Though it's a relatively new position in the state Cabinet — it was created in '98, empowered in '02 and is currently held by the first guy to do the job, Tom Gallagher, who was elected without opposition — the office of chief financial officer is neither a high-profile nor a well-understood one. The CFO oversees the 11 branches of the Department of Financial Services; basically, he or she writes the checks, tries to find ways to write fewer checks and goes after the miscreants who receive checks via fraud, waste or mismanagement. Were the state not in a post-hurricane uproar over insurance rates, it's unlikely many residents would pay much attention to the CFO race at all.

There. You now know everything I know about the job, other than the fact that outgoing state Senate President Tom Lee and former banker Adelaide "Alex" Sink are the ones vying for it.

Call them The Even Couple.

At press time, polls showed the candidates in a statistical dead heat. Both reside in Hillsborough County. Both have garnered endorsements from heavy hitters in opposing political parties. Both were so busy scrambling to widen the poll-gap that I couldn't connect with either for an interview. Both are Republicans.

Oh, no, wait — Sink's a Democrat, sorry.

Sometimes it's tough to tell; the candidates' stances on various issues are strikingly similar. The website for each campaign features a quote stating that Florida needs to be run more like a business. Sink wants restraint with regard to privatization; Lee's pitch refers to "defying special interests," which could be inferred to include those inherent in outsourcing contracts for state services.

And perhaps more strikingly, they've both said and/or done things that break with their respective parties.

As a senator, Lee pushed for growth management, helped get the lobby reform bill passed and attempted to eliminate the slush funds controlled by his fellow state representatives. He's also trading on his image as an "independent reformer" — a couple of words capable of striking fear into the hearts of some old-school GOPartygoers.

Sink has called herself a "fiscal conservative" and pledges to pinch pennies. It's easy to imagine these facts inspiring lefty Democrats to see "red."

With both candidates so philosophically kindred on the issues, this race would normally break down nicely along party-affiliation lines. But current anti-Republican sentiment and Lee's status as a member of the state legislature that passed an obviously inadequate crisis-relief insurance bill will likely find disgruntled Republicans defecting to Sink's side of what seems to be a very narrow line.

My choice: Alex Sink, not only because I tend to veer left when in doubt, but also because of her strong consumer-advocate stance. Plus, I like her plans to strengthen the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and make the state help shoulder the responsibility of keeping insurance companies solvent.

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Elections 2006

This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2006.

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