House Speaker To Teach Class At FIU Center

Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has taken a new part-time, non-faculty university job as he winds down his legislative career.

The 37-year-old lawyer said Friday he will teach one class a semester on politics at a Florida International University think tank in Miami and help with fundraising. Rubio, R-West Miami, said Friday that his $69,000 salary will be partially paid by private donations.

"My legislative duties now are basically administrative," Rubio said. "We're not passing any laws or doing any budgets."

Rubio, who leaves office in November, said he would suspend his work as a "visiting professor" at FIU's Metropolitan Center if a special session were to be called.

Rubio's situation is different from that of Sen. Mike Haridopolos, who has a similar arrangement at the University of Florida while continuing his career in the Legislature.

Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, chairs the Senate's influential Finance and Tax Committee and is in line to be Senate president in 2010. He teaches political science at the Graham Center for Public Service on a part-time basis for $75,000 annually.

The Haridopolos appointment created a bit of controversy as the state's publicly financed institutions adjust to cutbacks in the wake of a sluggish state economy and less funding from the Legislature.

Lance deHaven-Smith, a veteran political scientist at Florida State University, said the practice of adding politicians to an academic role is hardly unusual. He noted that former Gov. Reubin Askew was hired at Florida Atlantic University after he left office and former U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles had an endowed chair at the Collins Center at Florida State before becoming governor.

"It's generally thought that people in high leadership positions gain deep insights and it's helpful to the students to get their insights," deHaven-Smith said Friday. "And the students become accustomed to people of stature so they're not intimidated when they get out of school and end up in a job reporting to a top official, such as a governor."