Haridopolonomatopoeia gets a gig in Gainesville

State Sen. Mike Haridopolos (R-Indialantic), a rabid wingnut from my old stomping grounds in Brevard County, has been hired for a $75,000-a-year teaching position at the University of Florida ... which is more than two hours distant from his home. This pretty much squelches any thought of him running for Congress, which I had predicted he would do after Dave Weldon (R-Batshit Crazy) announced his retirement. So much for my prognosticatory skills.

By hiring Haridopolos, the third-ranking person in the Senate and a former Brevard Community College staffer, the university says it has added a teacher with plenty or real world public policy experience.

"Mike Haridopolos brings a combination of academic experience teaching government and real life, hands-on experience in Florida politics to the Graham Center," said former U.S. Sen. and Florida Gov. Bob Graham in a news release issued Thursday.

It also puts on its payroll someone who should have tremendous influence on the university's budget in the coming years. Haridopolos is in line to become Senate president in 2010. From that position, he will hold great sway over how much money flows to the university from Tallahassee.

Haridopolos said he had no plans to move from Indialantic and will commute to Tallahassee and Gainesville.

Ben Wilcox, executive director for the citizen's lobby, Common Cause Florida, questioned whether Haridopolos was being hired for his academic credentials or his political influence.

"If it turns out he's being paid to be an advocate for a university just because he's a legislator, then I think that raises questions about whether he's a lobbyist or not," Wilcox said.

Haridopolos said nothing could be further from the truth. He said Graham was eager to tap his experience for the benefit of UF students.

Ugh. It pains me to see Haridopolos, a smarmy little Napoleon whom I know and with whom I used to work (although not terribly closely), get the seal of approval from Bob Graham. But clearly ol' Mikey is gambling on the GOP holding onto the majority in the state Senate through 2010, giving him a crack at the presidency. I guess he figures there will always be enough wingnuts in Florida's Fightin' 15th District to get him to Congress when he's ready -- and, sadly, he's probably right.

Apparently, though, the decision to hire Haridopolos is not very popular at UF:

Haridopolos' hiring at UF, which was effective Feb. 15 according to the university, has ruffled some feathers within the university's faculty.

Unlike most full-time faculty members, Haridopolos does not have a doctorate degree. And the hiring was done without consulting the faculty of the political science department, which normally would have input on new hires.

Stephen Craig, the department chair, said he has no problem with Haridopolos himself. In fact, he said, he hired the senator in the past to teach individual classes about campaigning.

"My biggest concern is simply that the department was not consulted."

In his new role, Haridopolos will be paid far more than other lecturers. The two other full-time lecturers in the department, both of whom have doctorate degrees, are paid an average of $46,580.

"Lots of departments weren't able to hire at the levels they wanted to this year and even replace faculty they have lost," Assistant Professor Michael Martinez said. "So I think hiring a lecturer like this without faculty consultation sort of exacerbates that concern about lack of respect for faculty in this budget situation."

Yes, but remember, Prof. Martinez: in Florida, it's okay if you're a Republican.

I guess it could be worse. Haridopolos could be teaching at FSU ...

UPDATE (4:47 am 2/25/08): For more on this "curious development," check out Categorical Aperitif.