TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Florida taxpayers paid $430,000 for Gov. Charlie Crist's 12-day European tour this summer, a newspaper investigation found.

The Republican governor's trade mission to London, Paris, Madrid and St. Petersburg, Russia, was supposed to cost taxpayers $255,000, but the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Sunday that the tab was actually more than $430,000.


The newspaper said taxpayers footed the bill for Crist and his entourage of more than two dozen people, including a photographer, a spokeswoman, four aides, two agency heads and nine bodyguards.

The Sun-Sentinel's investigation found that the governor's bodyguards alone spent more than $148,000 on meals, hotels, transportation and incidentals, including nearly $630 in dry cleaning.

Crist's expenses, which totaled more than $30,000, were not paid by taxpayers but by business executives who went on the trip. His London hotel suite cost $2,179, the Sun Sentinel learned.

To get to Europe, Crist flew first class for about $8,000 round-trip, courtesy of a Miami travel agency.

"I think it's important to promote free trade," Crist said. "You want to have it be as economical as you can, and when you consider that it should produce hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in Florida, I think it's important to do."