Nicely Said, Part II

The Orlando Sentinel on Ray Sansom:

Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom did what he had to do Monday, the opening day of a special legislative session, resigning from an academic job that reeked of payback for delivering the legislative goods.

He had little choice, really. The $110,000 job with Northwest Florida State College was a legislative millstone for Mr. Sansom, who had used his political muscle to steer enormous sums to the small Panhandle college.

The Destin Republican still faces an ethics complaint, but if he truly wants to restore his credibility, he'll lead the charge to halt the growing practice of legislators taking plum jobs with government agencies, especially academic institutions.

We know, we know -- Florida doesn't have full-time legislators. They need to work. But Florida has a big private sector out there. There's local and federal government, too. State government isn't the only work around.

Now that Mr. Sansom has called it quits, Northwest Florida's trustees owe it to the public to hold the school president accountable. Bob Richburg was the one who got Mr. Sansom to do his bidding, and who offered Mr. Sansom a job without advertising it or interviewing other candidates. The president facilitated this embarrassment.

More likely, they'll congratulate Mr. Richburg, offer him a bonus and bemoan the nattering nabobs who halted their gravy train.