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Sansom Hears From Taxpayers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 6, 2009

Florida's speaker of the House, Ray Sansom, has bowed out of the cushy, $110,000-a-year job he was offered after steering millions of dollars to a Panhandle college.

The vice presidency offer from Northwest Florida State College may have been perfectly legal, but it smelled like payback, and Sansom never should have accepted it.

Finally, after prodding from the state's newspapers and the public, he seems to have seen the light.

"I accepted my position at the college with pure intentions and for good reasons," he told House members. "I have long had a passion for education, and I have spent decades working to expand the opportunities available to the people of northwest Florida."

Like most politicians caught advancing their personal interests, Sansom said he puts his commitment to his office and the House first, and he wouldn't want any controversy "to divert our focus from serving the needs of the people we represent."

Maybe so, but in accepting the position he took advantage of the perks of his office. He chose self-interest over public interest. Now, after being discovered, he seeks forgiveness.

Remarkably, for his act of contrition, Sansom received a standing ovation from fellow House members.

But the speaker embarrassed himself and the Legislature. When it was revealed that he was going to take a pricy job at the same college on which he had lavished taxpayers' dollars, he seemed puzzled that anyone would be concerned. He displayed that sense of entitlement that seems to infect so many Tallahassee politicians.
Sansom now has sacrificed his promised, high-paying job. It took him long enough to come to his senses. He deserves no applause for belatedly making the right decision.

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