Florida Speaker Steps Down

Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Ray Sansom (Republican), stepped down from his position, claiming he could not carry out his duties while being investigated for corruption. On the same day he was sworn in as speaker, he had taken a $110,000-a-year part-time job as vice president for development and planning with Northwest Florida State College. The Leon County grand jury voted on Monday to investigate Sansom's ties to the college after a series of articles in The St. Petersburg Times that reported on how Sansom steered millions to the college. Other news reports talked of how Sansom pushed for legislation that raised the college from its community college status and how he won millions for construction projects for the college. Sansom had also suddenly resigned from his college job this month. Sansom's stepping down followed the resignation of the speaker of the Massachusetts House, Salvatore F. DiMasi (Democrat). DiMasi's former campaign treasurer and accountant was accused of making illegal campaign contributions and illegal lobbying. Sansom's stepping down also occurred a day after Blagojevich was impeached. Clearly, a lot of corruption is floating around; but then again, politics has never always been a clean game.