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Florida House Speaker Sansom Gets $110,000 College Job

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The Associated Press

Published: November 20, 2008

PENSACOLA - Days after becoming Florida's new House speaker, Republican Ray Sansom has taken on a second job -- a $110,000 yearly post as chief of the fundraising department of a state college in his district.

Sansom will work part time starting Dec. 1 and begin working full time for 15,000-student Northwest Florida State College after the 2009 legislative session.

Sansom told The Associated Press Thursday morning he accepted the job because it was a good fit with his longtime work in fundraising and because he attended the institution in the 1980s.

"I hope to make a long-standing difference in the future of the state college. I have a master's in education and I worked for the school district for six years," he said.

A position opened up this month when college foundation director Jim Chitwood retired, said college president Bob Richburg.

But the house speaker, who will make $25,000 more a year than Chitwood, won't be doing the same job as Chitwood, he said. And the college president said that while he considered an "internal pool of candidates" to replace Chitwood, Sansom was the only serious choice for the post. The school's personnel office said Chitwood made $85,125 last year.

Although Sansom pushed legislation giving the institution its state college designation in June, Richburg and Sansom said the job should not be viewed as a reward for Sansom's efforts on behalf of the college

"People who know Ray Sansom and people who know me will not view it that way," Richburg said, saying the personal character of the two men should put to rest any questions about the hiring.

Sansom's salary will be paid with money that is not appropriated by the Legislature, such as revenues from the campus book stores and restaurants, to avoid any appearances of a conflict of interest.

But the agreement didn't satisfy Ben Wilcox, executive director of Florida Common Cause, a government watchdog group. He suggested it puts Sansom in a position to pressure people to donate money to the college.

"It gives the appearance that he's being hired because he's the speaker of the house. As the speaker of the house he's in a very powerful position and if he asks people that have issues before the legislature they will have a hard time saying no," Wilcox said.

Sansom said he is a "citizen legislator," and that the job shouldn't raise questions about his legislative work.

"I am not at all concerned about the timing of this. We all have other jobs and all have other professions. My background fits every component of this job," Sansom said.

The job will include fundraising, federal grant proposals, working with the Army to expanding job training for new special forces soldiers and their families scheduled to be stationed at nearby Eglin Air Force base, raising the colleges statewide and national profile and many other duties, Richburg said.

The school's attorney has reviewed the agreement to make sure there is nothing inappropriate, he said.

Florida lawmakers have a history of conflicts of interest with educational institutions.

Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, was widely criticized last year for taking money from a Florida State University reading research program that she helped create and fund while on a Senate committee that over sees higher education.

Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic and Senate Finance and Tax Chairman, is paid $75,000 to teach at Florida's new Graham Center for Public Service. He was hired without an open search.

Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio recently took a part-time, non-faculty job at Florida International University to help with fundraising and teach one class for $69,000.

The legislators' jobs at the various state educational institutions look especially bad because so many Floridians are facing hard times, Wilcox said.

"In the general public's mind, it's more of a concern right now when they hear legislators talking about the possibility of having to raising taxes and a tight budget year," he said.

Sansom, who has served in the Legislature since 2002, previously worked as a development representative for Power South Corp., fundraising director for Covenant Hospice and foundation director for the Okaloosa County School Board.

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