This week marks a critical time for campaigns, as they get up and running for next year’s elections. On July 15th, campaigns are required by the FEC and many state elections boards to make public their fundraising totals though June 30th. These numbers give those of us who follow this stuff closely a good sense of candidates’ early strength -- candidates we are already supporting, candidates we might support and all of their filed opponents. While the national headlines would seem to suggest a leaderless GOP in disarray, some of the numbers I’ve seen this week show Republican donors pumped and primed to do what it takes to hold and gain key seats in 2010.
Examples include some of the hottest races around the country:
In Missouri, EMILY’s List candidate Robin Carnahan, running in Missouri’s open Senate race, raised an impressive amount -- over $1 million for the second quarter in a row. But her likely opponent Rep. Roy Blunt, who wasn’t even guaranteed a clear primary field, raised more than $1 million as well. So much for disaffected Republicans. This one will be competitive the whole way.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is lending a hand to help with aid for Haiti refugees in Florida. In addition to volunteering with recovery efforts during Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, Alex also urged also Floridians to help by donating time or money to relief work.
“This weekend, I had the opportunity to work alongside my fellow Floridians to help those in Haiti, and to offer my thoughts and prayers to the Haitian-American community in South Florida...The outpouring of support in Miami was inspiring and I urge all Floridians to give what they can to help the relief effort, especially after the aftershock that occurred in Haiti this morning.”
EMILY's List candidate Cong. Suzanne Kosmas also met with Haitian refugees in Florida recently and thanked Red Cross workers for all they're doing to help with recovery efforts.
Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink sure knows how to bring home the bacon for citizens of the Sunshine State.
Sink, currently serving as the state's chief financial officer, announced a savings of $12 million for taxpayers today, based on the work she's done to best use the state's resources.
According to the St. Petersburg Times's blog, the cost-saving measures have included "more quickly settling lawsuits against the state, by preventing workers' injuries, and by getting medical care more quickly to workers who are injured so that they return to the job sooner."
Sink says she's working on ways to be an even better steward of Florida's funds. "And there are still many, many opportunities in state government to ... give us a new way to how we do state business," she said during a press conference today.
There's no doubt SInk brings a great deal of business experience to her current role -- and that's exactly the type of leadership Floridians deserve in the governor's mansion.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has been making headlines recently for her work to cut waste and save resources for Florida's taxpayers. During tough economic times for states around the country, Sink's penny pinching adds up to major savings for Floridians, to the tune of $210,000 a year in decreased wireless costs alone.
Sink, an EMILY's List candidate for this battleground state's governor's seat, announced this week that by cutting back on BlackBerry, cell phone, and wireless card expenses, the Department of Financial Services will save $122,061 a year. And, by using a more cost-effective wireless service and bargaining for a better wireless plan, the department will save an additional $88,148 annually. Combined, that makes for a total savings of nearly 37 percent of their annual charges for those services.
We all know how important it is to stretch a dollar in these challenging times -- and Sink's proving to be a prime example for how to get the job done. That's exactly the type of person we need leading one of the country's most important states.
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