Crist coordinates official duties with fundraising events

Gov. Charlie Crist dropped into Hillsborough Community College Dale Mabry campus today to pose for pictures with health program students and visit some classrooms. And tonight he will be in Brooksville to raise money for his U.S. Senate campaign.

It's a sequence of events Crist has repeated several times in the past month in his rush to raise money for his campaign while also performing his duties as governor.

Crist flew on a commercial flight from Tallahassee to Orlando yesterday, said the governor's office spokeswoman Erin Isaac. He drove to Tampa today and will drive to Brooksville for the fundraiser.

When Crist travels by commercial flight, he pays for it personally and is reimbursed by the campaign, said campaign fundraising chief Dane Eagle. The campaign said it coordinates the dates of political events with his official schedule to avoid impinging on that schedule. But that means that taxpayers occasionally pay to transport Crist and his security detail to the locale of a campaign event.

Wherever he goes, flying or driving, he is always accompanied by an FDLE security detail. The state pays their travel costs.

Earlier this month, Crist had fundraisers in Clearwater, Tallahassee, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. In each case, he had state business in the same city or nearby either immediately before or after the fundraiser.

Isaac said the governor plans his schedule around the needs of the state, not to match his political fundraising schedule. He visited the HCC health care programs as part of his focus on workforce initiatives.

On June 9, Crist traveled by state plane to Sarasota for two meetings on economic development. That night, he went by car to a fundraiser at the Clearwater home of Manuel and Susan Rose.

On June 11, he traveled to Miami via commercial flight and worked in his Miami office. That night, he went by car to a fundraiser at the Fort Lauderdale home of billionaire Wayne Huizenga.

The next morning, June 12, Crist held a bill signing ceremony at a Fort Lauderdale school, and then traveled by commercial air to Orlando. That night, a group of trial lawyers held a fundraiser for Crist at an Orlando hotel.

Tonight, after visiting HCC, he will drive to a fundraiser thrown by Tom Hogan Jr. and his wife Debbie Hogan. Asked about it at HCC, Crist said it was being held in the barn of a "dear friend from law school," refusing to give a name. Crist attended Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Ala., in the late 1970s.

Asked if he was using taxpayer money for his campaign, Crist said he was "following the rules."