Democratic CFO Alex Sink was poised but shaken this afternoon after Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum, both Republicans, thwarted her proposal to increase the number of trustees that oversee the embattled State Board of Administration.

McCollum

The SBA has been the target of reforms since almost squandering a $25 billion investment fund filled with local government tax money in 2007. Sink has penned many of the changes, but the one she says was her most important was all but demolished today.

The trustees include Crist, McCollum and Sink. Sink argues that elected officials often don’t have the background to dig into the state’s investment policies and suggested adding at least two more trustees to the panel: a beneficiary from the state’s $130 billion pension fund and someone with a strong investment background.

Gallagher

But Gallagher made his no-politics argument to an exceedingly political board: Sink and McCollum are the leading gubernatorial candidates from their respective parties and, still almost a year from a election day, neither wants to give the other any opportunity for momentum.

That leaves Crist as the tie breaker.

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Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum put off a request from Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink to expand the board they make up that oversees the agency in charge of $185 billion in state investments.

Sink, the sole member of the panel with any professional financial experience, is proposing an expansion of the State Board of Administration to include at one least investment expert and also wants the panel to get some training in financial matters.

But McCollum, a Republican running against Democrat Sink to replace Crist as governor next year, balked at his political opponent’s suggestion. Crist, also a Republican, backed him up.

Sink wants to add at least two members to the Board of Trustees that supervises the SBA, which manages the state’s $110 billion retirement fund. She suggested expanding the three-member panel to include an investment expert and someone who is invested in the state’s pension fund, the fourth largest in the nation, like other states with similar boards.

But McCollum and Crist put the brakes on making any decision about the board.

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Florida's $250 million investment in Peter Cooper Village in New York City has turned into a total loss, officials said today.

Peter Cooper Village in NYC is part of the state’s $99.6 billion portfolio that makes up the state’s pension plan.

The state invested $250 million in the apartment complex, where monthly rents range from $2,625 to $8,333, according to the development’s website.

Less than two years later, the value of the investment is zero, Williams told Gov. Charlie Crist, CFO Alex Sink and AG Bill McCollum, who oversee the SBA.

“We think we’re carrying that investment as a zero on our books,” Williams said.

This morning is the first of the quarterly meetings on the state’s investments requested by Sink that the SBA will give to the panel. (more…)

The State Board of Administration, the office that oversees about $185 billion worth of investments, will ask Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet on Tuesday to increase its budget by nearly 5 percent.

However, the additional $1.4 million for a board riddled in controversy is down from the original $3 million in budget increases that SBA Director Ash Williams sought last month. The board operated with a $29.2 million budget in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Williams withdrew his request for a 10.5 percent increase at the Cabinet meeting last month after state CFO Alex Sink asked him go through a “re-evaluation process” and “diligently” cut costs.

On Tuesday, Williams will attempt to define diligent by returning with a budget that adds 4.5 new positions instead of 7.5 and cuts the $800,000 travel budget by 6 percent instead of seeking a $2,000 increase.

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