Sansom hiring was no surprise to college trustees

Former Northwest Florida State College President Bob Richburg's Nov. 18 announcement that he had hired Florida Speaker of the House Ray Sansom to a $110,000 part-time job came as a shock to a lot of people.

It did not shock members of the college's board of trustees.

Richburg met individually with seven of the eight board members to let them know of his plans, according to a recently issued special counsel's report. Read the report »

The meetings occurred between August 2008 and the day Sansom was sworn in as speaker, according to the report issued Friday by Stephen Kahn.

Barbara Petersen, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, said the way the meetings were conducted may have violated the state's sunshine law.

"If his intent was to avoid the sunshine, that could in itself be a violation," Petersen said. "I think we can conclude it was an attempt to avoid meeting in the sunshine."

Richburg consulted with one trustee over breakfast and another in a parking lot, the report said. He even informed one trustee of his decision while they waited on the floor of the state House for Sansom's swearing-in ceremony to begin.

The hiring was announced at a board of trustee's meeting the same day Sansom was sworn in as speaker. Board members went along with the hire by voting to approve the meeting's consent agenda.

According to the report, the first time Richburg mentioned his idea to a trustee was at a breakfast meeting with Sansom. He later told the trustee (identified in the report only as Trustee No. 1), "I'm gonna blow your socks off - I'm going to hire Ray Sansom."

The trustee then answered to the effect of "What will our enemies say?"

Richburg's responded along the lines of "It will be in the paper for a couple of days and it will blow over."

Richburg, who has since been fired from his job, couldn't have been more wrong.

Sansom's hiring prompted questions about money that flowed through the House Budget and Policy Council he chaired to the college.

It was revealed that some of the estimated $30 million Sansom sent to Northwest Florida State College would have been used to establish a Leadership Institute he would have overseen as the school's vice president of planning and development.

Documents now indicate that Sansom drew up the specifications for the college job and presented them to Richburg, in June, two months before both he and Richburg have said they first discussed the college job.

"Really enjoyed lunch yesterday," Sansom said in the e-mail. "Attached is the contract we discussed."

The e-mail is dated June 11, 2008.

A Leon County grand jury has indicted Sansom and Richburg on charges of official misconduct and perjury. Those charges stem from an arrangement separate from the hiring and the Leadership Institute funding. Developer Jay Odom also faces state charges.

The Kahn investigation was conducted at the request of state Rep. Larry Cretul, who replaced Sansom as speaker when Sansom was forced to step down in February.

Kahn, investigating a complaint filed by an Odessa resident, found that in three instances Sansom's behavior could have resulted in the complainant losing faith in the integrity of the Legislature.

One of the violations of the people's trust that Kahn found probable cause for sanctions was Sansom's involvement in procuring more than $8 million for the Leadership Institute.

A special committee has been set up to look at Kahn's report. It will decide whether to bring the complaint against Sansum before the full House for a hearing. Sansom could face a reprimand, censure or expulsion from the House.

Wesley Wilkerson, chairman of NWF State College's board of trustees, and trustee Vercell Vance were the only two board members who returned phone calls Tuesday. Vance declined to comment.

Wilkerson said he anticipates changes in the board of trustees' hiring practices will result from Sansom's hire.

"The board should never do that again, especially on a vice president's position," he said. "We should have maybe not done that. But as a part-time position it didn't draw up any red flags."

A former college official who asked not to be identified said in the days before Sansom's hiring, a full-blown application assessment and interview process was undertaken.

"If I'd still been there we'd have followed that procedure," he said.

Wilkerson said he was led to believe that Sansom would be paid part-time wages when he was working part time and that the job would pay $110,000 when Sansom left the Legislature and filled the position full time.

"A part-time position paying $110,000, that was not how it was explained to me," he said.

Trustee Jody Henderson, who was chairman of the board at the time Sansom was hired, responded to an e-mail that he was not Trustee No. 1 who made the "enemies" comment and that he did not know who that trustee was.

"I have not had time to read the entire document or all of the comments by the trustees," Henderson said. "I don't have any further comments at this time."

As to the possible sunshine law violation, Petersen said legal authorities would have to determine whether a criminal act had occurred.

"There might have been a violation of the spirit or intent or it could be an actual violation of the law," she said.