Most Viewed Stories
- ‘CRISIS POINT’: City may declare emergency to address choked up harbor
- PIZZA, PIZZA! Two new eateries, Jet’s and Rotolo’s, to serve up slices in Dest
- Nine indicted in alleged land schemes
- FISH FLASH: Angling heats up after slow winter (CATCH-OF-THE-DAY PHOTOS)
- LETTER: Turning beach baloney into filet mignon
PRO AND CON: Should he stay or should he go now? Sansom's tough spot
This editorial appeared in our sister paper, the Northwest Florida Daily News.
Rep. Ray Sansom has become a problem for the Florida House of Representatives. Grand jury indictments and a brutal ethics report have turned a ruthless gaze on the Destin Republican's political and professional dealings and on the Legislature's appropriations process and other activities. What has come to light isn't flattering.
Rep. Sansom already has stepped down as House speaker. In the wake of the ethics report, the House ultimately may have to decide whether to reprimand him, censure him or expel him. Some are calling for him to resign and save his fellow lawmakers the trouble.
We'd rather he stick around for a public airing of the charges, then see where that leads. Quitting now would let the Legislature off the hook.
Make no mistake: The accusations against Rep. Sansom - securing $6 million in state funds for an "educational" facility that would really be an airplane hangar for a GOP donor, accepting a $110,000 part-time job at a local college in return for legislative favors, lying to a grand jury - though unproved, are shocking.
But the Sansom affair has painted a picture of business-as-usual in the Legislature that is disturbing also. The grand jury that indicted him in April fumed:
•"Your Grand Jurors find that the appropriation process that gives unbridled discretion to the president of the Senate, speaker of the House of Representatives and appropriation chairman needs to be changed. ... The procedure currently in place requires that our elected legislators vote on a final budget they have no knowledge about because it is finalized in a meeting between only two legislators. This process allows taxpayer money to be budgeted for special purposes by those few legislators who happen to be in positions of power."
•"Further, the ability of an individual or corporation to contribute large sums of money to political action committees or major political parties needs to be addressed by the Legislature. The present system has the potential to breed corruption and create an unfair advantage for those who have money to leverage influence on the Legislature."
•"The Legislature needs to remember that it does not print money and that whether it is general revenue dollars, federal grants, matching funds or PECO dollars, it is all taxpayer money and it needs to be spent wisely."
•"Your Grand Jurors recommend to the Legislature that it clean up this process and that the state of Florida become an example to the nation as a state that works for the people and not the special interests of those who have money to influence the Legislature."
If Rep. Sansom were to resign, it's likely his friends still in the Legislature would have little incentive to address the problems the grand jury pointed out, much less clean them up. Concerns about "the process" would go out the door with their departing colleague.
So we'll differ with Pat Rice, the Daily News' former editor and currently Florida Freedom Newspapers' director of content, who said in his July 5 column that Rep. Sansom should quit now and allow his constituents to move on.
It's a little early to move on. The scandal enveloping Rep. Sansom has raised serious questions not only about his own culpability but also about the way business is conducted in the state capital. Both aspects of this story deserve a full hearing.
Who knows? If the Sansom affair forces the Legislature to air some of its dirty laundry, and especially if it prompts lawmakers to tackle some of the grand jury's concerns, it is just possible that Ray Sansom's legacy will be something more than shame and suspicion.
This column was from Florida Freedom's content director Pat Rice:
"In the interest of full disclosure, let me state up front that I like Ray Sansom.
"No
doubt that favorably colors my view of him. But if that makes me
prejudiced, then I take comfort in the fact that I am not alone."
I
wrote those words at the beginning of a column in February 2007, a few
days after hundreds of shakers and movers from Northwest Florida
traveled to Tallahassee to watch Sansom, R-Destin, become
speaker-designate of the Florida House of Representatives.
At
that moment, no politician in Florida had a brighter horizon. In two
years, Sansom would hold the top position in the House. He was going to
do good things for the entire state, especially this region.
And after that? Why, the future seemed limitless.
I
thought about that last week as I read a scathing report that House
Special Investigator Stephen Kahn wrote about Sansom and his cronies.
Kahn
concludes that the House has probable cause to sanction Sansom for his
actions related to Northwest Florida State College President James
"Bob" Richburg and Destin developer Jay Odom.
He cited:
-
Sansom's involvement, as House budget chairman, in procuring $6 million
for the college for a training facility at Destin Airport that was,
according to Kahn, really an airplane hangar for Odom.
Sansom,
Richburg and Odom have repeatedly denied there was ever any intent for
the training facility to be used as a hangar for Odom's aircraft.
But
Kahn's report includes a previously unreported April 2007 e-mail that
Richburg sent to Sansom about the project. "The lease will need to be
developed between Odom and the college for Jay to use some of the
facility for a commercial FBO (fixed base operation) and
maintenance/storage facility," Richburg wrote.
- The role
Sansom played in setting up a meeting with the college's board of
trustees in March 2008 in Tallahassee. The college advertised the
meeting as a "legislative briefing" in a small legal notice in the
Northwest Florida Daily News. But in e-mails, Richburg and Sansom both
referred to the meeting as private. No other legislators were invited
and no minutes were kept.
- Sansom's involvement in procuring
more than $8 million for a "Leadership Institute" at the college and
a subsequent $110,000-a-year, part-time vice president's position that
Richburg gave Sansom.
The steps Richburg and Sansom took related
to the Leadership Institute and Sansom's job at the college are
particularly troubling - in part because of an e-mail that became
public after Kahn released his report.
Richburg and Sansom have stated that the idea of Sansom working at the college came up in August or September 2008.
But
on June 10, 2008 - and using private e-mail addresses - Sansom wrote to
Richburg: "Really enjoyed lunch yesterday. Attached is the contract we
discussed."
The contract is for a "vice president of external
affairs" at the college. The salary is $110,000 a year. Under terms of
the contract, the position was to become full-time in June 2010.
That
e-mail was sent one day before Gov. Charlie Crist signed the state
budget, which included the money for the Leadership Institute.
What a coincidence!
Kahn's
report points out that Richburg also met individually with the
college's trustees to gauge their support for Sansom's hiring. So when
Richburg made Sansom's hiring public at a board meeting in late
November 2008 - on the same day Sansom became speaker of the House -
there was no need for discussion or debate. It was already a done deal.
When
Richburg earlier told one trustee of his plans to hire Sansom, the
trustee's tellingly paranoid response, according to the Kahn report,
was to this effect: "What will our enemies say?"
Enemies? Had the college become like Richard Nixon's White House?
Kahn's
report also makes clear for the first time that Sansom himself was to
have supervision over the Leadership Institute he obtained the money to
create.
Who knows where this will end up?
A legislative
committee will next decide whether the House should consider sanctions
against Sansom. Sanctions could include removal from office. Sansom's
current term doesn't end until 2010, when he will be termed out.
Even
if the House considers sanctions, the situation is complicated by the
fact that Sansom, Richburg and Odom are facing felony charges related
to the airport project. Can the Florida House truly give Sansom a fair
hearing if Sansom can't defend himself for fear of jeopardizing his
criminal case?
Sansom has a right to his day in court. But he
also has an obligation to all the voters who put so much trust in him -
trust that he has lost.
The Ray Sansom I wrote so glowingly about back in 2007 should do the right thing now.
Ray Sansom should resign from the Florida House and allow his constituents in Northwest Florida to move on.
Pat Rice is director of content for Florida Freedom Newspapers. He can be reached at patrickr@nwfdailynews.com. Read his blog at nwfdailynews.com.
