By Arley Gieski
Special to Valencia Voice

Voters may be asking themselves, “Who is Alex Sink and what does she stand for?”

Alex Sink is the Democratic candidate hoping to become the first woman Governor of Florida.  She has 26 years of experience in the business world and has spent the last four years as Florida’s chief financial officer (CFO).

Alex Sink was born Adelaide Alexander Sink and grew up on a farm in Mt. Airy, North Carolina and then went on to college at Wake Forest University, North Carolina.  She currently resides in Thonotosassa and Tallahassee with her husband, former Democrat gubernatorial candidate Bill Mc-Bride. They have two children together; Bert, a football player at Stanford University and Lexi, a student at Wake Forest University.

Before being elected as Florida’s CFO in 2006, Sink was president of Florida operations for Bank of America where she managed 9,000 employees and $40 billion in customer accounts.

During her career as Florida’s CFO, she was responsible for 2,000 employees and an annual budget of $200 Million.  As the CFO she put her business experience to work for the good of Floridians.

She is known for cracking down on unnecessary spending and demanding accountability for Florida’s vendors, consultants and contractors.

If Sink wins the Governor’s race she plans to get Florida’s economy moving again and intends to create long-term economic prosperity for the future.  Once in office, she will implement targeted tax cuts, offer incentives for businesses, and “trim the fat” in government.

Sink feels that Florida’s economy needs a boost. She plans to do this by offering research and development tax credits to increase commercialization of new products in Florida.  She also seeks to plan up to $2 billion for high-tech spending.

Sink plans to streamline regulations by temporarily postponing corporate income taxes for qualified start-ups.  She would provide incentives for the clean-tech, aerospace, life sciences, information technology and financial services industries.

Although Sink’s election would be historic, she is a down-to-earth candidate stressing time-honored values such as discipline, moderation and efficiency.