Criminal Rick Scott says Alex Sink funneled $770,000 to her former employer, Bank of America, while serving as CFO
Let's take this one step at a time.
Alex Sink funneled ... This is a misleading verb choice. First, she was one of four statewide elected officials to agree to change the process for selling state bonds that ultimately resulted in paying $770,321 in commission fees to Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. Second, she had no idea when she approved the new bond sale process -- called a negotiated sale -- that Bank of America and Merrill Lynch would receive $770,321. That came months later as part of the negotiations between the bond underwriters and the Division of Bond Finance.
Three quarters of a million dollars ... The money in question is just about right. The total commission paid to Bank of America and its newly acquired Merrill Lynch unit was $770,321.
In no-bid contracts ... This specific claim has generated some controversy. Our colleagues at Factcheck.org, for instance, said that the contract at issue was not a no-bid contract. We disagree. Here are the facts. The state held an RFP for companies to be bond underwriters in general, not to specifically bid on bond sales. Thirty-nine companies responded, and ultimately 12 were chosen. There was no competitive bidding for the $300 million lottery revenue bond issue. The state negotiated a deal among those 12 companies. That's a no-bid contract to us, because the setup specifically prevents open competition that could produce lower interest rates. The state said it needed to pursue negotiated deals because of the volatility of the credit market, and maybe that's true. But the question here is whether there were bids for this specific bond issue. There were not.
To Bank of America ... The fees actually were paid to Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America acquired. But what's critical to note, again, is that while Bank of America interests represented two of the 12 members of the state bond underwriting team, Sink had no idea when she approved the slate of underwriters what specific role each bank would play in any specific bond sale. And even when she approved the $300 million lottery bond issue, it wasn't yet clear whether the sale of those bonds would be by a competitive or negotiated process. The resolution she and three others approved included either option. We should note that the ad claims that "your tax dollars" paid for the Bank of America commissions. That's not true. The bond issue was using lottery revenues, not general tax revenues. That means you buying lottery tickets paid for the bond sale and the bank commissions.
The basis of the claim in the Scott ad is a paragraph in a St. Petersburg Times story about Sink, saying she "voted with the governor and other Cabinet members to allow negotiated, or no-bid, bond deals for a financial underwriting team that includes her former employer, Bank of America. One transaction resulted in $770,000 in fees for a subsidiary of the bank and its newly acquired Merrill Lynch unit." That statement is accurate, as it properly notes that the negotiated bond sale process resulted in $770,000 in fees for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, without trying to tie the money directly to Sink.
Scott isn't nearly as careful in his TV ad. Particularly, his use of the word "funneled" overshadows some of the facts Scott gets right in his claim. Sink didn't funnel $770,000 to Bank of America. First, she was one of four votes on the Cabinet to approve the particular type of bond issue in question -- along with Republicans Charlie Bronson and Bill McCollum and then-Republican Charlie Crist. Second, she had no way of knowing how much commission Bank of America and Merrill Lynch would receive for the bond sale when she approved the deal. Those details came months later during negotiations between state bond administrators and the banks. We rate Scott's claim Barely True.
Why should anyone believe what Rick Scott - who should be in jail for his own criminal activities - have to say about anyone. When did taking the word of a scumbag thief like Rick Scott become OK. Rick Scott faces new Medicare fraud accusations. Those new accusations are on the heels of the fraud Scott has already committed.
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