Heather Cox asked:
With the Property Insurance market in Florida in shambles, consumers unable to obtain coverage outside of Citizens, and Citizens decision to sunset their Builders Risk program by December of 2006, how will you approach solutions to the Property Market? Do you think that a global reinsurance market will help stabilize the market's decline as we see it now, and if not do you have any vision on what would?

My second question is regarding Consumer Choice. Currently with the Citizens take out market like it is if an agency representing and insured cannot gain appointment to a take out company who has made an offer to take a Citizens policy out of the market neither the agent nor the insured have any recourse -- the insured is forced to go with the take out company -- even if there is no local agency with whom the insured may interact. This leaves a large number of agents open to
potential "poaching" of an entire book of business as well as opening an insured to a relationship with company with whom they have no experience or any one to help them with questions. Would you support the continuance of Consumer Choice or an extension of the original proposal that would allow for any agent to gain access to any take out company?

Here are the leftover questions that were submitted, hopefully Alex will have time to answer them soon, so check back:

Becky Weiss asked:
One of Lee's major assets is that he says he has the experience and know-how in working with the Legislature. He says that will be a key part of bringing insurance companies into Florida. Do you consider your lack of experience in politics as weakness in being able to work with Florida reps?

Robin 'Roblimo' Miller asked:
While I know the CFO has no direct authority over Citizens', is there any way the CFO can help shop for reinsurance or otherwise work to keep Florida homeowner insurance rates from getting more than merely crazy-high?

Charles Chamberlain asked:
Is there anything you can do to deal with the crisis in hurricane insurance even with a republican majority in our state capital?

David Reiter asked:
What policies will Alex Sink propose that will affect the average Foridian?

Mark asked:
One of the duties of the Chief Financial Officer is to also be the State Fire Marshall, what are your goals for this position?

Patrick George asked:
The State Board of Administration announced three years ago that it would use some of the many billions under management by the state to support venture capital and new business development efforts in Florida, but then it turned around an outsourced the placement of that capital to firms in New England. As a result very little, if any, of that capital has gone into growing emerging Florida companies. This is after a decade of trying to pull capital into the state from the state's own coffers. It doesn't make sense that the state's capital should go towards growing businesses in New England and the West Coast when entrepreneurs want to live here. Too many good businesses are finding that they have relocate to Boston or San Francisco to access venture capital. Therefore, I'd like to know where candidate Sink stands on using even a small portion of the state's capital reserves on strategically growing new ventures in the state?

Cleo L. asked:
I understand the need to bring in business to Florida and to protect Florida's insurance industry. However Jeb Bush and Tom Gallagher are doing this (at least partially)at the expense of injured workers! Florida's injured workers are not getting the appropriate attention needed. What is wrong with Florida's Workers Comp program? I also understand there has been a great deal of fraud. Not every case is fraud as the comp carriers would have us believe. When did the innocent before proven guilty system get turned around as it has in the Workers Comp System? Our attorney says that we can't get pain and suffering even though there has been much of that. It's nearly impossible to bring a third party claim because no one died!

Faye Hunt asked:
What is going to happen to all the migrant worker's? When and how are they ever going to be paid a fair wage? Not that anyone living in Florida is paid a fair wage--most working people in this state have to work two jobs. I live in one of the wealthiest cities in the country and right next door in Immoklee we have the(I would guess) the poorist town in America!!! We need programs for people to help them receive food, health care. shelter, job training. I would like to see the state of Florida (just one time) institute some programs that weren't geared for the wealthy.

Jackie D asked:
Do you support the establishment of a Council on Efficient Government staffed by fiscal experts to evaluate privatization plans and advise state agencies on contracts? Would you require agencies to develop detailed cost-benefit analyses for outsourcing projects costing more than $1 million and/or require that projects costing more than $10 million be reviewed by the governor and Legislature?

Florida is suffering from a huge workforce housing shortage. Working families, including those of police officers, teachers, nurses and the like, cannot afford to buy a median-priced home in most Florida communities. The Florida legislature created a substantial fund, paid for by housing doc stamps, to help offset this problem. However, the legislature has refused to authorize full use of this fund, instead parceling it out in relatively tiny allotments. Can you propose a solution? Why can't the State of Florida create an equity fund that could invest in individual home equity at a low interest rate, similar to student loans, that could be repaid on eventual sale of a home?

How will you deal with the explosive growth Florida is experiencing, in particular, how will you help the smaller areas that may not have the resources to deal with growth?

What will be the most challenging aspects of the job of CFO?

What is the most important issue that the CFO will deal with and what is your approach to that issue?

If you win this race and the governor's office is occupied by a Republican, what will be your strategy for working with that individual?

What are your plans to deal with government waste, fraud and abuse?

In what ways can average Floridians help out the goals you are trying to achieve -- either with your campaign or through other means?

Thanks again Alex,
It was great speaking with you and hearing your perspective on the issues facing our State. Best of luck in your campaign to be Florida's next Chief Financial Officer. We will be watching the race closely in the months ahead. And thank you to everyone who participated in this discussion. (Although we ran out of time before all of the questions could be answered, check back periodically as Alex will be coming back to answer those in the days ahead) Have a great weekend!

Jackie D asked:
Are there some government services that should not be privatized? (Does it make any sense to privatize human resources services? It seems to me -- as a former state employee -- that human resources worked better when people worked for a particular government agency and understood its needs.)

Robert M. asked:
Florida's Republican leadership has been a symbol of the 'culture of corruption' and cronyism for far too many years now. What are your plans to change the good-ole-boy atmosphere that is so prevalent throughout Florida's government?

Now we'll open up the questions to anyone. Please ask them one at a time, though, to give Alex a chance to respond. We also have some reader-submitted questions that I will pass along. Let's start with Monica's question from above:

Please speak to the qualifications of the CFO for the state of Florida.

What efforts are you making to reach out to grassroots activists and bloggers?

What is the CFO's role in helping out Florida's veterans, particularly in light of frequent cuts in veterans benefits at the federal level?

Part of the CFO's job is improving school quality. What exactly is the CFO's role in education and what areas of our school system can you have the most impact on improving?

What is the CFO's role in protecting Florida's environment and what do you see as the most important environmental concerns in the Sunshine State?

Related to Laurie's question, what are your plans for dealing with the property insurance crisis in Florida and how is the CFO limited in this area?

(Other users, please save questions until 1:30, when Alex will answer as many as time allows).

Your campaign web site discusses ensuring access to affordable health care for all citizens, how will you approach this issue?

Why should progressive voters support your campaign?

While it is clear there is a natural cycle of storms, the evidence is also overwhelming that there is an increase in the intensity of hurricanes and an increase in the frequency of intense hurricanes.

Of course everything in Florida isn't literally oceanfront property, but almost everything in the state is close enough to the ocean for there to be practically no difference in the potential for intense damage from storms like these.

As my organization is a progressive one, we currently have no plans to interview any of the other candidates in this race, since none of them is progressive. We are more than willing to link to interviews and information on the other candidates -- we already do this -- but our organization's focus is identifying progressive candidates.

For more info on the other candidates:
http://quinnell.us/sspb/wiki/index.php?n=Main.ChiefFinancialOfficer

It may be true that the people living "directly" on the coast are rich, but there is little difference in the effects of these storms on those directly on the coast and those a mile inland. Having lived in a coastal area, if you go on the other side of the road, there are many, many poorer people living within a mile of the coast.

In Florida, though, almost everything is oceanfront property. Many poor people in Florida live close to the beach. Hurricanes also devistate thing miles inland, particularly the bad hurricanes. Besides, the issue I'm talking about is people who can't afford high-end insurance. So we aren't talking about people who can afford the extremely expensive policies, we're talking about middle and lower class people who are getting priced out of insurance -- insurance they would gladly buy if they could afford it. If they could buy it privately, they would, but, increasingly, they can't. And I'm not even necessarily talking about the "government paying to rebuild," as much as I'm talking about the government forcing the insurance companies into a more competitive market.

There are celebs on the right, too. Some, like Michelle Malkin and Andrew Sullivan, were already celebs before they became bloggers. Others, like Glenn Reynolds (of Instapundit) and John Hinderaker (of Powerline) are on the cable news just as much ast Markos is. Unlike Markos, though, none of these rightie celeb bloggers is attempting to shape their party, they are dutifully parroting whatever their party tells them to say.