The president of the college where Ray Sansom now works provided him with a "pricey" $122-million funding request over five years with the implicit expectation that Sansom would help "make it a reality."

Sansom, who got the request in February, took care of the first part. This year, he secured $25.5-million in the budget for a student services building at Northwest Florida State College -- $24.5-million more than the Department of Education requested.

Records obtained today by the Times/Herald show the college wanted $18-million in PECO funds in the upcoming fiscal year (at some point, the request was pared back to $13.2-million, a figure we already reported. The DOE has recommended only $748,000).

The big payoff was to come in Sansom's final year in the House, with $34-million. Then in the two years following, the college wanted an additional $45-million.

All told, the college laid out a five-year plan to obtain $122.5-million. "It's a pricey list ... hopefully we can make it a reality," President Bob Richburg wrote to Sansom on Feb. 26, 2008.

It was not the first time Richburg directly appealed to Sansom for funding. See below.

In August 2007, Richburg presented Sansom with a proposal for a "Northwest Florida Leadership Institute," a training center of sorts for business people at the college.

Sansom warmly embraced the idea -- "This looks great!! Next step?" -- and then pledged to find money. "I will get to work on funds," he wrote to Richburg.

The rest is history. Sansom inserted $750,000 in start-up money into the current budget for the institute -- a quiet move that cause tension with House Speaker Marco Rubio.