Fernandina Beach Republican State Sen. Aaron Bean won’t say whether he plans to insert future projects into a public university’s budget to avoid a veto.
Action News Jax questioned Bean after a project that Florida State University credited Bean with slipping into its budget was called a “waste of taxpayer money” by the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.
Funding for the CELPHIE project was cut from this year’s budget, which is awaiting the governor’s signature.
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Internal emails between staff members at FSU paint the university’s budget as a political backdoor, saying the CELPHIE project was “parked in our budget to avoid a veto.”
“We were open. We were transparent,” said Sen. Aaron Bean about his involvement.
CELPHIE is a program designed for students and inmates to digitally self-screen for mental health issues.
Bean helped score a $1 million appropriation for the program, which is run by Florida Psychological Associates.
The CEO of Florida Psychological Associates is Dr. Catherine Drew, the wife of Nassau County Tax Collector John Drew, who is also Bean’s former campaign manager.
Bean’s original attempt to pass the CELPHIE program funding through the state budget process failed.
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He called FSU’s president, John Thrasher, and the appropriation for the project appeared in the school’s budget.
When Action News Jax asked Bean whether he plans to insert any future projects into FSU’s budget, he replied, “There is nothing in FSU’s budget that I put in this year.”
Last month, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran called for the tax flow to CELPHIE to be cut.
The company’s financials reveal FSU paid it $600,000 even though it had only screened about 7 percent of the students it was supposed to.
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