Brevard Community College's book deal with Sen. Mike Haridopolo...

If you want to read the new book by state Sen. Mike Haridopolos -- the one that Brevard Community College paid him more than $150,000 in public money to write -- don't count on finding it at the nearest Barnes ...

[Palm Bay Reader]

Another privilege afforded to politicians who claim to favor the "over taxed" public yet they take hand-outs to further their political and financial standing.

Please, don't give us the, "I care for the public" speech when in the same breath you take public funds to promote your political ideas. The only "education" we get from this book is to confirm that politicians are in it for their own benefit - not the publics. If the public ever do get any benefit from what they do, it is often because it is incidental to their profiteering and not the central intent of the act.

These are the same politicians who pledged no to prolong their stay in office and rescinded that pledge to maintain their position in power.

[Concerned Citizen]

We've got to get rid of these guys who just have no sense of decency.

[Redogg]

Mikey Haridopolos is a crook. He's basically taking bribes from our public institutions, yet it seems nobody in the legislature has the guts to stand up and call him out on it. Haridopolos is also the same guy that's fighting to help Travelocity not to pay their fair share in taxes, and he's the same guy that's against repealing sales tax exemptions for big business. On top of all of that, he looks like a fairy.

There should be a law prohibiting any state legislator from doing business with any entity (public or private) that gets funding directly from the state.

[Marion Brady]

Wow! Haridopolos' unpublished manuscript has already made him far more money than my total from the royalties from two books published by Prentice-Hall, two by Books For Educators, and one by the State University of New York Press.

[Richard]

Guess what
His campaign slogan was
" What is a Haridopolous "
We know now, a crooked politician with his hand in the taxpayers pocket

He now gets $ 75,000.00 from Florida U
Wait until he gets to be president of the State Senate
Hang onto your pocketbook, Jesse James is alive & well
PLEASE VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE

[cry me a river]

wow stop crying about someone making more money than you. It's business. Why don't you start attacking the BCC Board too since they're just as much at fault.

[digger]

Is the Jim Handley from BCC listed in this story any relation to Dean Handley that hired him at UF?

[Fed UP]

cry me a river wrote:

wow stop crying about someone making more money than you. It's business. Why don't you start attacking the BCC Board too since they're just as much at fault.

Although he's a crook with no ethics, the BCC board is also at fault for wasting money in this manner.

[suspicious]

Hey, did anybody ask BCC whether they ran this manuscript through their turnitin.com program that students have to submit papers through to ensure there's no plagiarism?

[Redogg]

cry me a river wrote:

wow stop crying about someone making more money than you. It's business. Why don't you start attacking the BCC Board too since they're just as much at fault.

It's not "business" when Mikey Haridopolos has a hand in funding the same agencies he's getting paid by. It's also not "business" for these same institutions to pay him more than real employees make simply because he's a legislator. Let's not kid ourselves. That's exactly why he's getting these contracts.

[Lee]

"Mikey Haridopolos is a crook. He's basically taking bribes from our public institutions, yet it seems nobody in the legislature has the guts to stand up and call him out on it."

You are exactly right, Redogg. What a sad state of affairs we have gotten ourselves into by electing people like Haridopolos and by allowing people like the administrators at BCC to run amok.

[Bill]

What a load of crap! A book of essays. Give me a break, this book will never see the light of day in a library. If it does, they better make sure it is placed in the fiction section. Probably wrote this thing in about 3 days tops! A cell phone and a computer is essential. Wow! I'll have to write that one down.

[Bill]

The movie "Distinguished Gentleman" comes to mind.

[No F in way]

With this "BOOK DEAL" our state could have kept FOUR teachers in the classroom educating our young children. THIS IS THE FLEECING OF OUR STATE, not Orange County Public Schools!

[wildman]

before any judgment is passed on the author's book it should be reviewed by his peers (fellow historians). It may be an excellent academic resource or it may be more useful for the general public-usually not for both though.

[BuckStripes]

wildman wrote:

before any judgment is passed on the author's book it should be reviewed by his peers (fellow historians). It may be an excellent academic resource or it may be more useful for the general public-usually not for both though.

...The senator taught basic, undergrad history--which does not make him an historian. The book has been examined by academics and laymen alike--neither group has found much (if any) merit in it...
...This public official is a sleazebag opportunist. Sleazebag also describes those education officials who pandered to him, and thereby slimed their own institutions of so-called Higher Learning...
...Between bribers and bribe-takers, there is no moral difference...

[Jim Ciotti]

Does Brevard CC really believe that Haridopolus is qualified to write anything. A "publishable work" of "Historical Value" - give me a break. Your article misses the point - the questionable use of tax dollars is giving it to an "educational" institution with such poor judgement, or...academic integrity!

Jim Ciotti
Tallahassee

[BCC Insider]

I was there. This was a BCC Board deal all the way. The administration wanted nothing to do with Haridopolus. When he was first elected, we tried to retain his role as a teacher, but he couldn't make the classes. We basically had other teachers sitting in for him while he was paid for the work. We tried to move him to online classes, but he couldn't make that work either. The "book deal" was Jim Handley's brainchild, and the deal was made when Handley was Board Chair. Gamble wanted nothing of it, but didn't have the clout to override the Board Chair. The ironic thing is BCC got nothing -- absolutely NOTHING -- out of Haridopolus. He never did ANYTHING to help the college. So, even though BCC wasted $156,000 on a book, the public can rest easy knowing Haridopolus never delivered any favors in return.

[songweasel]

gee, bcc could've got that book written for less than a dollar a page at elance.com