A Tallahassee Republican has spent more than $6,000 of his own money to run ads in the Tallahassee Democrat urging Gov. Charlie Crist to launch an investigation into the dealings of House Speaker Ray Sansom.

The half-page ad pictured at left (click to enlarge) is scheduled to run tomorrow. A full-page ad costing about $4,100 was published today.

"The whole thing just infuriates me, the arrogance," said Ray Bellamy, a Tallahassee orthopedist and FSU faculty member who financed the ads for Common Cause. Referring to the money Sansom secured for Northwest Florida State College, Bellamy added: "It's one thing to do these pork projects when economic times are good and you are benefiting your district. It's a far different thing when you are making a job for yourself and lining your own pockets at a time in which you are preaching from a podium that says 'fiscal responsibility.' "

Bellamy says it's not enough that Sansom is quitting the job. "I want this guy out."

He said he spent the money because "in this day and time, to get people's attention, it takes a lot."

Bellamy's last public battle was in 2005, when he and others successfully opposed a chiropractic college at Florida State University.

On Tuesday morning, a reporter asked Crist about
Common Cause's full-page ad and what he thought of the request that he
appoint a special prosecutor.

"Not much," Crist said. "I think that the speaker did the
right thing yesterday when he resigned the position at the college. I'm
sure it was difficult, but I respect his decision."

*