Posted: 05:07 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Minnesota official fired for unprofessional conduct in the aftermath of last year’s Interstate 35-West bridge collapse is now working in an $89,000-a-year job for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, the agency confirmed Thursday.
Sonia Pitt was fired in a swirl of controversy last fall after Minneapolis media outlets disclosed that Pitt, a top official with the state’s Department of Transportation, failed to return to Minnesota immediately after the tragedy, and instead finished a conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and made an unauthorized trip to Washington.
State officials called Pitt’s conduct unprofessional, saying that she was expected to respond to transportation emergencies. And in a subsequent investigation, state auditors said Pitt had misspent $11,500 of state money, and had charged the state for more than $14,500 of work time that should have been recorded as personal leave.
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http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/31/fired-minn-official-now-at-tsa/