“You are the kingpin”
The St. Petersburg Times has published more incrimating emails between Bob Richburg and Ray Sansom. Both Mr. Richburg, former president of Northwest Florida State College, and Rep. Sansom, former Florida House Speaker, are under indictment for perjury and official misconduct in connection with a plot to build an airplane hangar under suspicious circumstances.
The hangar was to be built at Destin Airport under the guise of serving as some sort “emergency response training facility” for the college. In reality, the close involvement of Jay Odom, a Sansom campaign donor, suggests that the facility was destined for use by Mr. Odom.
In the latest emails published by the Times, Mr. Richburg writes to Mr. Sansom:
Jay [Odom] is positive and motivated. He and I both agree that you are the kingpin in this whole operation and that the three of us need to meet to work the plan.
What an incredibly poor choice of words.
What I’m always impressed with, when officials get caught stealing and misusing public money, is how careless they have been. Just a few lines below Mr. Richburg’s poorly chosen words is a prominent disclaimer describing how communications to-and-from his address are public records. Why on earth would one use phrases like “kingpin” and “work the plan” knowing that it might one day see the light of day?