Crist, Sansom and that $6 million mystery

As the ongoing legal drama over the fate of former House Speaker Ray Sansom moves forward, there remains one key unanswered question.

Why did Gov. Charlie Crist decide against vetoing the $6 million budget item that is now at the center of the charges against Sansom?

Sansom, R-Destin, was charged this past week with grand theft and conspiracy to commit grand theft. The two new charges stem from the same allegation that Sansom tucked money into the 2007 state budget by claiming it was a building to help out Northwest Florida State College when in fact it was money for an airport hangar wanted by a Panhandle developer and contributor.

In 2007, Crist vetoed more than $450 million in items included in that year's state budget. Internal budget documents from the governor's office show that Crist used his veto pen to eliminate spending items being sought by some of the Legislature's top leaders at the time including both then-House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt. Read more about the veto mystery here at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Here's the internal budget documents that show that the governor's staff clearly identified the $6 million budget item for the college as questionable. The document also show that the governor's office had linked Sansom's name to $75 million worth of budget items for that year.

Download Ray Sansom Member Issues 2007

Crist wound up slashing $35.2 million worth of projects that Sansom's name was linked to, although two of the projects were for Valencia Community College and one was for Florida A&M University. Interestingly enough, all three of these projects were also being sought by then-Sen. Dan Webster, the Orlando Republican who endorsed Tom Gallagher over Crist in the 2006 Republican primary for governor.

Governor's office budget documents from 2007 also show the following:

Sen. Jeff Atwater, the North Palm Beach Republican already in line to become Senate President, was linked to $33.1 million worth of budget requests reviewed by Crist's office. Crist vetoed 17 separate items totaling $11.06 million including money for an emergency operations center that Crist's budget staff said circumvented the existing budget process. The $6 million appropriation that Sansom wanted for the Destin Airport was flagged by the governor's budget office for not being on any list and that the "college did not request the project."

Download Jeff Atwater Member Issues 2007

Then Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, was linked to $120.69 million worth of projects back in 2007 with the largest bulk of the money going to Florida Atlantic University. Crist vetoed $31.5 million worth of items linked to Pruitt including $14 million that Senate staff told the governor's office that Sen. Carey Baker also wanted for a performing arts center at Lake-Sumter Community College.

Download Ken Pruitt Member Issues 2007

As previously reported the governor's budget office also had a long list of budget items linked to Rubio.

Rubio's name was associated with $98.8 million worth of budget projects, including $80 million for a genetics research institute being established at the University of Miami. Crist wound up slashing $3.02 million sought by the Miami Republican including $2.5 million for a cancer center at UM and $300,000 that would have been used to buy television time to highlight Florida golf courses on the Golf Channel.

Download Marco Rubio Member Issues 2007.

Comments

[Media Dissertation]

Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!

[Tally]

Excellent investigative journalism.

I can remember looking at a list of turkeys vetoed and comparing it with Tax Watch's list back then and thinking that there had to be interesting stories behind the differences.

It's all about the real nuts and bolts of politics and governance.

Thanks again for all the good work you do.