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Posted on Fri, Apr. 17, 2009
Ex-House Speaker Ray Sansom indicted on misconduct
BY ALEX LEARY
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
A grand jury Friday indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom, saying he falsely secured $6 million in taxpayer money to construct and aircraft hangar for a friend and major Republican donor.
The grand jury also indicted Bob Richburg, the Northwest Florida State College president whose school got the money and has been pursuing plans for what the college has insisted is a college emergency management operations center.
"The present system has the potential to breed corruption and create an unfair advantage for those who have money to leverage influence on the Legislature," the grand jury report said.
The report stated that the college intended to sublease the hangar portion of the building back to Jay Odom’s private jet operation, called a "fixed-based operator."
Sansom, Odom and the college had vehemently denied that even as reports by the Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau showed that the college project and Odom’s hangar overlapped.
The official charge against both men is official misconduct. It is a third -degree felony punishable by maximum five-year prison sentence and a $5,000 fine.
The men must surrender to authorities and will then face trial. Odom didn't testify and didn't face charges.
"We believe that Speaker-designate Ray Sansom because of his friendship and political contributions violated the trust that the citizens of Florida should expect from its elected representatives," the grand jury report said.
Gov. Charlie Crist reacted to the indictments, saying "that's distressing to hear."
He noted that "an indictment is not a conviction," and said he has not made a decision about whether to remove Richburg from his post while the charges are still pending. As for whether Sansom should step down from his seat, he said: "That's an issue for the House."
Odom has contributed more than $1 million to the Republican Party, to Sansom’s own reelection campaigns, and $100,000 to a political committee controlled by Sansom.
Richburg was indicted for perjury for allegedly lying to jurors in testimony Thursday about the plans for the building, which is at Destin Airport and next to Odom’s private jet business.
Sansom inserted the $6 million into the 2007 budget late in the legislative session. He said he was unaware that Odom had sought $6 million for a hardened aircraft hangar that he had hoped to share with local emergency officials for use during a storm.
The grand jury report said Sansom -- who remains a state legislator from Destin after stepping down from the speaker's position in January -- used "the power of his position to accomplish what Mr. Odom was unable to do for nearly three years."
Sansom and Richburg testified before the grand jury Thursday along with 10 other witnesses. They included Mike Hansen, the former House budget expert and staff chief under Sansom.
After Sansom emerged from the courtroom, he was asked about his 20 minutes of testimony Thursday.
"It's good. I always enjoy talking to citizens," Sansom said, walking briskly with his lawyer, Peter Antonacci, before boarding an elevator.
Sansom and Richburg were initially being investigated for Sansom's role in steering a disproportionate amount of money to the college while he was the chief of the House's budget committee. Richburg then gave Sansom a no-bid job that would have made him one of the highest-paid officials at the college.
According to the grand jury, the official misconduct charge was for creating false budget documents suggesting an airport building for the college was a "multi-use educational facility'' when in fact it was an aircraft hangar.
"After today, I'm going to need a bullet-proof vest," State Attorney Meggs said. "If I was smart, I'd have an armed escort."
Sansom has denied any wrongdoing. But he quit the college job and then, after Meggs announced he was empanelling a grand jury to probe the matter, Sansom resigned as leader of the Florida House of Representatives, one of the two top legislative positions that gives the office holder life-and-death power over legislation in the nation's fourth most-populous state.
After Sansom stepped down, he remained involved in political House decisions behind the scenes. His replacement as speaker, Republican Larry Cretul of Ocala, is Sansom's roommate in Tallahassee.
Now that he has been indicted, Sansom can face a complaint with the House rules committee for conduct unbecoming of a House member. He can face censure and, ultimately, removal from office.
According to House Rule 15.10: "If an indictment or information for a felony of any jurisdiction is filed against a member of the House, the member indicted or informed against may request the Speaker to excuse the member, without pay, from all privileges of membership of the House pending final adjudication."
Herald/Times staff writers Marc Caputo and Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report. Alex Leary can be reached at aleary@sptimes.com
© 2009 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com inking of running for a second term? Sorry, Charlie.
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