Fla. CFO angry over Crist’s switch on oil drilling

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is angry that Gov. Charlie Crist no longer supports a federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling, and said Wednesday she wants Congress to know not everyone in Florida agrees.

Sink quickly called a press conference after returning to the Capitol because she wanted to make sure people didn't read headlines about the governor's switch and think offshore drilling was something the state wanted.

"He's one person, he's one public official, and I'm another statewide elected official who heard a lot about this when I was out campaigning," Sink said. "This is not the right thing to do in Florida. I don't want those people in Washington to think all of a sudden the people in Florida support oil drilling off our coast."

Crist had repeatedly opposed offshore drilling during his 2006 campaign and beyond. In a meeting with the state's congressional delegation in December 2006, he said he wanted them to keep opposing drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Likewise, he asked the same of presidential candidates last year.

But this week Republican John McCain said he supports lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling. Crist, who has campaigned extensively for McCain, then said he does too. Sink said she was "stunned" when she heard the news.

"The more I thought about it, the angrier I got," said Sink, the only Democrat to sit on Florida's three-person Cabinet.

Environmentalists, who have praised Crist for promoting alternative energy and speaking out about climate change, were also criticizing Crist on Wednesday.

"It is particularly disappointing that Gov. Crist, who last summer pledged to make Florida a leader in reducing global warming pollution and is set to host a climate change summit in Miami next week, is supporting a proposal that would accelerate climate change by promoting the outdated, dirty energy sources of the past," said Holly Binns of Environment Florida.

Sink to Crist: oil drilling "doesn't sound very green"

Miami Herald Naked Politics Blog

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink joined the chorus of Democrats, and some Republicans, sounding off in opposition to Gov. Charlie Crist's call for oil drilling off the coast to offset rising fuel prices. She noted that, unlike his climate change push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, his turnabout on oil drilling "doesn't sound very green to me.''

"Florida needs protection from Washington politics,'' Sink declared at a hastily called news conference. She said she was "stunned" when she learned of the news of the governor's reversal today by reading news accounts, including a piece in the Wall Street Journal which she said left the impression that if the governor supports oil drilling, the rest of Florida does.

"The more I thought about it, the angrier and angrier I got,'' she said. "We can't be ruled by polls...The governor is one person, he's one public official and I'm another statewide public official and I'm presenting the countervailing position.''

She said drilling could take as much as 10 years to even recover one drop and "will do nothing to reduce the pain we're feeling'' from $4 a gallon gas prices. "The future is not in destroying our coast,'' she said. "We need long-term solutions now.''

Sink 'stunned' by Crist's shift on drilling

St. Pete Times Buzz Blog

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink Wednesday came out forcefully against Gov. Charlie Crist's support for studying drilling off the Florida coast. The only Democrat on the Cabinet, who has worked cooperatively with Crist, described becoming "angrier and angrier" as she listened to radio newscasts (which featured Crist's support for studying the need for offshore drilling to bring down gas prices, after years of firmly opposing any drilling).

"Floridians have to realize that this is not the answer, and I am stunned by this turn of opinion from people who have been very strong advocates against oil drilling off our coast," Sink said.  She cited the bi-partisan deal in Congress in 2005 that stipulated no drilling within 125 miles of the Florida coast in exchange for opening up 8-million acres of dormant drilling leases. "We've already compromised," Sink said.

"This proposal would do nothing to reduce the pain we're feeling today," said Sink, who estimated it would take 10 years for the first drop of oil to appear off Florida. The answer, she said, is conservation, not more oil.

Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer rose to Crist's defense, insisting that he did not endorse drilling, only "a re-evaluation of public policy." Crist endorsed John McCain's view that the Congressional moratorium on oil drilling off Florida should be lifted, and that states should decide on a case-by-case basis how to proceed.

"I'd rather have a leader who is seeking out solutions and getting information than one who does not have an open mind to solving the economic problems that citizens face," Greer said. "Governor Crist is focused on results."

Sink: Crist's new oil stance "doesn't sound very green to me"

Orlando Sentinal Central Florida Political Pulse Blog

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Florida CFO Alex Sink added her voice to the cacaphony of criticism from Democrats Wednesday over the about-face Florida's Republican political leadership has made on offshore oil drilling.

Responding to GOP presidential hopeful John McCain's call for more offshore drilling to ease gas prices, Sink told Capitol reporters at a hastily scheduled press conference that the shifting position expressed first by McCain, then Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez this week made her "angry," and that "the more I thought about it, the angrier I got."

"This proposal will do nothing to reduce the pain that we feel today," she said, referring to studies that it could take decades for stepped-up offshore oil production to put any new fuel in the U.S. pipeline.

Sink said she hadn't been asked by any other Democratic Party officials to weigh in, but was dismayed throughout the day to see the media exposure caused by Crist's about-face, and wants policymakers outside the state to recognize "not everybody thinks this way." She said added the governor's new stance "doesn't sound very green to me."