CFO Alex Sink licensed ex-felons to sell insurance after bashing other agency for similar moves

TALLAHASSEE -- At the same time Alex Sink tried to ban felons from selling mortgages in Florida, her own state office was licensing ex-cons in the insurance business.

As Florida's chief financial officer, Sink oversees about 527,000 insurance licenses in the state. Her office could not identify how many of those belonged to agents with criminal backgrounds.

But the Herald/Times has identified at least 11 agents convicted of felonies such as grand larceny, fraudulent use of credit cards and writing bad checks who received their license from Sink, the Democratic nominee for governor.

A twelfth applicant was licensed nine years after a shoplifting conviction, despite rules that appear to require a 15-year waiting period for that crime. Sink's office did not respond to a question about that case.

State law prohibits Sink from using a criminal history as the sole reason to deny an insurance license application so long as the applicant has met a list of other requirements.

But Sink can use that criminal history against an applicant if the crime is ``directly related'' to the insurance business. She also has broad discretion to withhold a license if the crime shows the applicant has a ``lack of fitness or trustworthiness'' commensurate with the insurance industry.

Sink could not name one case in which she used that authority. And her CFO office could not find any examples after three days of searching.

``We follow the laws,'' Sink told The Miami Herald editorial board on Thursday. ``There are very strict laws and guidelines on who can and cannot be issued insurance licenses and they've been on the books for 40 years in Florida. We're not doing anything different or new.''

Questions about giving ex-felons insurance licenses were first raised during a debate last Friday by Sink's Republican rival in the governor's race, Rick Scott.

``You don't know what you're talking about,'' Sink said to Scott's prodding.

Scott replied that Sink ``takes no responsibility for anything.''

Sink's campaign shoots back that Scott has dodged his fair share of accountability.

Scott promises voters that he'll apply business principles to government but refuses to release a sworn deposition given earlier this year as part of a lawsuit against his latest business venture, a chain of health care clinics in Florida known as Solantic.

Scott also says he takes responsibility for ``mistakes'' made by Columbia/HCA, his chain of hospitals, that led to the company paying $1.7 billion in fines for Medicare fraud and pleading guilty to 14 felony charges for a variety of violations.

He was not charged with a crime, denies he was warned that the company was violating the law, and said he should have hired more auditors.

CRITICISMS

Meanwhile, piling up are Scott's criticisms that Sink distances herself from controversies the happen on her watch:

• In the late 1990s, Sink was on the audit board of Sykes Enterprises, a Tampa-based call center, when it was sued by investors for improper accounting procedures. Sink said she was unaware of the problems.

• As a member of the board that oversees state investments, Sink didn't object to some questionable transactions, notably the $266 million Peter Cooper Village real estate debacle, until the investments went south.

• While she was president of NationsBank Florida, the bank's parent company paid a $6.7 million fine for hoodwinking customers into buying high-risk securities. Sink said she had nothing to do it, because the suspect activity was ordered by her superiors.

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