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House Speaker Steps Aside

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI and WILLIAM MARCH

cdolinski@tampatrib.com wmarch@tampatrib.com

Published: January 31, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - Faced with a grand jury investigation, embattled House Speaker Ray Sansom stepped down from his leadership role Friday.

Sansom, R-Destin, announced that Speaker pro tempore Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, will head the House while Sansom deals with investigations of his relationship with Northwest Florida State College.

This month, a grand jury decided to investigate, among other things, whether Sansom violated any laws by taking a six-figure salaried job at the college after steering as much as $35 million in state money to the school.

"Ongoing legal proceedings have temporarily created an inability for me to carry out my responsibilities as speaker," he says in a statement released Friday. "The allegations and reports associated with these proceedings have caused my family grave pain and this has prompted my decision. I expect positive outcomes and am confident that when the facts are known, my honesty and integrity will be confirmed."
House speakers normally preside over the chamber for two years and are among the most powerful leaders in Florida government. The House majority party chooses the speaker, who decides everything from committee posts to seating arrangements on the House floor. The speaker is the House's linchpin in negotiations with the Senate.

Nearly all of Sansom's leadership term lies ahead of him, having taken the gavel less than two months ago.

His announcement Friday is a recusal from his speaker duties - not a resignation. Sansom's spokeswoman, Jill Chamberlin, clarified that he and Cretul intend to maintain their current titles. Sansom will continue to serve as a House member and intends to return as speaker if exonerated.

The GOP faithful reacted with respectful, if lackluster, statements of support.

"It is important that the Florida Legislature is free from any additional distractions," State Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer says in a statement. "We support Representative Sansom's decision to temporarily step down from his position as speaker in order to focus on clearing his name, and we are confident he will do just that."

Said Gov. Charlie Crist: "I respect Speaker Sansom's difficult decision today."

Those outside the party were less tactful.

"His ability to lead the House was compromised," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of the government watchdog group Florida Common Cause. "You're supposed to lead by example, and the example that he set was not a good one."

Former House Clerk John Phelps, now curator of Florida's Historic Capitol, said he was aware of only two other cases where a Florida speaker stepped aside, but neither for misconduct. Both occurred in the 19th century.

Complaints, Investigations
Sansom faces two ethics complaints and a grand jury investigation over his relationship with the Niceville college and Jay Odom, a developer and campaign contributor.

Revelations began appearing in media reports in November that Sansom, as the House's budget chief, had channeled millions of dollars to the college in 2007 and 2008 before accepting an unadvertised job there as vice president for $110,000 a year.

The college gave him the job on the same day he became speaker. He resigned after the job was reported in the media.

Some of the money Sansom funneled to the college was to pay for an emergency operations training center on land leased by Odom. Plans for the facility resemble those for a hangar Odom wanted for his private jet business and for which he had sought state funding.

Questions also loom about a meeting between Sansom and college President Bob Richburg: whether they tried to conceal the meeting from the public or broke any laws by failing to keep minutes of the meeting. This month, Attorney General Bill McCollum chastised the college in a letter, calling its handling of the meeting "very questionable."

Sansom, who says the college fulfilled the state's public meeting requirements, has maintained he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

House Ruckus

Friday, word of Sansom's decision to step aside leaked when Rep. J.C. Planas of Miami became the first House Republican to break ranks and call for Sansom's resignation.

Although most lawmakers were discreet about the turn of events, lobbyists at the Capitol speculated privately about a power vacuum opening up in the House, particularly if the grand jury investigation drags on for months.

For some Tallahassee insiders, Planas' attack fueled concerns about challenges to Cretul's authority over the House.

"This is politics. I figured we'd start seeing that," said state Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City. "That was one of my fears: That we'd start seeing people push to take over the leadership position. This does raise the possibility that there's going to be a power struggle."

Some lawmakers told reporters it might not be legal for Sansom to step away from his post temporarily for the reasons cited, raising the prospect of choosing a new speaker.

Chamberlin, Sansom's spokeswoman, said he chose a legal option permitted under House rules.

She was unable to say exactly what Sansom's role would be under Cretul's leadership. "The House management responsibilities will be Cretul's alone," she said. "He will decide member's roles in leadership."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.

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