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REBECCA CATALANELLOHeather Fiorentino charged meals to the state on days her time cards showed her working for the school district.
State Rep. Heather Fiorentino wrote a check for $48 to the Florida Legislature on Thursday for meals she charged to the state on days her school district time cards showed she was working locally.
The Pasco County school superintendent candidate apologized for inconsistencies between her legislative travel reimbursement records and her local school district time cards.
Records show that on 19 occasions in a span of 21/2 years that ended May 2003, Fiorentino billed the school district for at least 96 hours - about 13 work days - that she also reported she was working elsewhere as a legislator. Fiorentino is a former Teacher of the Year who has been on special assignment at the school district's administrative offices since she was elected to the Legislature in 1998.
"Please be assured this was truly an honest mistake as the reimbursement vouchers were usually completed and signed weeks or months after the travel occurred," Fiorentino wrote in a letter to outgoing-House Speaker Johnnie Byrd on Thursday, the day a story on the pay records appeared in the St. Petersburg Times.
Fiorentino, a Republican, said the school district records are more likely to be accurate than the state reimbursement forms she signed.
A Times analysis of the documents determined that Fiorentino was paid $2,437 by the school district for hours her travel records show she was on legislative business. Taking into consideration Fiorentino's explanations, the Times determined she got at least $48 in state meal reimbursements from the state for the days documents show she was working in school.
"That doesn't sound too expensive, so I guess she chose to like your number," said Chuck Rushe, Fiorentino's Republican challenger in the Aug. 31 primary.
Rushe, Pasco's school finance chief, said he wondered whether Fiorentino's payment covered all the offenses: "I'm not sure if that's all there was."