Records show the superintendent candidate received money for state expenses on 12 days she was being paid by the schools.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published August 20, 2004
State Rep. Heather Fiorentino was paid $1,196 for legislative duties on days that documents show she was working as a teacher in the Pasco County School District.
Two weeks since Fiorentino apologized for discrepancies between her school district pay forms and her legislative travel forms, newly released records show that on 12 days from 2001 to 2003 she received state money for expenses on days the school district was paying her to work locally.
"We're going back to see: Do I owe? Or don't I? I don't believe I do," Fiorentino said Thursday after looking at records obtained by the St. Petersburg Times.
Fiorentino said that despite the paperwork, she inevitably gives more hours to her legislative duties than she is reimbursed for. She said she skimps on claiming mileage, stays in low-priced hotels and generally is frugal.
The former Pasco County Teacher of the Year has maintained all along that her school district time cards are accurate, though school leaders are questioning that.
Fiorentino, 46, is in a heated Republican primary race with school finance chief Chuck Rushe, 56, to replace retiring superintendent John Long. The winner of the Aug. 31 primary will face Democrat Alice Delgardo and Republican write-in candidate James Griffin on Nov. 2.
In addition to their salaries, state lawmakers are paid each year for actual days they spend in Tallahassee on state business, up to a certain number. Though regular legislative sessions run 60 days, lawmakers are generally reimbursed for fewer - 38.73 days in 2001, 39.5 days in 2002 and 38.75 days in 2003.
"There's 39 days I'm paid for - whether I'm there 60 days, whether I'm there 40 days, whether I'm there 39 days," Fiorentino said. Her aide was reviewing the recent records Thursday afternoon.
Two weeks ago, Fiorentino wrote a check for $48 to the House of Representatives for meals she charged to the state on days her district time cards showed she was working locally.
She sent the check after a St. Petersburg Times story detailed 19 occasions when Fiorentino billed the school district for 96 hours - about 13 work days - that she also reported she was working as a legislator.
A classroom teacher for 14 years before being elected to the Legislature in 1998, Fiorentino spent the past six years on special assignment at the school district's administrative offices. It was a part-time position created to give her flexible hours. It earned her $15,487 last year, in addition to her $29,802 legislative salary, according to public records.
Questions surrounding Fiorentino's district pay records first surfaced in July after she wrote to Long saying her legislative duties "generally force me to take an unpaid leave from work up to three times per week."
It was a statement that Long said Fiorentino's past time sheets didn't bear out: She wasn't taking several days of unpaid leave every week, particularly in the months of August through November.
Long recently eliminated Fiorentino's part-time position in an attempt to transfer her back into a full-time teaching job for the new school year. Fiorentino resisted, asking instead for unpaid leave until her term ends in November.
Long made a public records request for Fiorentino's legislative forms on Aug. 10 in response to the discrepancies reported in the Times. The district has not yet received a response.
"I am concerned that if she says she was working for the taxpayers of Pasco County when records show she was in Tallahassee; that's a serious problem. I think that's a breach of ethics, perhaps even more," said Long, who is backing Rushe.
Rushe declined to comment.
Long said the district would hand the matter over to employee relations for investigation. If the district determines there is intentional wrongdoing, Long said, penalties could include being fired or suspended without pay.
Fiorentino's leading backer, state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said it's easy for lawmakers to make record-keeping mistakes when it comes to travel and subsistence. But he defended Fiorentino as being honest and hard-working.
