It's no coincidence that the four-year-old story about state Sen. Mike Haridopolos' "book deal" resurfaced this week. After all, he's running for U.S. Senate, and that makes him target practice for both the right and left.
The Hari book saga is the Florida equivalent of would-be Sen. David Norris' (Matt Damon's) bare buttocks in "The Adjustment Bureau." It came back to bite him in the posterior.
Whether Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson or Haridopolos' GOP rivals can capitalize on this warmed-over imbroglio remains to be seen. But the story got fresh legs when a liberal group, Progress Florida, ran with it (again) Monday.
Mainstream pressers -- the ex-officio wing of the Democratic Party -- were, of course, eager to revisit the tale they had hashed over more than a year ago.
Despite the renewed interest, however, the facts haven't changed.
Haridopolos, then-chairman of the Liberal Arts Department at Brevard Community College, was offered a revised contract by BCC to write a textbook on legislative history. He took a sabbatical from his teaching duties and a reduction in salary to write the book, which would be titled "Florida Legislative History and Process."
As BCC said in a statement:
"Under the leadership of the late Dr. Thomas E. Gamble, who died in 2006 while serving as the fourth president of Brevard Community College, BCC entered into an employment contract in October 2003 with Senator Mike Haridopolos, who was then a full-time tenured assistant professor at the college, for the development of a book about the Florida Legislature and the workings of the legislative process. Senator Haridopolos diligently completed the scope of work outlined in the employment contract and submitted the book manuscript to the college in July 2006, more than a year in advance of its due date.
"The book is now available in an electronic format for $9.99 to interested readers worldwide through Amazon, where the college recently published it. The college continues to make available any and all public records to media representatives and other interested citizens, as we have in the past. We thank you for your interest in Brevard Community College.
"The book contract calls for BCC to receive two-thirds of royalties and income from the book, while Haridopolos receives one-third."
If there's a problem with any of this, fingers ought to be pointing at BCC, not Haridopolos. He was offered a contract to write a book. He delivered it ahead of schedule, and he took a pay cut to do it.
"Trying to insinuate there was some kind of pay-for-play deal is wrong," said Tim Baker, a spokesman for Haridopolos' campaign.
"He was not hired out of left field to write a book. He has a 10-year relationship with the college and prominent stature there before becoming a politician."
As far as subsequent state appropriations to BCC, Baker asserted, "They didn't get anything that others haven't gotten."
Progress Florida and others have mocked the Haridopolos book for being almost invisible. At last count, just 70 copies have sold.
But, again, that's not the senator's problem. The book was never conceived as a New York Times best-seller, and Haridopolos can hardly be accused of raking in the royalties.
"If you want to ding it on the basis of literary criticism, fair enough. Don't buy the book," Baker adds.
The Merritt Island Republican's political critics aren't going so quietly.
"This Haridopolos book deal is more proof that Florida's most successful politicians are the biggest plunderers," says Joyce Tarnow, a West Coast political activist.
"It also calls into question the ethics of the college to offer such a 'token of their appreciation.' Are these quid-pro-quos with taxpayer dollars? In return, Florida students get 15 percent to 25 percent increases in tuition."
Tarnow strikes at the core issue here. The real questions are how the holder of a master's degree rises to a major department chair, and how that is parlayed into a lucrative adjunct professorship at the University of Florida.
There are plenty of adjunct instructors with far more impressive academic credentials barely making ends meet as "Roads Scholars" in this state. So the seeming discrepancies in hiring, promotion and compensation decisions belong squarely in the lap of the colleges that make them.
Likewise, administrative policies relating to publishing and staff assignments also are the bailiwick of the employer, not the employee.
Until and unless someone proves that Haridopolos held a figurative gun to the heads of his college bosses, his critics are just firing wildly by intimating he acted inappropriately. If there's a stench here, it's likely to be judged as emanating from the Ivory Tower.
As for the senator, he declined to comment on the much-debated BCC book contract.
"Would he do it again?" Baker mused. "He would have to think about it."
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This is an opinion column by Kenric Ward. Reach Kenric at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
