Party: Democrat
Campaign website: EarleforCFO.com
Candidate Q&A: The questions below are based on voter questions and expressed priorities. Each of the candidates within a race were asked the same questions and given the same amount of time to respond. The candidates’ answers were fact checked, checked for spelling and grammar but otherwise unedited.
Why do you deserve to elected in this race?
Leading the Florida Department of Financial Services requires deep financial expertise, strict accountability, and the discipline to protect taxpayer dollars. My career embodies these.
As an attorney who worked within the IRS Estate and Gift Tax Program, where I routinely audited trusts and estates well over $100M, I developed the forensic financial skills and legal skills required to navigate complex entities, while having a robust understanding of government. I have also been fortunate enough to spend time at the State Attorney’s Office, where I enforced the law and held bad actors accountable. Finally, my service as a U.S. Army paratrooper instilled the decisive leadership and values that is desperately needed in Tallahassee.
As a father of two, my mission is to ensure Florida’s economic foundation remains secure, transparent, and built to support the next generation. My belief is that my status as a non-career politician/candidate, my 15 years of professional experience allow me to truly comprehend the struggles of Floridians. I will bring the same tenacity to the investigation the insurance fraud, corruption, and financial crimes targeting vulnerable Floridians that I have during my career. I believe this skill set helps me ensure rigorous compliance and oversee Florida’s auditing functions with precision. ”
If elected, what are the most pressing problems you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?
1) Property Insurance (Maximize Transparency and Enforcement)
Florida’s property insurance market is broken because Tallahassee has consistently allowed the insurance lobby to write the rules. We need a CFO who serves as a watchdog for working families, not a lapdog for industry. I would push to force insurers to open their books before they are granted any further rate hikes, demand complete transparency on claims data to aggressively investigate bad-faith denials, and ensure more oversight of affiliate profit shifting. While also pushing to expand consumer advocacy across the board.
However, the job of CFO is also to pursue aggressive enforcement of the law. We need to ruthlessly pursue the bad actors–fraudulent roofers, abusive litigators, and shady adjusters–who are also contributing to rising premiums for hardworking families. I would push to expand the resources of the DFS Criminal Investigations Division to increase arrest rates for insurance fraud.
2) Predatory Lending, Junk Fees, and Scams
Working Floridians are being squeezed by predatory financial practices. We need to aggressively expand the Office of Financial Regulation’s consumer protection mandate to crack down on undisclosed “”junk fees”” in banking, subscriptions, and loans. I would advocate for stricter caps on interest rates for payday loans and cash advances, which disproportionately trap low-income families and communities of color in endless cycles of debt.
This involves partnering with financial entities to counter scammers who disproportionately target older adults, the young, and those with limited financial resources, who are often subject to more risk.
3) Fair Lending and Economic Fairness
The Department of Financial Services must actively combat systemic financial discrimination. I would prioritize enforcing fair lending laws, specifically targeting modern-day redlining and algorithmic bias in mortgage lending and insurance underwriting. We must also actively support credit unions, minority-owned banks, and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to ensure that capital flows equitably into historically underserved communities, giving more Floridians the opportunity to buy a home or start a business.
How would you go about educating Floridians?
Lack of transparency and accountability is driving Florida’s affordability crisis. By explaining the true hidden costs behind skyrocketing insurance premiums, we empower residents to see past industry spin and demand real legislative accountability. Under my watch, I want to give Floridians unprecedented access and encourage them to seek what is going on behind the scenes.
Teaching Floridians to spot financial fraud is accountability in action. When an educated public knows the red flags for contractor scams and predatory billing, they become our eyes and ears. This intelligence actively allows the state to hunt down, audit, and prosecute financial predators.
Ultimately, consumer education is the foundation of government accountability. We are giving you the tools to follow your money, while setting a strict, zero-tolerance standard for true waste, fraud, and abuse.
How would you go about rooting out fraud?
1. Insurance Fraud & Bad-Faith Practices
Florida’s property insurance crisis is the heaviest tax on working families, yet the state rarely investigates the industry itself. We need to investigate carrier insolvency, internal corporate fraud, and systemic third-party bad-faith practices aggressively. When insurance companies systematically underpay, delay, or deny legitimate homeowner claims to pad their bottom lines, that is fraud. Again, the CFO also acts as a referee, ensuring accountability works both ways by enforcing the law to ensure we have a fair system for everyone involved.
This Voters Guide was produced by the News Collaborative of Central Florida, a collective of independent local news outlets and aligned partners working toward a more informed and engaged Central Florida.