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When it hurts the House, it's time to go

By Howard Troxler, Times columnist
In print: Thursday, December 4, 2008

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The Hon. Ray Sansom, Speaker, Florida House of Representatives:

Dear Mr. Speaker:

So, how's it going so far? Have you figured out how to fix our state's problems with insurance, taxes and the crummy budget?

Ha, ha, just kidding! I know you just took over a couple of weeks ago, and I figure you'll need at least a month or two to take care of all that.

The reason I'm writing, as you can probably guess, is because of the heat you are taking over getting a $110,000-a-year job at a community college the same day you became speaker.

It turns out that you got all kinds of state money for that college in the past. The result is that folks have been calling for you to resign.

I laughed when the head of the state Democratic Party jumped on the pile. If I were you, heck, I'd be tempted to take two college jobs, just to make her madder.

But that is neither here nor there. I do not much care what partisans say. The only thing that matters is conscience.

I imagine that your own conscience is clear — that you honestly do not see any problem with taking over one of the most powerful public trusts in Florida, and getting a well-paying job from a branch of that government at the same time.

After all, you have long-standing ties with Northwest Florida State College, which used to be Okaloosa-Walton Community College. You even put yourself through school there.

And it's not like you're some unqualified schmo. You have a graduate degree in education. You have experience in public policy. Politicians get hired at schools all the time. One of your predecessors as speaker has done a bang-up job at Florida State University, as far as I can tell.

On the other hand, that particular fellow had long since left the House and earned his stripes at another school first. No, the trouble here is being put on the payroll at exactly the same time you take the reins of the Legislature.

Frankly, it looks bad. It is bad. It is flat-out stinky. You can deny it. Maybe all your friends and the folks around you deny it, too. But if you and I pulled together a jury of 100 random Floridians, and you made your argument and I made mine, I would win hands down.

Here is the worst thing about this:

It hurts the House. It hurts the House's credibility. It hurts the members who chose you as their speaker.

It hurts everything that you and they will try to do in the next two years. How can you govern this state, how can you ask Floridians to make sacrifices? How will you be able to sell your ideas and your vision, when you are the Man Who Got Paid Off With the $110,000-a-Year Job?

It is not going to go away. In fact, I bet this gets worse.

You say that legislators are citizens with a right to a job. Yes, they are. But few citizens have gotten a job like this at the same time they took power like this.

So, put me in the ranks of the folks who believe you need to choose. I trust that the college would have you, speaker or not — right? I also trust that the college would be proud to have you after you have finished public service.

The Man Who Put the Public Interest First sounds like a lot better title.

Anyway, good luck no matter what.

Best,

Howard