Nov. 1--My kids like puzzles.

They don't, however, like to clean them up.

And yet, as much as my children don't like cleaning up puzzle pieces, they do it anyway.

Why? Because they understand that someone must.

I mention all this as evidence that my children are smarter than Bill McCollum.

And more responsible than Alex Sink.

The two Florida politicians -- the Republican attorney general, McCollum, and Democratic CFO, Sink -- escalated grade-school finger-pointing to new heights last week as each one tried to blame the other for allowing debt collectors to harass Floridians.

Both officials tried to avoid responsibility. And neither seemed to realize that the people they represent couldn't care less about bureaucratic fiefdoms or political potshots. They simply want their elected officials -- the two front-runners in the 2010 governor's race -- to act like leaders.

But that apparently was too much to ask.

In fact, these two could've actually started solving the problem in the amount of time they spent arguing last week.

So, with the puzzle pieces still on the ground, let's send these two politicians to separate corners while the adults work out a solution.

At the heart of the issue are debt collectors -- nasty debt collectors.

Not the ones who are just doing their jobs, but the ones who lie and threaten violence. The ones who hurl racial epithets -- and even call children, threatening to put their mommies and daddies in jail.

Theoretically, such behavior isn't tolerated.

But theoretically, you also have elected officials who care about such things.

When you boil it all down, I place most of the blame with McCollum.

And my rationale is neither partisan nor complicated.

More than 4,400 Floridians have sent him complaints about debt collectors this year.

Not to Sink. Not to the governor.

They turned to their attorney general for help. And yet he refused to get involved -- even though there is no doubt he had the power to do so.

That is, after all, what an attorney general is supposed to do: stand up for consumers and go after the bad guys.

Still, Sink also could've taken action on the complaints as well.

The Office of Financial Regulation received 780 complaints too. And Sink sits on the committee that oversees that office.

But so does McCollum. And Gov. Charlie Crist. And even Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson.

In fact, if you really start to look at the maze of bureaucratic baloney in this state, it seems designed for confusion -- much to the delight of naughty debt collectors who go unpunished.