State Representative Cretul to Serve As Speaker Until 2009 Session Begins

 

Above:  State Representative Larry Cretul Elected Republican House Leader, will serve as Speaker of the House until 2009 Session begins.

 

On Monday, February 2, 2009, State Representative Larry Cretul (R-Ocala) was elected Republican Leader of the Florida House of Representatives during the House Republican Caucus meeting. Speaker Ray Sansom had resigned his position as Republican Party Leader.

Leader Cretul will continue to exercise all the duties, powers and prerogatives of Speaker of the House until the full House of Representatives convenes on March 3, 2009, at which time the full Chamber may officially elect a new Speaker.

A statement from Majority Leader Adam Hasner and an article from the Miami Herald on the appointment is reprinted below.

 

Should you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Colodny Fass.

 

Majority Leader Hasner’s Statement on the Election of Speaker Pro Tempore Cretul As Republican Conference Leader

TALLAHASSEE, FL – House Majority Leader Adam Hasner (R-Delray Beach) today issued the following statement regarding the election of Speaker Pro Tempore Larry Cretul (R-Ocala) as Republican Conference Leader: “Speaker Cretul’s calm and steady leadership will help us focus on putting the business of the people of Florida first. Tonight’s unanimous vote demonstrates that all members of the House Republican Conference welcome Speaker Cretul’s leadership and they share my confidence that he will lead the House forward with common-sense solutions to the challenges we face of getting Floridians back to work and restarting our economy.”

 

 

Miami Herald:  Sansom’s replacement now permanent

Florida House Republicans named Rep. Larry Cretul of Ocala their caucus leader, paving the way for him to replace Ray Sansom as speaker.

February 3, 2009

By ALEX LEARY

Ray Sansom’s short-lived and tumultuous tenure as Florida House speaker effectively ended Monday night when his Republican colleagues anointed a new leader.

Sansom — who had not presided over his first regular legislative session before being confronted with multiple investigations over his dealings with a state college — attended the 9 p.m. GOP caucus meeting, where he issued a letter of resignation as Republican leader.

One by one, his colleagues offered hugs and handshakes.

Although Sansom has yet to even face a charge, lawmakers signaled that the distraction was too great for him to keep the post, even though he had already stepped aside — temporarily — on Friday.

”We face challenges like Florida has never faced before, and that is where our focus must be,” said House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, referring to the state’s $3 billion budget gap. ”Members, it is time to move forward.”

Rep. Larry Cretul, a soft-spoken real-estate agent from Ocala who took over as interim leader for Sansom four days ago, was chosen as the new leader of the GOP caucus. The vote was unanimous.

On March 3, the first day of the 60-day legislative session, Cretul is expected to be elected permanent speaker by the 120-member House.

From then on, the door would appear shut for Sansom to return as speaker.

‘IMMEDIATE FOCUS’

”Our immediate focus now is to get back to the business of the Florida House and also to the households of the state of Florida,” Cretul said during a 1 p.m. news conference Monday. He pledged to be a calming force and to promote teamwork. ”I did not campaign for this position,” he said, ”and I have no promises to fulfill.”

He prepared for the day, he said, by reviewing some favorite books: the Bible, The Power of Wordsand The Art of War, which he dryly joked would be useful for upcoming budget negotiations.

Cretul, who has shared a Tallahassee condominium with Sansom, said he planned to appoint his friend to some committees and that Sansom would be a valuable member of the Legislature.

But the day was a low moment for Sansom, a former Okaloosa County commissioner who carried with him to Tallahassee the hopes and expectations of the Panhandle, an area that sometimes feels overlooked in the political calculus of Florida.

INVESTIGATIONS

Sansom, a 46-year-old father of three, faces investigations from a grand jury, a special House investigator and the Florida Commission on Ethics over accepting an unadvertised, $110,000 part-time job at Northwest Florida State College on Nov. 18, the same day he became speaker.

The investigations were triggered by a series of stories by the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau that detailed how, in the two years before becoming speaker, Sansom helped the college get about $35 million in accelerated or additional money, including $6 million for an airport project that was similar to a jet hangar a friend of Sansom’s was trying to build.

Sansom defended the spending, saying it was all money designated for education use, so it could not have been used to patch other holes in the budget.

PRESSURE GROWS

He said that at the time, lawmakers were trying to push construction projects through quickly to generate jobs as the economy began to soften. He said he did not know his friend, Jay Odom, was proposing a similar taxpayer-funded building at Destin Airport.

Sansom’s criminal-defense lawyer, Peter Antonacci, said Sansom was eager to testify before the grand jury, and had already contacted State Attorney Willie Meggs, who is leading the grand jury investigation. ”Anytime he’s ready,” Antonacci said Monday, ”my client’s ready.”

 

 

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