President wrote personal checks totaling more than $73,000 for
wedding
By Trey Csar Alligator Writer
August 27, 1999
Outgoing UF President John Lombardi on Thursday released copies of 60
checks, charge slips and cash receipts from his daughter Mary Ann's
wedding to answer questions about whether he may have spent university
money to pay for the event.
Because an allegation of that sort was lodged with the Board of
Regents, which oversees state universities, Chancellor Adam Herbert is
required by law to order an investigation by the State University System's
Inspector General.
Herbert said Lombardi's resignation, announced Tuesday, has nothing to
do with the investigation.
The documents show Lombardi spent $73,612.30 for the Oct. 25, 1997,
wedding, which was held at the President's Home on University Avenue.
"There are people out there looking for a way to be unpleasant and
damage people's reputations," Lombardi said. "People who don't pay
attention don't realize we bent over backwards to make sure everything was
paid for with private funds."
Herbert announced on Wednesday the Inspector General's intention to
investigate the incident after the Board of Regents office was told of the
wedding. The tipster's name and other details are being withheld because
of the state's Whistleblower Act, Regents spokesman Keith Goldschmidt
said.
While Lombardi hired university employees to help plan and run the
event, the documents showed they were paid with personal checks from
Lombardi. Rick Parnell, who coordinates university events at the
President's Home for the University of Florida Foundation, coordinated the
wedding as well, but Lombardi reimbursed the Foundation $2,145.97 for
Parnell's time.
"He's the principal manager for events at the President's Home,"
Lombardi said. "We hired him so the event could be held with the least
damage to university property."
Bringing in an outside manager, Lombardi said, would have required an
extensive briefing on the private-public nature of the home. Parnell on
the other hand, he said, has set up numerous events there in the past.
Mary Ann Lombardi-Parker, who has worked on several theatrical
productions in Gainesville, said she would not comment on Thursday about
the specifics of the wedding, but questioned why someone would complain to
the Regents about it two years after the event.
"It seems a little out there to me," she said. "They'll sort it all
out soon and we'll get on with things."
Lombardi said his resignation was voluntary and not forced by the
questions surrounding the wedding and five-figure raises he gave key UF
administrators. The media attention, he said, was not surprising to him or
his family.
"It's just part of being the president. People who like to shoot at
other people like to shoot no matter what," he said. "(My children) know
that we and they live in a goldfish bowl. While no one likes to live in a
goldfish bowl, it's part of the deal."
Lombardi said he and his wife, Cathryn, are looking forward to moving
into his new $380,000 home off Williston Road when he leaves office Nov.
1.
"The traffic level is just astronomical. Something is always happening
- you can't come down in your jammies to read the paper," he said about
living in the on-campus home. "My boss - Cathryn - is trying to figure out
what we want to do (about decorating). Then I get to fix up the garage - I
got to wire it up for the welder and set up the tools and drill press."
The four-bedroom house is slightly smaller than the President's Home -
4,000 square feet versus more than 6,000 square feet, Lombardi said. The
house itself, however, is much different in style than the traditional
Southern-style of his current residence.
"Living in the President's Home is sort of an artificial existence,"
he said. "(The new house) is an ordinary house - not something you'd put
in the Parade of Homes. That's the kind of house I like. It kind of fits
in with my truck. In fact, it's probably a bit better than my truck, I
must confess."