Farid Khavari

Miami, FL Mar. 30 – Noted economist and Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate today called on Alex Sink, also a Democratic candidate, to withdraw from the governor’s race. “The poll numbers are bad enough, with Republican Bill McCollum 15 points ahead of Alex Sink,” Khavari said, referring to the March 29 Mason-Dixon Poll showing McCollum leading Sink by 49% to 34%. “But these poll numbers are really much worse than they seem.

“Florida has 17% more Democratic voters than Republican,” Khavari continued. “24% of Democrats already support the Republican. This is not because Democrats like McCollum. It is because Democrats simply don’t support Sink. If the race were evenly divided along party lines, Sink would be eight points ahead of McCollum.

“This means that 24% of Democrats prefer to vote for a Republican who was a 20-year Congressman on banking committees, then a lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers of America, rather than a Democrat who is a multimillionaire retired banker. Even Democratic women don’t support Alex Sink.

“Democrats see through the rhetoric in Alex Sink’s ‘Business Plan’ and realize that the same old schmaltz didn’t create jobs before and it won’t create jobs now. If the Chief Financial Officer of Florida knew anything about creating jobs, why hasn’t she done anything about it? Over a million Floridians are out of work and she just found out about it?” Khavari said.

“Alex Sink was hand-picked by Democrat Party leaders, who lavished over $1.5 million on her campaign, without any input from Party members. We can’t afford crony politics in Florida any more, not with a million Floridians out of work and 800,000 foreclosures already, and worse to come. It is time for her to step aside,” Khavari said.

“My plan to create 1,000,000 new private-sector jobs in Florida, without subsidies, is spelled out in detail. Voters from all parties support it because everyone can understand that it will work. And, above all, we need jobs, jobs, and more jobs here in Florida. We can get them with my plan,” Khavari said.

Another aspect of Khavari’s Economic Plan, the creation of a state-owned bank, has received national acclaim. Since it was announced, gubernatorial candidates in five other states have included proposals for state-owned banks in their campaigns. The proposed Bank of the State of Florida would slash interest costs for state and local governments, and for all Floridians as well, while turning a profit for the state. “This is common-sense economics,” Khavari said. “2010 is about economics, not crony politics.”

Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is a respected economist and author of nine books, including Environomics. His Economic Plan for Florida is at www.khavariforgovernor.com.

Bill McCollum

It is really something when Alex Sink is sounding like Jack Kemp!  Yet Bill McCollum is sounding like a Democrat. You can read more about that here

Tonight the Paula Dockery campaign fired off a great Press Release that hit Bill on that mark as well.  Below is that release

Bill McCollum

It would seem that Good Ole’ Boy Bill McCollum’s support is slipping. In the last few weeks the Dockery campaign has released endorsements from Dennis Jones and Nancy Detert who both came out for Bill early on.

If people endorsing Bill are having second thoughts shouldn’t voters?  Bill represents the establishment and the status quo.  This is just one of McCollum’s big worries. Recently the RPOF has come under considerable criticism, which McCollum has remained mute on the issue.  Considering how close McCollum and Greer are I don’t expect him or his campaign to be active on this big issue.  Doesn’t McCollum have an RPOF American Express (AMEX) card?  But we can trust McCollum right?  He did use the state plane for just work related trips right?

Paula Dockery

State Sen. Paula Dockery says her gubernatorial campaign is off and running and that she’ll report having raised $325,213 in less than two months of trying. Of that, she acknowledges, $33,479 is in-kind and can’t be counted as spendable dollars. She also notes that she loaned herself $100,000, meaning she actually raised only about $191,000.

The Lakeland Republican is far behind her GOP rival, Bill McCollum, who reported raising $1.4 million last quarter. And awaiting the winner of their primary is Democratic CFO Alex Sink, who says she ended the year with $1 million cash-on-hand.

Still, Dockery claimed a total of 1,078 contributors, many of the small. “I am humbled by the generous support we’ve received from all over the state in such a short period of time,” she said in a statement. ” At this rate, this campaign will have all the financial support we need to deliver our common-sense conservative message across the Sunshine State this election season…
“As for our opponents,” Dockery said, “they have been raising money since last summer and while they may have a head start, they should keep two things in mind: one, Paula Dockery is in this race for the long haul.  And two, objects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear.”

Farid Khavari

Miami, FL   — Noted economist Farid Khavari, a  Democratic candidate for Florida governor, has gained national and international attention for his plan to create a state-owned bank in Florida.

“Not since the Great Depression has it been so clear,” said Khavari. “We need banks that work for the benefit of the people, not people working for the benefit of the banks. There is no mystery why we are facing another depression: the banks got greedy and stupid, and now they are making us pay for it.

“The economy is collapsing due to lack of demand. The economy needs money, but the banks are cutting credit, and then sucking all the cash out of the economy by raising interest rates to make sure no one has any cash left at the end of the month. The cost of interest is built into the cost of everything. People already work ten years of their lives just to pay interest in one form or another. The Bank of the State of Florida will end that for Floridians. And this model will work for every state.

“We can start the BSF at no cost to taxpayers. We can pay 6% interest on savings. Using the same fractional reserve rules as all banks, we can create $900 of new money through loans for every $100 in deposits. We can loan that $900 in the form of 2% fixed rate 15-year mortgages, for example, and the state can earn $12 every year for every $100 in deposits. That means Floridians can save tens of billions of dollars per year while the state earns billions making it possible for them.

“2% fixed-rate mortgages will create a thousand times more jobs than any so-called stimulus can.  By reducing the total interest cost on a home by over 85%, the average family will save hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that money stays in Florida,” Khavari said.

“State and local government budgets will balance without higher taxes when the BSF cuts interest costs,” Khavari said. “6% BSF credit cards will save people billions per month, money that stays in Florida instead of going to the big banks—and the state will make huge profits on that, too.  Saving billions in interest costs will create millions of jobs without subsidies just by keeping those billions circulating in Florida. Eventually the state will earn enough to reduce and eliminate state and local taxes while every Floridian has economic security in a recession-proof Florida.”

Asked whether a state-owned bank is socialism, Khavari smiled. “Are public schools socialism? Public roads, police and fire protection, municipal water? Socialism is where everyone works for the state. In these cases, and with our Bank of the State of Florida, the state is working for everyone. I call that general capitalism.”

Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is an economist and author of nine books, including Environomics. His latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, is available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.

Bill McCollum

With state Sen. Paula Dockery set to jump into the race for governor today, Attorney General Bill McCollum was endorsed by former Gov. Jeb Bush — the most influential voice in the Florida Republican Party.

Then his campaign office put out the Bush endorsement.

“I am proud to support my friend Bill McCollum as Florida’s next Governor,” Bush said. “At this critical time in our state’s history, we need a chief executive who will meet our challenges head on and stay true to the core conservative principles of limited government, fiscal discipline and the protection of liberty tempered by personal responsibility.”

Bush, who was governor from 1999 to 2007, called the attorney general “a tested and accomplished leader.”

At his news conference on the travel taxes and debt regulation proposals, McCollum turned aside questions about Dockery’s challenge. He said he is concentrating fully on Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democratic candidate for governor.

Dockery, who has been in the Legislature since 1996, has been testing the waters for several months. She won’t be term-limited out of the Senate until 2012 but would have to give up the last two years of her legislative term to run for governor.

Her candidacy is another major blow to the Republican Party’s announced efforts to avoid costly and divisive primary battles and concentrate on November of 2010.

Gov. Charlie Crist has drawn a tough challenge from former House Speaker Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate race and Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, running for McCollum’s Cabinet seat, faces an intra-party challenge from Holly Benson of Pensacola, former director of the Agency for Health Care Administration, who announced her candidacy last week.

Paula Dockery

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State Sen. Paula Dockery says she will run for governor, challenging Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination.

Dockery said in an e-mail  that she plans to file paperwork Tuesday to enter the race.

The Republican Party of Florida had hoped to avoid a primary. Earlier this year, Republican leaders convinced Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson to stay out of the race after initially saying he would run.

But the 48-year-old Dockery of Lakeland has said she’s been encouraged to get into the race.

Should Dockery win the primary, she would likely face Democrat Alex Sink. Either would be Florida’s first woman governor.

Kendrick Meek

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D- Miami, today picked up Senate endorsements from Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown, D-Jacksonville, who had been exploring her own run for Senate.

Sink, a 2010 candidate for governor, is one of two Dems to hold statewide office in Florida. The other — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson — hasn’t formally endorsed Meek, but was listed as a host for a Meek fund-raiser in Washington this month that was headlined by former President Bill Clinton.

Meek is the heavy favorite to win the Democratic Senate nomination, but former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre announced this month that he will also run as a Democrat.