Monday, May 11, 2009

Former Charlottean Alex Sink may run for governor -- of Florida

A decision by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist to run for the U.S. Senate could open the door to the governor's mansion to a former Charlottean.

Democrat Alex Sink was the first woman elected statewide in Florida in nearly a decade when she was elected the state's chief financial officer in 2006. She also was the first Democrat elected to the state Cabinet since 1998.

Crist is expected to announce Tuesday that he'll run for the Senate. Sink has told supporters that if he does, she'll run for his seat next year. Emily's List, a group that supports women candidates who favor abortion rights, Monday asked supporters to back Sink.

In 2002, Sink's husband, Bill McBride, beat former Attorney General Janet Reno in a primary but lost the governor's race to Republican Jeb Bush.

A Mount Airy native, Sink came to Charlotte in the 1970s for a job with N.C. National Bank, now Bank of America. She became president of the Charlotte Women's Political Caucus and a rising star in the banking world.

The bank transferred her to New York and later Florida, where she ended up running all the bank's operations until retiring in 2000.

She has another claim to fame: She is the great-granddaughter of Chang Bunker, a conjoined twin born in Thailand, then Siam, in 1811. He and his brother Eng were the original "Siamese twins." They settled in Mount Airy and married sisters from Wilkes County.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Emily's List, a group that supports women candidates who favor abortion rights, Monday asked supporters to back Sink."

With such significant support she is a winner. With all those empty houses in FL they should be actually trying to have more people.

Anonymous said...

her great grandpappy's historic homeplace is up for sale in Wilkes County...watch out for democrats to renovate it with federal $$$.

Anonymous said...

As a Real Estate Appraiser I saw what Sink did to the Florida Mortgage busines by allowing Bank of America to close many mortgages that imprisoned people in their home by over-appraising. She allowed this to happen in the 1990s and it is continuing now. She obviously did not vett smith at all, in gainesville he is known as a good ole boy and has many skeletons in his closet. They will be let out of closet.