backed McCollum during the primary and previously questioned Scott's motives for seeking the governor's office, defended him Friday as "an outside-the-box thinker to get our economy back on track."

Asked why he was speaking to reporters instead of the candidate, Bush said, "I don't know."