12-07-2008, 01:25 PM
You folks keep on complaining about crap that doesn't matter, and the real money will continue to go out the door. Perhaps you state employees are satisfied with the crumbs you are given by your employers.
House Speaker Sansom marked funds for donor's airport project
Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom helped secure $6 million in education funds for a jet hangar sought by a campaign donor who had a financial interest in the project.
BY ALEX LEARY
HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
TALLAHASSEE -- As House Speaker Ray Sansom funneled millions in tax dollars to the college that now employs him, the list of school projects included an airport building first requested by a developer who has contributed heavily to Sansom's campaigns.
In 2007, Sansom quietly secured $6 million to build an emergency training center at the Destin Airport on land controlled by Sansom's friend, developer and jet business owner Jay Odom.
Odom had sought state funding for a similar emergency-oriented structure through the City of Destin in 2007. His plan was to make a hurricane-proof hangar on the vulnerable peninsula that his business would use most of the time, but then turn over to emergency officials during natural disasters. Although city officials endorsed Odom's proposal, he got no state money for the plan.
Now ground-breaking is near on the new college building that Sansom arranged, and classrooms seem secondary in the design.
The bulk of the 30,000-square-foot building is an open, two-story tall hangar-sized room. Odom says he has no plans to use the space to park his jets, but the manager of his airport operation, Bill Blackford, said in an interview that was the idea.
College officials say emergency vehicles will fit in the large room and also say there's ''no agreement'' to put jets in the new building.
But the architectural plans provided by the college refer to an ''aircraft hangar'' and ``aircraft-related occupancies.''
The confusion adds to the murkiness of a project that some Destin residents say is unnecessary. And it further darkens the cloud now hanging over Florida's new Speaker of the House, who recently joined the staff of the college he has showered with tax money in recent years.
Sansom -- who got the unadvertised $110,000 job at Northwest Florida State College on the same day this November that he was sworn in as House speaker -- insists he is only looking out for the community. Sansom said he didn't know Odom had sought state money for a similar project before.
''It doesn't benefit him at all,'' Sansom said in an interview at the Capitol. ``He wasn't involved with me. I worked with the college.''
E-mail records, however, show that Sansom, Odom and college president Bob Richburg were in contact with one another about the airport project.
Odom said Blackford, who represents the business before a local airport committee, was ''confused'' and ''mistaken'' when he said Odom's company planned to use the college facility for jet storage. Odom acknowledged that large jets will not fit in his own hangars but said he has no plan to use the college space.
Still, public records show that Odom was not just a major force in getting state money for the airport project -- it was his idea.
Story continued at: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politic ... 02672.html (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/florida/story/802672.html)
House Speaker Sansom marked funds for donor's airport project
Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom helped secure $6 million in education funds for a jet hangar sought by a campaign donor who had a financial interest in the project.
BY ALEX LEARY
HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
TALLAHASSEE -- As House Speaker Ray Sansom funneled millions in tax dollars to the college that now employs him, the list of school projects included an airport building first requested by a developer who has contributed heavily to Sansom's campaigns.
In 2007, Sansom quietly secured $6 million to build an emergency training center at the Destin Airport on land controlled by Sansom's friend, developer and jet business owner Jay Odom.
Odom had sought state funding for a similar emergency-oriented structure through the City of Destin in 2007. His plan was to make a hurricane-proof hangar on the vulnerable peninsula that his business would use most of the time, but then turn over to emergency officials during natural disasters. Although city officials endorsed Odom's proposal, he got no state money for the plan.
Now ground-breaking is near on the new college building that Sansom arranged, and classrooms seem secondary in the design.
The bulk of the 30,000-square-foot building is an open, two-story tall hangar-sized room. Odom says he has no plans to use the space to park his jets, but the manager of his airport operation, Bill Blackford, said in an interview that was the idea.
College officials say emergency vehicles will fit in the large room and also say there's ''no agreement'' to put jets in the new building.
But the architectural plans provided by the college refer to an ''aircraft hangar'' and ``aircraft-related occupancies.''
The confusion adds to the murkiness of a project that some Destin residents say is unnecessary. And it further darkens the cloud now hanging over Florida's new Speaker of the House, who recently joined the staff of the college he has showered with tax money in recent years.
Sansom -- who got the unadvertised $110,000 job at Northwest Florida State College on the same day this November that he was sworn in as House speaker -- insists he is only looking out for the community. Sansom said he didn't know Odom had sought state money for a similar project before.
''It doesn't benefit him at all,'' Sansom said in an interview at the Capitol. ``He wasn't involved with me. I worked with the college.''
E-mail records, however, show that Sansom, Odom and college president Bob Richburg were in contact with one another about the airport project.
Odom said Blackford, who represents the business before a local airport committee, was ''confused'' and ''mistaken'' when he said Odom's company planned to use the college facility for jet storage. Odom acknowledged that large jets will not fit in his own hangars but said he has no plan to use the college space.
Still, public records show that Odom was not just a major force in getting state money for the airport project -- it was his idea.
Story continued at: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politic ... 02672.html (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/florida/story/802672.html)