Guv preview? McCollum pushes back at Sink
by George Bennett | May 12th, 2009
McCollum talks to reporters in Orlando
ORLANDO — Attorney General Bill McCollum will wait until next week to announce whether he’s running for governor, but he’s not waiting to push back against criticism from Chief Financial Officer and potential gubernatorial rival Alex Sink.
McCollum, considered the GOP frontrunner if he enters the race to succeed Senate-seeking Gov. Charlie Crist, spoke to a crowd of about 1,000 women at the first-ever Florida Conference for Women, an educational and networking event put together by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women.
Sink, expected to enter the governor’s race and be the Democratic frontrunner, spoke to the same conference this morning.
“I’m going to announce my plans for the 2010 election next week and I’ll let people know what I’m doing next week,” McCollum told reporters.
McCollum also defended himself from criticism by Sink — repeated by the CFO in West Palm Beach on Monday — over the AG’s $2.5 million TV ad campaign against Internet sex predators. The ads feature McCollum prominently and were produced by a former McCollum political consultant who got a no-bid contract.
Democrats have called the ads self-promoting, but McCollum said the spots have been effective and “I’m the attorney general. I’m the one that needs to deliver the message.”
McCollum said he awarded the contract to the consultant without a bid because “we wanted the best we could get.”
Then he took his own jab at Sink.
“A couple of other offices, such as the CFO’s, have a lot of no-bid contracts,” McCollum said.
While McCollum and Sink haven’t announced their 2010 plans, political veterans of past gubernatorial campaigns are already lining up behind them.
“I think McCollum will be a formidable candidate because, in these times, people are looking for a problem-solver…I think he’s absolutely our best choice on the GOP side,” said Sally Bradshaw, a former Jeb Bush campaign manager and chief of staff.
Palm Beach County Republican operative Beth Kigel, who was Crist’s point-person in the county in 2006 when most of the party establishment backed Tom Gallagher, said she’s expecting to work on a McCollum-for-governor campaign.
“I believe Bill McCollum will make a fine governor,” Kigel said.
Democratic operative Joan Joseph of Jupiter, a key figure in the 2002 campaign of Sink’s husband, Bill McBride, said Sink “should absolutely get in the (governor’s) race. And I’m 99.9 percent sure she will do that.”
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May 12th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
McCollum will be Governor. When they start digging in Sink’s past the voters will see things that will turn them away. it may be a historic opportunity to elect the first woman but tune has already been played at the national level and the voters will not be fooled a second time. Likeability is great if it works in connection with competence and vision and unfortunately Sink disappoints.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
[...] remember that, on Tuesday, Attorney General and likely GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum was touted by veteran GOP operative Sally Bradshaw as a “formidable candidate because, in these times, people are looking for a [...]