Under scrutiny that he’ll draw a $75,000 salary as a University of Florida lecturer, state Sen. Mike Haridopolos said Wednesday that if he was really interested in money, he would have run for Congress.
“The odds of me becoming a congressman were pretty darn high, and I think as you know a congressman makes $170,000 a year,” he said. “And I know that a lot of people made a big to-do about this, and I understand that, but let’s also remember that I had an opportunity to be a congressman making a heck of a lot more money.
“I really feel that we can do better things hopefully for the state – with the help of senators, representatives and the governor – than I could at this point in the United States Congress,” he continued.
Haridopolos was widely considered to be a shoo-in had he chose to run for an open congressional seat. and he notes that serving his constituents on Capitol Hill would have been more lucrative than coming to UF. More from the Gainesville Sun here.