Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democratic nominee for governor, is continuing her efforts to make inroads with Republicans with the support of term-limited state Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami.

Villalobos previously broke ranks with his party by endorsing Republican-turned-independent Gov. Charlie Crist in his bid for U.S. Senate.

Sink’s banking on her business background and reputation as a fiscal conservative to sway Republican voters away from her GOP opponent Rick Scott who defeated Attorney General Bill McCollum in a nasty primary last month.

Villalobos has plenty of reasons to shun his party. Former Gov. Jeb Bush joined Villalobos’ fellow GOP senators four years ago in a campaign to unseat the incumbent by backing his opponent in a brutal primary. Villalobos won.

Sen. Alex Villalobos, the Republican Rules Committee chairman, joined a slew of Democratic lawmakers urging Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the contentious teacher pay bill.

But Villalobos used a different tack to persuade the governor, who has until midnight Friday to act on the measure (SB 6): it’s a “constitutional mess.”

Villalobos argued in a letter to Crist sent Tuesday that the bill that virtually eliminates job security for teachers and bases their salary increases on how well their students perform on standardized tests poses a host of potential constitutional problems.

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The Florida Senate passed a proposed change to the constitution that would keep the class size limits at the school level instead of the classroom level as the constitution now requires.

In 2002, voters changed the constitution to cap class sizes at 18 for kindergarten through third grade, 22 for grades 4 -8 and 25 in high school.

The joint resolution would hold those caps at the school level and put new caps on the number of kids in classes by adding three students to PK-3 and five for students in grades 4-12.

Sen. Alex Villalobos, the lone Republican who opposed the measure, delivered an eloquent speech to a rapt chamber before the 26-12 vote was taken. He said the voters put the restrictions in the constitution because they wanted them.

“We didn’t get elected to come up here to have a nice chair or go to parties or have a bunch of lobbyists tell us how good we look or how smart we are or how witty we are,” Villalobos, R-Miami, said. “I believe the public is really sick and tired of politicians. We come up here and we pontificate all the time and it’s almost like we know better than anyone else. We don’t.”

With a slew of lawmakers, including Senate President Jeff Atwater, running for higher office this year, Senate Rules Chairman Alex Villalobos delivered a stern warning to members about using staff for campaign purposes.

Villalobos, who would have been in Atwater’s presidential shoes were it not for a coup staged by Atwater and his backers more than two years ago, sent a memo to the Senate’s 40 members outlining what their aides can – and mostly cannot – while on the clock.

Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, is leaving office early to run statewide for chief financial officer. Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, forced out because of term limits, is running for Congress, along with Democratic state Sens. Frederica Wilson of Miami, Charlie Justice of St. Petersburg and Palm Beach County’s own Ted Deutch of Boca Raton. Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, is also expected to run for Congress.

And Sens. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres and Dan Gelber of Miami Beach are running statewide in a Democratic primary for attorney general.

Senate staff can’t use annual leave or comp time to work on campaigns, nor can they work on a campaign during their lunch hour, Villalobos wrote.

They can volunteer after hours, that means outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

But aides can’t take a paying job with a campaign unless they get permission from Atwater and take leave-without-pay first.

“A Senator who uses staff paid by the Senate to work on his or her campaign while ‘on duty’ may be liable for theft,” Villalobos wrote. If the employee earned more than $5,000 or more as a state worker, the crime is a felony.

And the staffer who works on the campaign could also be liable for theft.

Oh, and no using state equipment like telephones or computers for campaign stuff. That’s a misdemeanor.