Alex Sink for Gov, part 2?

After neglecting DraftAlex.com for long enough, we’re making our triumphant return. And, let me say, it’s been a crazy few months. On the Senate front alone: Boyd is out, Meek and Gelber are in. Alex Sink is running for re-election as CFO, deciding to forgo this cycle.

But, is it over? Of course not, people. This is Florida after all.

Mr. Crist has decided he might possibly maybe like to think about potentially running for Senate, just to keep things interesting. That means that Marco Rubio and Connie Mack might need to find a new hobby instead of imagining themselves in the Senate.  I’ll leave my rant about him skipping out on our state in a time of need for later and just say this:

If Charlie does decide to make a run for it (right out of Florida, errr I mean for the Senate), please Alex, give a second thought about governor. Florida needs a smart lady like you.

Oh and formally, welcome back kids.

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What goes around comes around, Charlie

Not to reminisce about the completely unfounded Charlie Crist-gay rumors from 2006, but this is one of those [insert obvious joke here] moments.

From the Palm Beach Post,

In the wake of Florida’s new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the editor of GaySoFla.com is helping activist group Impact Florida organize a peaceful protest of Gov. Charlie Crist’s “constitutionally protected” marriage on Dec. 12 to Carol Rome.

But, DraftAlex is sure that those protesters are just there to “live and let live,” (see our post here on his complete bs maneuvering of Amendment 2) and to wish the couple best wishes for their nuptials. It’s totally something like that.

Charlie, didn’t your mother ever tell you what goes around comes around? You can’t work to deny someone a right that you then decide to exercise and not expect to at least be called out for it.

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Charlie Crist: Not a Leader or a Cartographer, apparently

On Nov. 21- right before Thanksgiving- the state got the final economic breakdown about Florida’s revenue future- and it was not something to give thanks for. If you haven’t heard, check out this morning’s St. Pete Times or Miami Herald.

The short story is that the state bet on a high growth rate, but because of the economy, that growth rate just doesn’t exist anymore. The state will be short more than $31 billion (yes, that’s billion with a B, people) in revenue that it expected over the next four years just won’t exist.

Problem? I think so. But, apparently, platitudes are supposed to get me through the hard times. Charlie Crist, Cheerleader in Chief, had this to say in response…

Florida will probably come out of it first. I mean, the sun always comes up in Florida first.”

Well, thanks Charlie, I’ll be sure to file that under the “are you effing kidding me” category. First, let’s start with Florida isn’t the eastern most state, so the sun doesn’t come up first here. But, more importantly, platitudes aren’t going to help; this isn’t leadership. Florida is facing a huge crisis here, and this doesn’t exactly boost my morale, let alone the state economy.

But, at least Alex Sink is paying attention. Alex understands that unfortunately the state banked on a high growth rate, that’s dwindling, and she responded to the numbers saying the following:

We can’t rely any more on attracting fixed-income retirees from up north and selling them cheap land…Those days are over.”

Ah, leadership. Understanding of the issues. How I miss yee.

Florida should be demanding more; we certainly need leadership that befits such a great state.

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“But Charlie is so popular…”

DraftAlex is back from Thanksgiving, but not without a bit of a headache. Though part of it was most definitely caused by traffic and maybe a bit of Turkery (read: tryptophan) overload, most of it was because of this:

“But, Charlie Crist is so popular…”

While discussing politics with my family, that phrase was uttered by Democrat and Republican alike. No one said that Charlie had done such a stand-up job that they were definitely going to vote for him in 2010. No one said that they particularly liked his handling of any issue or problem in the state. Not one person- including my die-hard Republican relatives- thought that he was leading the state in the right direction. So, what’s going on?

You’ve read DraftAlex’s rants on this before, but seriously, why is Charlie Crist’s “popularity” keeping people from looking for a better option, like say Alex Sink? Why aren’t we demanding more for our state? Why is everyone just OK with the job Charlie is doing?

Here’s my deal: his support is softer than it seems. Only 50% think that he deserves to be reelected, even though 68% approve. Democrats can beat him. We need to stop being so defeatist about his supposed popularity and start demanding real answers and solutions for the issues facing Florida- answers and solutions Charlie just isn’t giving us.

Florida is a great state, and I, for one, am not content with settling. But, with the only response being “he’s so popular”, you cannot tell me that I’m the only one.

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Alex Sink Seeking the Senate?

It’s pretty obvious that people are hoping that Alex Sink tosses her hat in the ring or higher office. The question we hope she’s facing right now is which one: Senate or Guvna?

There are perhaps a few too many calls for Alex Sink to be our Senate nominee.  This morning, Blast Off! even called for her to run for Senate and forget about the governor’s mansion.

Here at Draft Alex Sink for Governor the bias is pretty obvious. But, think for a second about why running for Senate wouldn’t be as good as a move.

First, just in terms of personality and experience, Alex is perfectly suited to be governor. She’s been an executive- and that’s what a governor theoretically does (just don’t look to Charlie for an example). Dan Gelber, Bob Wexler, Allen Boyd- these men are legislators- damn good ones, if I may. Their skills and interests fit the profile of a Senator more than Alex’s do.

There is a crowded bench already. Alex would have to compete with the likes of Dan Gelber and Chris Korge, maybe Allen Boyd, or even Bob Wexler. Those are some serious players, who could all represent the state well and some will run if she gets in or not. Alex could win the primary and the general, but why go for Senate to when the bench is already so deep, so good.

Winning the senate seat back is going to be tougher than we imagine. Sure, it looks a lot easier than beating Charlie does, but we’re two years out from the election- things change. Charlie should start to look more like a do-nothing, and Mel Martinez might decide to gracefully bow out, leaving the Republicans to nominate someone who could give us more of a challenge. In short, get excited about another Democratic senator, but don’t bet money on it just yet.

While there’s a crowded bench for Senate, there is literally no bench for governor- outside Alex Sink. If Democrats want to stop losing the state, then we can’t cede races like the 2010 gubernatorial. We need to not only nominate a candidate, but we need to nominate a good one. Right now, no other Democrat is really dipping the proverbial toe in the water- no one, not even Rod Smith.

And, there’s my peace.

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Special Session Watch: Crist advisor LeMieux says it will happen and taxes are on the table

The Buzz is reporting that on his Karl Rove wannabe weekly report — LeMieux says the special session is going to happen in December or January and that raising taxes is on the table.

Of course, Charlie is still silent – preferring platitudes like “tighten our belts” (read:means massive cuts in health care, education, and programs for the disabled). So, LiMieux’s mutterings are the closest thing to an indication about what Charlie will do.

Let’s rewind to the end of the 2006 campaign when Crist campaigned in the homestretch using this simple line:

If you want higher taxes, you vote for who? Jim Davis, If you want lower taxes, you vote for who? Charlie Crist.

Economic crises lead to a change of plans there is no question abaout it – but this was a signature issue for him. What is Charlie going to do?

There is no question something has to be done about the revenue situation, but raising sales taxes in a bad economy will just mean less consumer spending and less revenue. A tobacco tax is a decent idea – but it puts state programs dependent on a declining revenue stream. There are not a lot of good choices – so we really do need to get to work.

A guy who doesn’t work for Charlie anymore is updating Floridians on what is going to happen better than the Governor — it’s time to get to work and fix our budget.

So where is Charlie? He got to work at noon today and has nothing scheduled for the rest of the week.

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Calling for a Special Session: What should Florida save?

Alex Sink called for a special session, and here at DraftAlex, we’re backing her up.

In case you don’t know about the myriad of projects that would be cut or just deleted from the state budget, you can go online to the Florida Fiscal Portal and check it out. Each state agency has submitted their proposed cuts, which can be seen under Sechedule VIIB-2, in order to comply with the additional 10% of the across the board budget cuts asked for by Charlie.

Here’s a few that chafed my ass the most:

• No more Amber alerts or sexual predator unit
• Eliminate 13 state law enforcement offices from Broward to Gainsville
• Reduction of probation supervision by 40% making the probation officer to parolee ration 1:196
• Cut contracts that improve nursing homes and organ and tissue donation programs
• Eliminate health coverage for poor pregnant mothers and their kids
• Eliminate vision, hearing, and dental appointments from Medicare
• Dramatically reduced support for Pre-K
• Significant reduction in investigative services and child protection at DCFS
• $65 Million in funding shifts in Medicare to local governments who don’t have the money either
• Reduction of unemployment services for over 88,000 Floridans out-of-work including closing 10 centers

and the kicker: From the Office of the Governor, eliminate 10 budget workers.

At least a lot of this has to be approved by the legislature, although that means we have to count on them to stand up for us.

On Friday, Charlie said, “These are historically challenging economic times our state is facing, but just like Florida’s families, we will continue to tighten our belts and live within our means.”

Are you kidding me? This isn’t just about tightening the state’s belt, this is about not getting the water shut off.

Oh, and if you haven’t yet, sign our petition to call for a special session to back up Alex and other state Democrats.

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Special Session Watch: They have no choice

So we know how much red ink we have in Florida today: $2.3 Billion. What does that mean?

Well, even AFTER Charlie borrows 700 Million from the Chiles fund and sells low- only to later have to buy high-we will still have around $1.1 Billion to cut from the state budget.

What’s even worse is that the longer we wait the harder it gets, since cuts have to be made above and beyond Charlie’s lazy, election time, across the board cuts – it may be impossible to stop from eliminating services that are necessities for most and even laying off more workers – adding to the highest unemployment rate in 15 years.

We needed to get to work on a special session this week – instead of having the republicans legislators hang out in $400 a night hotel rooms and talking about how they wanted to cut health care services from already struggling Floridians.

Alex Sink called for it. Dan Gelber called for it. Papers called for it. But Cheerleader-in-chief Charlie and the Republican leadership decided to stick their heads in the sand at a beach resort.

But after weeks of wringing his hands and saying he doesn’t want to get to work – Charlie has to get to work now. But it will likely be too little too late to keep the Florida budget deficit from adding to the struggles of most Floridian middle-class and working class families.

And where is Charlie today? He’s working on the budget- but just not the one that’s important to average Floridians. He’s raising money for the RPOF.

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Bob Graham vs. Charlie Crist (Hint: Always bet on Graham)

When Charlie Crist decided to raise tuitions at Florida Universities to increase the funding available to them, he tries to make it sound good at the start, but the devil is always in the details.

This time he’s up against someone who was far better at being Governor than Crist: Bob Graham.

We all love Bob Graham, and he’s serious about higher education. He’s founded a new school at the University of Florida, and he’s even suing the legislature to force them to allow the Board of Governors to set tuition.

Why? Because he’s afraid that the legislature will use the tuition increases to lower their funding of universities from the general fund.

St. Pete Times quotes Graham:

It could become almost a narcotic to cover up the real problems by shifting more of the total cost of education to students while the state does not keep up its end of the bargain

Charlie’s staff says the legislature has agreed not to pull a bait and switch. But, with a $2.3 billion dollar deficit and people like Ray Sansom running things in Tallahassee — Graham seems more likely to be right.

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Special Session Watch: Crist tries to borrow more today, and Sentinel joins Alex Sink the call for a session

The AP is reporting that the SBA is meeting today to try and borrow more money from the Chiles fund. As we’ve said before Alex Sink is worried this may wipe out the fund that has taken a serious hit from the Bush economy.

Will Charlie get his way and keep borrowing money until March? We shall see, but more and more people are seeing the need for a special session.

The Orlando Sentinel penned an editorial arguing for a special session and explains where Charlie Crist’s lazy leadership might get us:

[T]his combination of using reserves and across-the-board spending cuts to balance the budget is neither prudent nor smart. Depleting savings this year will leave fewer resources if the economy doesn’t rebound next year, or if a major hurricane or other disaster strikes Florida. Cutting state-agency budgets across the board makes no distinction between high- and low-priority functions of government … The more time they waste, the harder it will be on everyone who counts on state services.

There is no question that Florida has a serious budget problem and we need serious leaders that are ready to fix it. Alex Sink is, but Charlie would rather keep borrowing Florida into a worse financial situation.

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