E-mail calls state Rep. Ray Sansom 'king pin' of airport deal

An e-mail retrieved from ex-college president Bob Richburg's BlackBerry describes Rep. Ray Sansom as the "kingpin" in a plan for a taxpayer-funded building at Destin Aiport.

"Jay is positive and motivated," Richburg wrote to Sansom on July 11, 2007, several months after Sansom put $6 million into the state budget for the facility. "He and I both agree that you are the king pin in this whole operation and that the three of us need to meet and work the plan."

The e-mail, which was just turned over to investigators and includes an oblique reference to Sen. Ken Pruitt, indicates Sansom's reluctance to build Jay Odom's fixed-based operation, a fancy name for a private airport facility. And a subsequent e-mail asserts that position more forcefully but says that Odom could lease part of the Northwest Florida State College building that Sansom funded.

Odom in fact built a terminal building for his Destin Jet, but documents and interviews suggest he was going to use the hangar-like college space to store aircraft. As recently as December 2008, a college architect was writing that, "We have it confirmed by the user of the Staging area that multiple aircraft will be stored, therefore we are required to add floor trench drains, slope the floor, and add a gas intercept in the line by code.” (see that e-mail here)

The BlackBerry messages were requested from an investigator for the Florida Commission on Ethics and then turned over to the State Atttorney's Office.

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Comments

[Bill McCollum and Jay Odoms $$$]

Why wont Bill McCollum and the GOP give back all the money that Jay Odom gave them?

[Did McCollum take Money from Odom]

Bill McCollum should return the money he took from Jay Odom and apologize for not investigating Ray Sansom and the Republican Party for their role in the $6 million hangar.

[how 'bout them repiggies]

typical corrupt repiggie...

[Not Republicans Fault]

Just because Republican legislators and the GOP received "handfuls of checks" totalling over a million dollars before they voted for the funding of the airplane hangar doesn't mean anything.

[-(]

What is going on here? How are all these dribbles of emails possible? The Richburg email is dated July 11, 2007 at 2:44 PM. There have been numerous public records requests and numerous subpoenas etc. How is it that “we” the public are learning about this nearly two years after the fact?
This begs the question: who was destroying emails for Ray? Who pressed delete? These people must also be brought to justice.

[Oscar]

Did you guys read the subsequent email? Is former Senator Charlie Clary mixed up in this mess? As I read the subsequent email, Senator Clary was going to do the architectural work. Carleton…Pruitt…Clary. Is there any member of the legislature not tainted by this story?

[terminator]

looks like Pruitt's abrupt departure from the Senate (may) be more than being "drained" or wanting to spend more time with his family (the usual lame response we get from politicians under scrutiny for influence peddling).
listen for the other "shoes" to begin dropping.
looks as if the RPOF has a lot of issues they'll be dealing with in the next year.
how many others were in on this deal?

[Gator(R)]

Ouch. I agree the dribbles and drabs of emails is interesting. This appears one of the most damning I have seen.

[Bend Over Taxpayers....]

Another piece of the Sansom-Richberg-Odom fleecing of the taxpayer !!
Why don't we bring back public hangings, maybe then the politicians might begin working honestly for thr state and not themselves and their buddys ????

[Gator(R)]

2:43

Did we ever hang somebody for using their influence to get an appropriation for a supporter? I don't think so, but interesting suggestion.

[leave sansom and odom alone]

I can't believe all the whining you democrat/socialist people do. So what about our lawmakers doing favors for capitalists? We are a Representative Republic and have a capitalistic system,not socialistic.If a capitalist had a plan to make money that would provide jobs,so what we lost a mile or so of beach,I don't live there and don't care.Why do those people just hate him because he is able to get things done? Why don't any democrats get things done like this? I see no big deal with Sansoms job,it's a good place for law makers to have extra income,god knows they waste money on liberal teachers,we need to pay some good conservatives to work at all colleges to balance things out and its best to use lawmakers because they can start young republican clubs.I think if odom was going to rent part of the building thats ok,its extra income the college needs.
Quit whining obama lovers,wait until he is deported for his fake birth certificate.

[okie dokie]

Isn't Clary a Richburg business partner who was receiving college contracts from Richburg without Richburg disclosing his relationship with Clary?
I remember an ethics complaint about that.

[Love it....]

don't you just love the irony of the Public Records disclaimer at the bottom of the email. What a dunce.

[John]

Dear "Leave Sansom and Richberg alone",

As a lifelong Florida Republican, I find your e-mail to be so disgusting that I wouldn't even go back to read it, to see if I read it right.
John

[Pruit same as Sansom]

Pruit is in this up to his eyeballs. Ray went to see Ken to get his blessing on this corrupt deal. Cant wait for the Feds to start investigating Pruit. He is the biggest crook of all.

[Wacissa]

I have to agree with 2:29 - Pruitt departed the week after Richburg was fired and the college released the e-mails that first mentioned them. There's more to his retirement - there are no coincidences in politics.

[Gator(R)]

I think there is a lesson to be learned here. Be careful what you put in emails.

There may be a few others, but that is the one that sticks out.

[how 'bout them repiggies]

Repiggies seem to have a penchant for self-damaging emails. I particularly enjoyed reading the excerpts from those of Mark Sanford, that stalwart defender of the "sanctity of traditional marriage" or some such nonsense.

[Paul D. Harvill]

"An e-mail retrieved from ex-college president Bob Richburg's BlackBerry describes Rep. Ray Sansom as the "kingpin" in a plan for a taxpayer-funded building at Destin Aiport".
______________

And why are we not suprised?

Only the Speaker of the House had the power to make the funding happen in his own area of Florida.

[Paul D. Harvill]

The investigative staff at the Florida Commission on Ethics has a long history of thorough investigations.

Let's hear it for them!!!!!!!

[This is odd]

The second email tends to suggest that Richburg was trying to keep Odom's money separate from state funds, and to clarify that Odom had to build his own facility. He does mention leasing part of the "hangar" back to Odom, but for "conference room" purposes. Doesn't mention jets. This would be the first piece of evidence published that suggests that at least during this moment of time, Richburg and Sansom were trying to do this on the up and up. Was the original concept to build an actual classroom building, and then over time Odom was able to convince Sansom and Richburg to build a hangar after all? If they were going to build an actual classroom building/EOC, why directly on the flightline of an airport--doesn't make sense.

[how about them dumbocrats?]

Repiggies seem to have a penchant for self-damaging emails. I particularly enjoyed reading the excerpts from those of Mark Sanford, that stalwart defender of the "sanctity of traditional marriage" or some such nonsense.

Posted by: how 'bout them repiggies | July 02, 2009 at 04:51 PM

I seem to remember another politician who was the self proclaimed moral authority - his name was John Edwards. Oh yeah, he had an affair and a love child as well. Wow. What do you know? It affects BOTH political parties...

[toll road 4 jay/jail cell 4 ray]

Is Charlie Clary related to Lowell Clary?

"Moving U.S. 331 Forward was founded by Denver Stutler, a former secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation, and Lowell Clary, an assistant secretary."

[Pretty Nice!]

The FL Ethics Commission also has a tragic history of ruling in a political sense only. Jimmy of Captain Anderson fame was a former FEC appointee and I can assure you [without doubt] that he served in a manner that's not forgivable.

Jimmy: Your days will demonstrate karma one day and I hope I am right there to let you know.

This crooked heart needs to get gone. Trust me folks--remember Jimmy is a liar and a crooked man.

My point is that the FEC is not any guarantee of anything.

[PSLDIRT]

Glad to see that "powers to be" have finally tied Pruitt to Sansom and Odom!

Since the TampaBay Buzz didn't tell you how Pruitt got involved in this process, Pruitt headed up a meeting and tour of Indian River State College for Odom, Sansom and others. It was during this tour that Pruitt introduced "the players" in the scheme to defraud the citizens of this State of $6 MILLION for the Destin Airport Hangar.

Everyone is looking at Sansom as the former Speaker of the House for the fleecing through the budget. I just have to ask, who was the Senate President at the time when most of this was occurring? Who had more control over what was within the budget?

To see more fleecing of the State of Florida citizens, just read my blog. I've been following and documenting Pruitt's misdeeds for over 11 years.
http://psldirt.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

This is just the tip of iceberg.

[Senate gag order]

PSLDIRT,

Maybe you should make a public records request on this:

21st Century Summit - Homeland Security, Protecting Florida and its Future, August 24, 2006, Okaloosa Walton College.

It also was a Pruitt, Sansom, Richburg & Odom gig. Since Richburg is gone now, maybe the college will actually be able to "find" the info on the event.