Something stinks in Destin...and this time it's not the Emerald Grande
Who does this guy think he is?...the Governor of Illinois?
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Sansom got college funds for Odom's airport building proposal
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 the developer: Jay Odom, a friend of Sansom and owner of a jet business.
Odom had sought state funding for a similar emergency-oriented structure through the city of Destin in 2007. His plan was to build 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, groundbreaking 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 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 brand-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 is a real estate developer and owner of Destin Jet, a fixed-base operator with a long-term lease from the county for seven acres at Destin Airport. Odom already has storm-proof hangars at the airport, but they will not fit bigger aircraft such as a Gulf-stream or Falcon 900.
In January 2007, Odom got the Destin City Council to pass a resolution asking the state for $6-million in funding, according to minutes of the meeting. At the time, Odom's plan called for the money to be used to harden the facility he was building and permit emergency officials to use it during a storm.
About the same time Odom was seeking the city's help, insurers were balking at his plan for using metal hangars at all, accord-ing to news reports. Though the structures would be built to withstand a hurricane, insurers would not take a risk with metal build-ings that close to the water. Millions in state money to harden the structures could make that problem go away.
As the dual-purpose idea surfaced, the operator of the existing jet terminal at the airport, Miracle Strip Aviation, offered his building for emergency space. In a letter dated Jan. 9, 2007, to Destin's city manager, director Kelvin Espada, wrote: "I look forward to presenting you and your staff with a tour ... and explaining why it is not necessary to utilize Florida taxpayers money to create a facility that is already in existence."
The tour never happened.
At some point, it's unclear when, the plan switched from fortifying Odom's buildings to constructing something entirely separate. And the plan went from being an emergency operations center to a training facility, to be owned by the college. Odom's hangars have been built, but the college facility won't begin construction until early next year.
In January 2008, Odom persuaded the Okaloosa County Commission to let him sublease about a half-acre of the airport land he was leasing from the county to Northwest Florida State College. His fee: $1 a year.
The plan, Blackford of Destin Jet said, is to use the college's hangar space. The only time it would not be available would be dur-ing a major storm, when the space would be used as a staging area for emergency workers.
When Sansom flies around the state on official Republican business, he often does so in Odom's aircraft. The state GOP pays the bill.
Odom has been a generous contributor to Sansom, both as a county commissioner and a state representative. In 2006-07, Odom's companies gave Sansom $16,000, according to state records.
But that pales in comparison to the $100,000 that Odom's Crystal Beach Development gave on Sept. 4 to a political committee controlled by House Republican leaders, including Sansom.
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http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/san...m_college.html
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Sansom needs to be shown the door...shame, shame, shame!
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I think probed and tapped are my top two most annoying words for 2008-2009......
...don't forget vetted. Probed, tapped and vetted. Sounds wicked.
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