A criminal investigation of former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom, recently indicted on charges of falsifying the state budget, has turned up e-mails related to the scandal that supposedly did not exist when The Palm Beach Post requested the documents from the legislature.¹

The Post asked Sansom’s office Dec. 10 to turn over the previous 20 days of e-mails that the Destin Republican had either sent and received. The request was made to gauge public reaction to news that Sansom may have received a six-figure job from Northwest Florida State College in exchange for funneling millions of state dollars to the school.

The Post also sought messages between Sansom and then-college President James “Bob” Richburg about the scandal.

The House responded with documents that showed Sansom neither sent nor received a single e-mail for 11 days.

But that is not true, prosecutors’ files show. Documents found by Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs reveal several e-mails from that time, including a conversation among Sansom, Sansom’s communication director and Richburg, who was fired for his involvement in the controversy.²

“We need to be concerned about this,” said Barbara Petersen, president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, when told about the discovered e-mails. “I’m almost speechless when I see what the legislature is doing and how they’re doing it.”³

The records shine a spotlight on the questionable standards lawmakers set for themselves in handling the public documents that shape policy and spending decisions.⁴ The rules, which let lawmakers delete their e-mails at will, are far less strict than the requirements the legislature imposes on state agencies, the governor’s office and local governments.⁵

“You raise a good point and it’s something worth taking another look at,” House Rules Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton said. “It is something we need to revisit to make sure we are doing everything we can to promote an open process.”

The missing e-mails also raise questions about the dual role of the speaker’s communications director: a position that serves as the gatekeeper of public records, but also requires the person to help shape a political message from the speaker’s office.

Asked about the apparent conflict of interest in her job as communications director under Sansom, Jill Chamberlin said she has never been accused of dishonesty. Chamberlin, who earns an annual salary of $105,000, remains in the job under current Speaker Larry Cretul.

“These rules were set a long time ago. This has been going on for a long time,” Chamberlin said.

Presented with e-mails found in Meggs’ 16,000-page case file against Sansom, Chamberlin said that “it’s tough for me to know” why the documents were not included in the House’s response to The Post’s records request.

Chamberlin said it was possible that Sansom had used his personal e-mail account to send or receive the messages. Meggs’ files show at least 18 private e-mail accounts — including one for Chamberlin and two for Sansom — that lawmakers and staff use to conduct state business.

House policy says private e-mails used to discuss public business are public records. But the staff is not required to ask a legislator to search his or her personal files to comply with a records request.

Chamberlin also said Sansom might have deleted the e-mails from his state account and that investigators instead recovered those documents from the college.⁶ But several e-mails, including at least one from Chamberlin to Sansom, were never sent to college officials.

Not even the college handed over all of its e-mails to comply with The Post’s records requests.

One e-mail that the college turned over to state investigators but did not provide to The Post shows that Sansom, Richburg and Jay Odom, a Panhandle developer and Republican donor also indicted in the scandal, received a tour of Indian River State College from Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie. The tour occurred before Sansom, Richburg and Odom assembled plans for a $6 million emergency training facility that would include an airport hangar for Odom.

Another e-mail that should have been included in the college’s response to The Post shows that Sansom and Richburg discussed a contract for Sansom months before the school had an opening. A college spokeswoman did not return a call for comment.

Meggs has retrieved Sansom’s state-issued laptop and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to perform a forensic exam.

Chamberlin acknowledged a certain amount of trust the public must place in her: Her job description requires her to provide public records in a timely fashion but also to protect the politician who holds the speaker’s office.

“Most of us want to comply with the law. I would say virtually all of us here,” she said.

But documents found by Meggs raise questions about how readily the public can obtain records from the speaker’s office.

Several times, Chamberlin notified the media of records’ availability just hours before a holiday or long weekend. In one instance, Chamberlin appears to have received records from staff more than a week before releasing them on the afternoon before New Year’s Eve.
Chamberlin denied she was hoping to manipulate a news cycle.

“There might be other explanations for the delays, but the fact that we’d want to try to do it on the holidays or the weekend is the least of your worries. I’m categorically opposed to that,” Chamberlin said.

In another e-mail exchange, she tells a House attorney that she’s hesitant ask a reporter to clarify a records request because Sansom’s then-Chief of Staff Mike Hansen might accuse her of being “helpful” to the press.

Hansen, who now earns $122,592 as the House Government Accountability Council staff director, declined interview requests.

While important e-mails to and from the governor are permanently archived, no such rules exist for the legislature. A House member is not required to keep e-mail unless he or she deems it has “vital, permanent or archival value.”

Chamberlin said the “sheer volume” of e-mails lawmakers receive requires the staff to regularly delete e-mails.

An Associated Press story in February showed that the 160-member state legislature has only about 1 terabyte of e-mail storage. That’s the equivalent of about six Sony PlayStation 3 video game systems.⁷ It’s also smaller than some computer hard drives that consumers can buy for less than $150.

Chamberlin has recommended to Cretul that the chamber start charging for large public records requests. But she said she was uncomfortable suggesting lawmakers update their retention policies.

“We want to be helpful,” she said. “If you ask for something and we have it, we will give it to you.”

1. The Palm Beach Post, 04/18/09: Ex-House speaker’s indictment blasts secret budget deals
2. Click here for the e-mails included in Meggs’ case file, but not in a public records request made to the House.
3. Petersen was chairwoman of Gov. Charlie Crist’s Commission on Open Records Reform. The panel issued a report in January that determined the legislature has rules for itself that may be inconsistent with state public records laws.
4. House Rules regarding public records; adopted 11/08/08.
5. Chamberlin explains lawmakers can delete e-mails: Click here.
6. In a related topic, a special investigator last week found Sansom probably violated House ethics rules for his part to help the NWFSC board of trustees avoid state open meeting laws. Post story here. Investigator’s report here.
7. AP, 02/11/09: Fla. could expand lawmakers e-mail space

Tags: First Amendment Foundation, Jill Chamberlin, Mike Hansen, Northwest Florida State College, public records, Ray Sansom, state budget, Sunshine Laws

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 1:02 pm and is filed under elections, legislature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.