Sansom resigns college job

Embattled Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom has resigned from his job at Northwest Florida State College, in an attempt to end the weeks-long controversy over his acceptance of the position.  The $110,000K/year job, which was not publicly advertised and offered only to Speaker Sansom, was widely seen as a “quid pro quo” reward for Sansom’s history of securing significant funding for the college, his alma mater.  In recent weeks, nearly every major Florida newspaper had called for Speaker Sansom to resign either from the college job or his post as Speaker.

Speaker Sansom made a brief statement at the opening of the Legislature’s special session this morning:

I accepted my position at the college with pure intentions and for good reasons … Unfortunately, some have disagreed with my decision to work at the college. While I do not question their motives, I strongly object to their conclusions. In all my years in public service, I have sought to act in a manner worthy of the trust that the people have placed in me … I will not and cannot allow any controversy over my position at the college divert our focus.

I reiterate that Speaker Sansom’s ordeal was merely the most prominent example of a widespread problem.  Numerous other members of the Legislature, on both sides of the aisle, are playing the same game — they just aren’t as good at it, or as prominent, as is Speaker Sansom.  An editorial in yesterday’s Tampa Tribune does a good job of laying out the situation.  We need to dramatically overhaul the compensation and ethics rules under which our Legislature operates.

Update: The Palm Beach Post has audio of Speaker Sansom’s remarks if anyone is interested.