Investigative report: Gov. Charlie Crist flies in wealthy businessmen’s private planes
March 23, 2009 at 8:19 am by Wayne GarciaThe Sun-Sentinel has done a helluva job piecing together a tough story without any help from Florida’s “transparency” governor, Charlie Crist.
The upshot: The gov takes a lot of flights on private jets owned by some of the wealthiest and influential Florida corporate titans – or those who are angling to be. And his office doesn’t keep records on the flights.
From the story this weekend:
Crist regularly flies on the private jets of wealthy businessmen, the Sun Sentinel found, but the governor won’t disclose the details.
Over the past two years, Crist’s calendar shows about 100 occasions when he was scheduled to fly in or out of private air terminals to get to the capital, concerts, dinners, sporting events, political appearances and stays in St. Petersburg and South Florida.
Crist’s office would not reveal who paid for specific flights or answer questions about them, despite the governor’s vow of transparency when he took office. “Our constitution requires that our government be open and transparent,” Crist said in his January 2007 inaugural address. “And under my administration it will be like never before.”
It’s a must-read. The full story here.
