Silence isn't always golden

As the saga of Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom's corrupt bargain with Northwest Florida State College (NFSC) continues, it appears that, like so many Republican wrongdoers, he may end up getting away with it. That is, unless pressure from the mainstream corporate media causes him to buckle, and as we all know, that's an unlikely prospect.

Today, even more e-mails are coming to light that, according to the St. Petersburg Times, show Sansom's emerging role "as an eager-to-please subordinate to [NFSC] president Bob Richburg."

In the e-mails provided in response to a public records request, Richburg's many requests for assistance are greeted [by Sansom] with enthusiasm and optimism.

• "I will get to work on funds."

• "I will get right on this."

• "Just give us the word."

• "This looks great! Next step?"

With two sessions to go before he leaves the Legislature, Sansom's dealings are coming under scrutiny as he eschews widespread calls to resign the $110,000 per year job [at NFSC] — which he got on the same day last month he was sworn in as House speaker.

The 46-year-old Destin Republican denies a connection between the job and the tens of millions he has secured for the school at Richburg's urging. In the past two years, the small school has gotten $35-million more than what had been budgeted by the state Department of Education.

Tom Slade, former head of the Republican Party of Florida, said Sansom's relationship with the college "doesn't pass the smell test" and tramples on the principles the GOP stood behind to take control of the Legislature more than a decade ago.

"We were able to say, 'When we're in control, you can expect us to be very honorable and very disciplined with spending.' But when something of this nature rolls along," Slade said, "it taints the legislative process and it taints the party."

Whether it's Drunky McStagger or Ronald Reagan in Washington or Ray Sansom in Tallahassee, can we all finally admit that the days of the "less-government" GOP are over? It certainly makes the old charge by Republicans that Democrats are "tax-and-spend liberals" ring hollow and hackneyed, doesn't it?

But more to this specific point: it almost goes without saying at this point that Sansom improperly (and, likely, illegally) used his legislative influence to secure his NFSC job ... or at the very least, the college was more than willing to give him the job as a thank-you for his legislative favor. Yet, this obvious breach of electoral responsibility is being met with little more than indifference in Tallahassee.

House Democratic leader Franklin Sands two weeks ago urged Sansom to explain his actions on using the budget to help the college, lest they "fester" and "cast a haze over the Legislature and its work."

Sansom's fellow Republicans have said nothing. A rare exception is freshman Rep. Rachel Burgin, 26, of Brandon, who told BayNews 9's Political Connections: "To be honest, it's a little bit difficult. People hold us responsible for actions, regardless who the leader is."

The silence is not surprising. After all, the Florida Legislature is a closed society with its own rituals and rules. But a public already outraged over Sansom's conduct appears to be now growing more impatient with his colleagues' refusal to even address it.

"Our household is so disgusted with the current Florida legislators for not speaking out and condemning what Speaker Sansom has done in enriching himself and bestowing favors to his college," Marilyn Weaver wrote to two Pinellas lawmakers.

"Why isn't he being investigated?" Arnold Gundersen pointedly asked Rep. John Legg, R-New Port Richey.

[...]

This prolonged silence by Sansom's colleagues can be viewed in one of two ways.

As speaker, Sansom holds life-or-death power over members' lives, from parking spaces to committee assignments, so they fear retribution if they criticize him.

By staying silent, however, Republicans in closely contested districts run the risk of handing a juicy political issue to Democrats in 2010.

The silence on this matter is more than troubling -- it's disgusting.

If a Democrat had done the sorts of things Sansom has done, it would be on the front page of every newspaper in Florida. It would be national news, broadly covered on Fox and CNN and MSNBC. And the Republicans would be calling for the miscreant's political head on a pike. You know it's true -- don't even try to deny it.

Yet just as sweet little Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table, thereby allowing the Bush crime syndicate to continue its nefarious activities without fear of retribution or adverse consequences, so too does corruption in Tallahassee bear bitter fruit for citizens who want nothing more than honest lawmakers who work on behalf of those who elected them to office, not themselves. And we hardly can count on the bought-and-paid-for mainstream corporate media to press the issue -- I'm frankly amazed that the Times has done as much as it has on this. Even worse, given past history, I'm not very sanguine about the Democrats' ability to make political hay with this in 2010.

The Sansom story should be more than one newspaper's isolated tirade. It should be a cause célèbre throughout Florida and even nationally, a glaring example of the excesses of unfettered power and Republican selfishness. Sansom should be driven out of office in disgrace. But I have little confidence that it will result in anything more than a ripple in the water, because for the GOP in Tallahassee and, indeed, in America, it's just business as usual.