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Grand Jury OKs Inquiry Of Sansom

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

cdolinski@tampatrib.com

Published: January 27, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - A grand jury in Leon County decided Monday to investigate complaints about House Speaker Ray Sansom and his dealings with Northwest Florida State College.

State Attorney Willie Meggs said the grand jury has asked him to investigate two complaints by citizens - one from a Clearwater Democrat, the other from a Tallahassee Republican - that were based on media reports.

For more than a month, Sansom has taken a beating in the media for channeling $35 million extra dollars over two years to Northwest Florida State College and then accepting an unadvertised vice presidency there for $110,000 a year.
Sansom was House budget chief before becoming House Speaker on Nov. 18, the same day he was hired by the college.

Questions also loom about an airport project Sansom reportedly slipped into the state budget. Sansom reserved $6 million in education construction dollars for the college to build a hangarlike emergency operations building - on land leased by developer and campaign contributor Jay Odom, who had sought state money for a similar facility.

Revelations about the college job and airport project first appeared in the St. Petersburg Times in November. Sansom has said he supported the project, but he and a manager for Odom have offered differing accounts of the facility's intended purpose.

Meggs said that he and the grand jury will look in to "the job and the aircraft hangar, primarily." He would not elaborate. The grand jury will meet again in February, he said. Meanwhile, Meggs will begin deciding on witnesses and gathering documents.

"We will make decisions about subpoenas," he said.
Sansom gave up the college post this month, saying he owed it to the House to end the distracting controversy. He repeatedly has denied that he traded appropriations for personal gain.

He has characterized his efforts on behalf of Northwest Florida State College as that of a good lawmaker looking after his home district. In a written statement released Monday, he said that he has "acted honestly in all matters, including in my work as a state legislator."

"The complaints are based on news articles, not personal knowledge of the facts," he said. "Once the facts are fully aired, I expect the outcome of this inquiry will be positive. I will cooperate fully and look forward to a speedy conclusion."

Ray Bellamy, the orthopedic surgeon and professor in Tallahassee who filed one of the complaints, called Monday "a great day for Floridians."

"This shows that perhaps sometimes the system works," said Bellamy, 68, a registered Republican who worked for Barack Obama's campaign. "Ray Sansom has said he has nothing to hide, so let's investigate and find out."

There are three possible outcomes from a grand jury investigation, said former State Attorney Rod Smith: an indictment, a report or neither.

"I take this to mean that the grand jury found that there were issues raised that at a minimum went to the question of whether someone had conducted themselves appropriately in public office," said Smith, also a former Democratic senator from Alachua.

A grand jury can conclude that a public official's conduct was legal but unethical, Smith said. For an indictment, Meggs would have to present strong evidence, sufficient for charging Sansom with a crime.

Also Monday, House Rules Committee Chairman Bill Galvano in Bradenton said he has asked House Speaker Pro Tem Larry Cretul to appoint a special investigator to examine a citizen's complaint about Sansom.

Galvano said the citizen, Odessa resident Susan Smith, made a sufficient case that public allegations about Sansom had damaged her faith in the House. Smith based her complaints on House rules requiring members to "perform at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and independence of the House and of the Legislature."

Galvano stressed that he has judged only whether the complaint is sufficient for further investigation. Typically, he said, a panel of lawmakers would be asked to consider the complaint. He is asking Cretul for a special investigator instead "because of the unique nature of the claim; because it is about the House speaker."

Cretul did not return a call seeking comment.

State Attorney General Bill McCollum also confirmed this month that he is looking in to a meeting in March of college officials and Sansom. McCollum said he wants to determine whether the public meeting - advertised 150 miles from where it took place - violated Florida's open government law. A spokeswoman for McCollum said Monday that he has yet to reach a formal conclusion.

Sansom, 46, worked as a regional representative for PowerSouth, a company that sells electricity, until November. He now has no occupation other than House Speaker.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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