Alex Sink for governor

Florida's Republican and Democratic parties traditionally nominate two well-qualified candidates for governor, which makes it hard for voters to go far wrong on Election Day.

Usually whatever political differences there may be between the nominees, there is little doubt the candidates are trustworthy, capable and knowledgeable.

Not this year.

In Republican Rick Scott, Florida voters are being asked to entrust their state to an individual who made his fortune supervising an organization that systematically fleeced taxpayers. He has sought to elude tough questions, and when faced with them, has revealed a disturbing disregard for Florida's history and its needs. Despite his dubious background, his largely self-financed campaign is flinging mud freely.

Floridians should have no trouble recognizing the superior candidate: Democrat Alex Sink, the former Tampa banker who has performed honorably as the state's chief financial officer.

Sink is a fiscal conservative who opposes new taxes and believes the state, despite recent budget cuts, can become far more efficient. She streamlined and eliminated operations as CFO and would do the same as governor. She points to the low ratio of workers to supervisors in many agencies as something no business would tolerate.

She intends to establish a "Florida Performance Score Card," with benchmarks developed for each agency that would hold government officials accountable for their performance.

Sink is focused on cutting costs, eliminating unnecessary functions and making government responsive and transparent. She wants simpler rules, less red tape and quick answers for businesses. Yet she also recognizes that state government provides essential services and safeguards that should not be recklessly gutted.

In contrast, Scott appears intent on dismantling environmental and public protections. Consider his opposition to the Department of Community Affairs, which oversees growth management laws.
Scott accuses DCA of "killing jobs." This is nonsense. Thanks to overbuilding, the state now has 300,000 vacant homes, which is driving down the property values of all Florida residents. DCA did not stall the state's too-rapid growth.

The agency simply seeks to ensure that when local governments approve new developments, they plan for the roads, schools, law enforcement and other services that will be needed. DCA provides a useful backstop when local governments, which can be unduly influenced by construction lobbyists, ignore such considerations.

But Scott clearly is only listening to developers, not the residents who end up paying the tax bills and suffering the consequences of reckless development decisions.

The health care executive's grasp of other state concerns is similarly shaky, no doubt the reason he would rather focus on broad national issues.

In a state not noted for education excellence, Scott would cut public school property taxes by $1.4 billion. He vaguely promises to replace it up by making other cuts in the state budget. He supports Senate Bill 6, which would have established arbitrary teacher pay standards and robbed school districts of local control. Fortunately, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed the measure.

Scott supports more oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, despite the devastation the Deepwater Horizon disaster has caused to the tourism industry.

Scott promises to cut the Department of Corrections' budget nearly in half, which would surely require the mass release of prisoners.

Scott vows to bring a business perspective to Tallahassee. But Sink is the business leader voters can trust. She earned a reputation for integrity, intelligence and diligence in running Bank of America's Florida operations. She was a banker when, as she says, you had to have a "down payment and proof of income" to get a loan. She also was committed to charitable causes, as Tampa residents well know.

Sink has worked extensively with small businesses and understands their needs. She intends to appoint a business ombudsman to the governor's office. She wants the state to establish tax incentives for research investments. She knows successful schools are the foundation of the economy.

The Scott campaign is trying to tarnish her record, but other than some miscues from corporate headquarters over which Sink had no control, her banking record is fine.

Similarly, the much ballyhooed losses the state pension fund suffered while CFO Sink was one of its trustees - along with Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum - is mostly smoke. The losses occurred during a global economic meltdown, and yet the fund remains one of the strongest in the nation. The pension fund's governing structure, to be sure, is flawed. But nothing untoward occurred and Sink has pushed for needed reforms.

Scott is the one with a record that should worry Floridians.

Federal investigators found that Scott's health care company intentionally defrauded taxpayers.

The fraud resulted in Columbia/HCA paying a record-setting $1.7 billion in fines. Its schemes included billing for lab tests that were not needed, adding diagnosis codes to patients' records to increase hospital reimbursements and labeling marketing and advertising costs as community education so taxpayers would be stuck with the tab.

Scott claims he knew nothing about the fraud. If true, he was preternaturally inattentive, though he was known as an aggressive executive who demanded his goals be met. He says he learned from the scandal and now would require more oversight.

Yet Scott promises as governor to ruthlessly slash programs aimed at protecting citizens. That does not sound like a lesson learned.

We know Sink to be a conscientious leader and fiscal conservative who can be trusted to put Florida's welfare first.

In the race for governor, The Tampa Tribune strongly supports Alex Sink.