Sansom: A failed Speaker
Less than one month into his term as Speaker of the Florida House, Ray Sansom is a failure.
Right now, Speaker Sansom faces assaults from multiple fronts. His transgressions are so stark and clear that it seems increasingly unlikely he will escape unscathed — but let’s say he does. Maybe Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum won’t turn anything up. Maybe when State Attorney Willie Meggs convenes a grand jury tomorrow, they won’t bite. Maybe the complaint before the state Ethics Commission won’t go anywhere.
Maybe — but even then, even if Mr. Sansom manages to escape prosecution and keep his job as Speaker, he’ll be dogged by these allegations for the next two years. He won’t be able to lead. His past transgressions will overshadow any agenda he tries to pursue. His supporters grow fewer daily. He has lost the confidence and trust of the people.
He is a failed Speaker.
We’ve already lost so much time while citizens, the media, and the various machinations of our government have concerned themselves with Speaker Sansom’s questionable dealings rather than the grave problems which face our state. Imagine if all of the energy that has been expending by everyone involved here was put to use tackling our budget issues, or improving education, or working to create jobs in Florida. If Mr. Sansom truly wanted to act in the best interests of the people of Florida, rather than his own, he would take note of this, and step down. With a new Speaker, the legislative term could well be salvaged.
Something tells me the Speaker won’t be so selfless.
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Nice judgement call here on Ray Sansom – NOT. I have known Ray and others in his family for many, many years and I can tell you that Ray is a good man with honorable intentions. Based upon his past record and his accomplishments in the House of Representatives, I have no doubt that he will continue to be a shining star and exactly the man Northwest Florida needs leading the legislature during these difficult economic times.
It is time for the press and those who know very little about Ray and his character to stop – stop crucifiying a man who has done nothing but good for our region during his years of service both in Okaloosa County and in the State House of Representatives. Before you judge, comment or otherwise condemn, it might be worth spending and hour or so with the man you seem to despise so you might learn the real truth his motivation and his passion for doing what is best for our region – the region we all call home.
I certainly don’t claim to know the man personally nor do I “despise” him.
That said, he could be the nicest man in the world. It doesn’t matter. At a bare MINIMUM here, Speaker Sansom is guilty of incredibly poor judgment in taking the NFSC job. How could he not envision that doing so would have an appearance of impropriety? Whatever happened to striving to be above reproach?
I certainly haven’t convicted him of anything and will wait to see the results of ongoing investigations. However, Speaker Sansom certainly isn’t acting like an innocent man, with his complete avoidance of the press on the issue.
Jim…It is people like you who make excuses for the crooks that are destroying our country… bit by bit, handout by handout. Why is it ok to take money from our children’s schools…take money from our parent’s health care…take money from our law-enforcement…our mental health care…food stamps…unemployment…medicine…and give it to a small college? And..what are they going to do with it? Build an airplane hangar. The Speaker of the House gets 110,000 salary. Come on. We tax-payers bailed out Wall Street. They took billions in bonuses. From us. The people who are losing their houses, losing their jobs, losing their very souls. But Wall Street gets bonuses.
I heard just few hours ago that Exxon made the most humoungous profit ever!!! This year!! Oh yay!! Well…what do ya think, Jim…is that just okey-dokey? A WW2 vet just died last week. He froze to death in his home because he could not afford his electric costs. The Company shut him off. It doesn’t matter where this happened…..it happened.
Here’s what I think, Jim…our priorities are totally screwed up.
The ones destroying this country are the lazy ones who rely on the government for their sustinence. Continually seeking a handout and never taking personal responsibility for thier own well-being. But hey, liberalism and the welfare mindset go hand in hand. God forbid a small college might grow and begin offering 4 year degrees enabling more people to educate themselves, get a job that earns them a decent wage and become productive and self-sufficient. Those people might then not need welfare and all the other government handouts that you of the liberal mindset hold so close to your heart.
People are losing their homes for the most part because they were stupid. They over-extended themselves, believed that their property values would always increase at the rate of 15-20% per year and took foolish advantage of easy credit so they could live a lifestyle that was realistically beyond their means. They paid way too much for their homes and didn’t have the kahunas to say no! Again, personal responsibility.
But hey its not their fault. Somebody must have forced them to make bad decisions. Let’s bail their sorry ass out at the expense of all the hard-working tax payers who managed their finances correctly and have kept up with their financial obligations but have no choice but to pay taxes and let the liberals spend, spend, spend and dig an even deeper hole for our future generations.
Maybe Ray Sansom could have done things a bit differently but based upon my personal interactions with him and others in his family, I stand by my assessment of his character. He has enough integrity to step out of the way and let the legislative process continue while the legal system sorts things out. I am confident that at most he might be guilty of bad judgement in accepting a position that he should have postponed until after his term in the house. But to call his actions criminal is absurd. The rest of your ranting has nothing to do with the discussion
I’m with Jim! Don’t blame the guy who appropriated $35 million of taxpayer money (including $6 million for an airplane hangar with no apparent purpose but to benefit a friend and contributor) to a state college that turned around and gave him an unadvertised $110k quid pro quo position in addition to his current government salary (which he doesn’t rely on for sustenance anymore, hooray!). He’s not the problem. The real problem is those shiftless layabouts who get free food stamps and discount slum rent. They’re living the good life on OUR dime, Jim! If Sansom is guilty of anything, it’s not doing more to stop those monsters from destroying our country.
Jim, are you friends with any other corrupt politicians that we should excuse? I’m sure they’re all pretty okay guys once you get to know them, and they throw great parties!
Good one, Joe!! Yeah…I see it all the time, those Welfare Queens of Yesteryear driving their Cadillacs with the color tv antenna on the roof. At least 6 kids, you know that they get paid by the kid, right?? And…those mortgages!! Those Welfare Queens marched themselves right into those offices and demanded to have a mortgage they could not possibly pay for, and those poor, scared bankers just threw the money at them and ran!!! Those poor bankers had no responsibility to try to make sure the loans could be paid back…they just had the responsibility to take their cut of the pretend profits!! And..who’s sorry asses are we bailing out?? Oh, yeah…the FREAKING BANKERS!!!
Sansom had a good thing going, and he was found out. He forgot that Childers is sitting in jail right now because he did not pay attention to the Sunshine Laws. You cannot advertise a meeting in Tallahassie in the Destin papers…or vice-versa and get away with it. You cannot scarf up 35 million dollars for one little school and then take a job at that school and get away with it. Not anymore. There are too many people actually paying attention now. Thank God.
Never been to any party thrown by a Ray so I would not know.
“Whatever happened to striving to be above reproach”
Exactly