The Tampa Tribune reports: In an exchange of letters today, State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has requested that the investigation of the Florida Republican Party be referred to an independent or a federal prosecutor, and Gov. Charlie Crist says he agrees it should be referred to a federal prosecutor.
The exchange is redolent of politics—nearly everyone involved in running for higher office, and has a political stake in the investigation.
Sink sent a letter making the request to state Attorney General Bill McCollum, with copies to their two fellow members of the Florida Cabinet, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson and Crist, who’s running for the Senate.
“Because this investigation focuses on the Republican Party of Florida, and Governor Crist, Commissioner Bronson, and you are leaders of the Republican Party, this investigation should have been referred at the outset to an independent prosecutor who does not report to the Cabinet,” Sink wrote to McCollum.
She suggested “either the State Attorney’s Office for the Second Judicial Circuit, or the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida. It is not appropriate to refer this investigation to a law enforcement agency that works under the direction of the four of us.”
In a response just released by his office, Crist agreed to the idea of a federal prosecutor. Read more here.
