Ray Sansom (R-WhatOfficialMisconduct?, Fla.)
Claims to fame: Former speaker, Florida House of Representatives; devout Baptist; Republican; accused crook
Moral apex: Charged with third-degree felony grand theft and conspiracy, after accepting the position of Vice President for Development and Planning at Northwest Florida State College (a job he took the same day he was sworn in as state house speaker) offered by NWF president Bob Richburg — because it appeared that the college was rewarding Sansom with the cushy $110,000-a-year job in exchange for steering millions of dollars in taxpayer money to the college. It’s believed that some of this money even went to create the very job Sansom was given by NWF.
Enter “Hangargate”: Some $6 million earmarked for a proposed “education facility” was “redirected” to “an airport building that a private developer wanted to use.” [St. Petersburg Times] That developer was big-time Republican donor Jay Odom.
What happened next: In January, 2009, Sansom resigned from his college VP post, and, a year later, on the brink of expulsion from the Florida House, he resigned as speaker & state rep.
But the scandal was far from over: In April, 2009, Sansom, Richburg and Odom were all indicted and charged with “official misconduct.” The funny-money boys got lucky when all charges were dismissed later in the year.
But: In January, 2010, the three were again charged, this time with grand theft and conspiracy.
What’s next: Sansom, Richburg and Odom go on trial March 21, 2011. Stay tuned.
Memorable quote:
“[Sansom's hiring] will be in the paper for a couple of days and it will blow over.”— Bob Richburg to a college trustee
Quoted in the Northwest Florida Daily News
November 21, 2009
Suggested Bible reading for Messrs. Sansom, Richburg and Odom:
They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.— Deuteronomy 32:5
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