New speaker of Florida House caught being ethically challenged
November 20, 2008 at 5:07 pm by Wayne GarciaRay Sansom is the incoming speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, a gig that pays $42,000 a 
year, and yesterday it was learned he just got another new job: the Northwest Florida State College hired him as vice president of development and planning. That paycheck? $110,000 annually.
He got that job, in addition to being speaker, cuz (as the Palm Beach Post reported)
Sansom helped push through a bill to give the school its state college desgination this year, according to the Northwest Florida Daily Herald. He attended the school when it was known as Okaloosa-Walton Junior College.
Today we learn that Sansom, a Republican from Destin (near where the GOP legislators are having a posh getaway this week) did even more for his alma mater:
House Speaker Ray Sansom got $200,000 into the current fiscal year budget to help Northwest Florida State College, his new employer, build a “leadership institute.”
In an interview today, Sansom confirmed his involvement in the appropriation, which caused a behind-the-scenes stir with the Rubio administration since it was not discovered until late in the process.
Of course, that had noooooooothing to do with his getting the gig:
But Sansom said his involvement ended there. “None of that has anything to do with me or how I’m paid,” he told The Buzz.
