Jeff Kottkamp, Florida Lt. Gov., Billed State GOP For Disney World Tours

Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp (R) was one of a lucky bunch that embarked on special Disney World tours costing more $9,500 at the expense of the state Republican Party, the Miami Herald reports.

According to records obtained by The Herald and The St. Petersburg Times, the trips to Disney World were charged on a Florida GOP-issued American Express card in 2008:

The Florida Republican Party spent more than $9,500 on special Disney World tours for Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and others in the summer of 2008, according to credit card bills obtained by The Miami Herald and The St. Petersburg Times.

The outings were part of roughly $47,000 in expenses charged that year to the American Express card held by the former executive director of the state party, Jim Rimes, and tied to Kottkamp. Handwritten notes on the bills describe the amusement park costs as "Lt. Gov. Disney trip."

Kottkamp is just the latest Florida Republican to find himself embroiled in controversy over making dubious expenditures on a state party credit card. Last month reports surfaced that GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio billed $110,000 in expenses to the Florida Republican party.

After finding himself in hot water, Kottkamp described the Disney World trips as "donors' appreciation" outings in defending the charges he claimed to have made for Republican contributors and their families. The Florida Lt. Gov.'s explanation however, did not fly with the state GOP:

Kottkamp said he went to Disney with donors and their families. But party spokeswoman Katie Betta said Tuesday that the Disney charges were not associated with a fundraiser nor other official party business.
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"This is an example of the type of expense our forensic investigators are looking into to determine if additional documentation does exist that would confirm that the Disney expenses were in fact related to RPOF business,'' Betta said in an e-mail.