Khavari Gains Significant Democratic Endorsement

Alex Sink’s chances of becoming the first Democrat to win the Florida governorship in sixteen years suffered a blow of sorts on Sunday afternoon when former Democratic rival Brian P. Moore endorsed the independent candidacy of Miami’s Farid A. Khavari.

In endorsing the University of Bremen-educated economist, Moore said that Khavari was “more of a Democrat than the Democratic nominee.”

A Pied Piper of progressive politics in the Sunshine State, the 67-year-old Moore polled nearly a quarter of the votes — garnering an eye-opening 201,705 votes — against the heavily-favored Sink in the August 24 Democratic primary. Moore, who proudly wears his liberalism on his sleeve, spent approximately one-tenth of one percent of Sink’s $7.8 million war chest in his quixotic quest for the Democratic nomination.

Moore’s remarks were made during a presentation of the “Khavari Economic Plan for Florida,” a three-hour event that drew more than fifty people.

In his remarks at the Kendall Hotel & Suites in Miami, Moore blasted both of Khavari’s major-party rivals, but saved his sharpest criticism for Sink, the state‘s chief financial officer and former president of Bank of America’s Florida operations.

“She wasn’t even gracious enough to acknowledge my presence in the race in her victory speech on primary night,” the white-haired Moore said wistfully. “At least she was consistent,” he added. “During the entire primary she acted like I didn’t even exist.”

Her arrogance, he said, was fostered by a jaded and somnolent media that was more than happy to crown her as the Democratic nominee long before any votes were cast in the August primary.

He’s right. Some Florida newspapers didn’t even mention that she had a primary opponent.

Pointing to her failure to support a single-payer system or a robust public option during the health care debate, her support of a ballot initiative weakening the class size amendment, and her recent call for extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy — tax cuts in which she and her husband would personally benefit — the former gubernatorial candidate said that Sink “has demonstrated an ability to be more Republican than her Republican opponent.”

The way Moore sees it, the November 2 election is really between two Republicans and independent candidate Farid Khavari.

Ramping up his attack, the mercurial Moore — a pesky fixture in Florida politics during the past decade — maintained that Sink, in her role as pension fund trustee for a million current and future state retirees, should shoulder the lion’s share of the blame for squandering more than $266 million in an ill-fated Manhattan real estate gamble.

It was one of several questionable investments made by the State Board of Administration.

“Their hands-off style of oversight was astonishing,” Moore said of Sink and the SBA’s two other trustees, Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum.

But Sink was the biggest culprit, insists Moore.

“After all, she’s the state’s chief financial officer,” he said. “She and the other trustees ignored all of the risks associated with the Peter Cooper Village investment. She likes to say that she’s the ‘voice of the people’ when it comes to banking and financial matters, but it makes one wonder how financially savvy she really is.”

Moore also reminded his audience that Sink, a career banker, had laid off thousands of employees — as many as 6,000, according to some news reports — when NationsBank bought Barnett Bank in 1997, shortly before merging with Bank of America. At the time, Barnett was the oldest and largest bank in Florida.

“That’s not a particularly reassuring track record for somebody wanting to be governor of a state suffering from an acute unemployment crisis,” jabbed Moore.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida was one of only two states that experienced a spike in unemployment in August, reporting an official jobless rate of 11.7 percent, compared to 9.6 percent nationally. Unofficially, the unemployment rate is much higher.

Florida also has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, more than twice the national average. Moreover, some 46 percent of all residential mortgages in Florida are currently “underwater.” Only Nevada, where 68 percent of all homeowners with mortgages are trapped in homes that are underwater, has a higher rate of foreclosures.

Moore also criticized Republican Rick Scott for his role in the largest Medicare (and TriCare) fraud case in U.S. history — ripping off taxpayers, seniors and veterans alike — saying that Scott either deliberately “turned a blind eye“ to the fraud being committed by Columbia/HCA Corp., or that he was an entirely incompetent CEO, totally unaware of what was going on around him.

“He was either brazenly corrupt or woefully incapable of running a large company,“ said Moore. “Floridians can’t afford to take a chance on him.”

Moore also ridiculed Scott’s plans to lay off 6,500 state workers. “Layoffs are precisely what has crippled Florida’s economy,” he lamented.

“In a sense,” he concluded, “both major-party candidates are inept and unprincipled.”

Their ideas for stimulating the economy, he contends, are nothing more than “fossilized folly” — worn-out and largely discredited ideas that simply won’t work given the magnitude of the country’s economic predicament. 

“Massive government layoffs, tax credits for small business, and additional tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy will do little to remedy double-digit joblessness,” he explained.

“Florida needs something bold and imaginative.” 

In endorsing Khavari’s long-shot candidacy, Moore praised the Iranian-born candidate for his courage in overcoming tremendous adversity in his personal life — Khavari’s father was murdered by the radical Islamic regime of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980 for refusing to renounce his Bahá’í faith — and for offering an innovative and comprehensive economic plan for recession-ravaged Florida.

“He’s a pioneer in new ideas and offers practical solutions for creating jobs,” said Moore. “I‘m proud to support him.”

In announcing his candidacy more than sixteen months ago, Khavari, 67, became the first candidate for public office to seriously promote the idea of a state-owned bank since the Great Depression. “The era of commercial banks is over,” says Khavari.

It’s an idea that has been picked up by more than a dozen candidates throughout the country this fall, including Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, the Democratic nominee for governor in Michigan. A number of Green Party candidates, including New York’s Howie Hawkins and Rich Whitney of Illinois, have also embraced the idea.

Khavari’s proposed state-owned bank is modeled after the nation’s commercial banks and — relying on the commonly accepted practice of “fractional reserve banking” — could provide fixed-rate mortgages at two percent and credit cards at six percent. The Bank of the State of Florida, he says, would also provide attractive rates on car loans and other consumer borrowing while offering CD’s yielding a 6 percent return.

The bank’s profits would be used to lower property taxes throughout Florida while helping to fund the state government.

“Khavari’s idea of establishing a state-owned bank will go a long way toward revitalizing Florida’s troubled economy,” concluded Moore. “Now more than ever, Florida needs an economist at the helm.”

A million unemployed Floridians might agree.