Life Insurance

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist has come to the defense of the state's insurance commissioner who hosted a fundraiser for a circuit judge candidate, who has since dropped out of the race and lost her job as a prosecutor.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink last week rebuked Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty after he admitted seeking contributions from the industry he regulates on behalf of then-judicial candidate Robin Lotane. Sink's inspector general also is investigating whether McCarty used state equipment for political purposes.

"What he did wasn't right, but I don't think it's a death-sentence thing," Crist said Monday. "Listen, we're fighting an industry here that is tenacious. When I say it, I'm not kidding around. They are."

McCarty works for Crist and the three-member state Cabinet, including Sink who said insurance representatives have complained McCarty has pressured them to make contributions to Lotane and his March of Dimes campaign.

She is married to Bob Lotane, who resigned as McCarty's communications director last week after admitting he used a state computer to do work for his wife's campaign.

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