‘A Banker’s Heart’: Khavari’s Running Mate Assails Alex Sink for Masquerading as a Democrat

Halloween began early for at least one Democrat in the Sunshine State.

Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink has spent much of the autumn campaign trying to distance herself from President Obama.

She did so at her own peril, says Darcy G. Richardson, economist Farid Khavari’s running mate for lieutenant governor.

“The fact of the matter is that there never was a real Democrat in this race,” said Richardson while campaigning in Jacksonville on Friday. “From the beginning, Alex Sink has tried to portray herself as a moderate Democrat when, in fact, she supports much of the national Republican agenda.”

Richardson, 54, pointed to Sink’s support for extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, those earning $250,000 or more — a position that puts her at odds with the Obama Administration while exposing her deeply-held Republican ideology.

Contrary to Sink’s misguided and pernicious logic, if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire for the nation’s wealthiest citizens, the vast majority of small businesses will be entirely unaffected, said Richardson, adding that, according to the IRS, less than 3 percent of tax returns reporting small-business income are filed by taxpayers in the top two income brackets — individuals earning $170,000 or families making $210,000 per year. 

Eliminating the tax cuts will in no way prevent small businesses from creating the jobs that might lift our sagging economy, said Richardson. “Like Grover Norquist and other conservatives who shamelessly look out for the interests of the rich and well-connected, Alex Sink is propagating a myth. 

“The vast majority of small businesses in Florida won‘t pay a penny more in federal taxes if the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are eliminated,” said the independent candidate for lieutenant governor. “What they really need is credit and a state-owned bank willing and able to provide it. 

“Alex Sink doesn’t get it,” he continued. “As Florida’s chief financial officer and a candidate for governor, one would think that she would have a better understanding of tax policy.”

Sink was elected CFO in 2006 when Florida still enjoyed a vibrant economy and has remained virtually silent as the state painfully slid into a fiscal and economic crisis — part of it her own doing, as a trustee of the grossly-mismanaged State Board of Administration (SBA), when the state lost billions of dollars in ill-advised pension investments, including the disastrous Peter Cooper Village debacle in New York.

“Why wasn’t that money invested in Florida?” asked Richardson.

“It’s funny, too, how she always neglects to mention that she and her husband have directly benefited from the Bush tax cuts and will continue to reap those benefits if the tax cuts are extended or become permanent,” he added.

“Alex Sink, who has a personal net worth of $9.2 million, supports continued tax cuts for the country’s most affluent individuals while the rest of America struggles to make ends meet. She’ll personally get another huge tax break while more than 1.2 million Floridians are without jobs and nearly half of the homeowners in the state are underwater on their mortgages,” said Richardson.

“She’s as selfish as those Wall Street executives who got bailed out while everybody else is drowning,” declared Richardson. “The Democrats should be embarrassed for nominating a career banker in a recession-ravaged state like Florida where millions are struggling just to keep their heads above water.”

Her southern twang might endear her to rednecks in North Florida, said Richardson, but her economic philosophy is one that is clearly embraced by Republicans nationally. 

The Democratic rank-and-file should revolt, says Richardson.

“Florida Democrats need a Tea Party of their own — an energized pressure group that will insist that the party stand for its progressive values.”

Alex Sink doesn’t really care about the financially-strapped middle class or the poor, said Richardson. “She has a banker’s heart.”

It’s a cold and cruel assessment of the woman who would be governor — an image straight out of the 1946 classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart — but it could resonate in a state that has experienced hundreds of thousands of home foreclosures, many initiated in slipshod fashion by Bank of America, Sink’s former employer.

“It might be harsh,” explains Richardson, “but it’s the truth.  Hopefully, we still have a little room for veracity in American politics.”

The Jacksonville author and historian, who joined Khavari’s ticket in September, also contends that the Democratic nominee is apparently ashamed of her own President, reminding Florida Democrats that Sink’s campaign aired a television commercial in early September titled “Difference,“ in which the 62-year-old Sink subtly tried to put some distance between herself and the Obama White House while stressing her miniscule policy differences with GOP rival Rick Scott.

“Sink also avoided stepping on stage with the President and didn’t greet him at the airport when he traveled to Miami Beach in August,” said Richardson. “Cowardly, she also made sure that she was out of town when President Obama attended another fundraiser in Miami earlier this month — a fundraiser, ironically, that benefited her own campaign.”

“As the Democratic nominee, one would think she would be honored to stand with the leader of her party,” he said. “ She’s definitely not a profile in courage.”

She’s one of the most cautious politicians in the country, not the type of individual who will fight for financially-beleaguered Floridians, Richardson said.  “She”ll never stand up to Corporate America.  She’s afraid of her own shadow.”

Heading into the campaign’s final weekend, Richardson urged Florida Democrats to reject their party’s nominee and support economist Farid Khavari of Miami in Tuesday’s election.

Khavari, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Bremen, has made the creation of a state-owned bank the centerpiece of his campaign for governor.

“One Republican in this race is enough,” quipped Richardson. “Dr. Khavari is the only candidate with a comprehensive economic program to help ordinary Floridians. Unlike Alex Sink — the Republican dressed up in a trick-or-treat costume as a Democrat — he cares about everybody.”

Earlier this month, the Khavari-Richardson ticket was endorsed by Brian P. Moore, a left-leaning and fiercely independent Democrat who polled nearly a quarter of the vote against Sink in the August Democratic primary.