Florida Lottery Secretary Cynthia O'Connell is resigning, Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday. O'Connell's departure comes amid controversy in the Lottery Department and is the latest official to leave the administration.
"Cynthia has been part of my team since my first year in office and she has done a tremendous job serving Florida families," Scott said in a statement that noted O'Connell was leaving to "explore opportunities in the private sector."
O'Connell's resignation, however, comes days after revelations that she had taken nine weeks of vacation in 2014, fully 20 percent of all business days.
During the course of the year, she had also billed the state nearly $30,000 in travel expenses. All the while, the Lottery was grappling with a fraud scandal and an audit that determined the department was mismanaging millions of dollars worth of state-owned property.
Since taking office, Scott has had four chiefs of staff, three education secretaries and massive turnover at the state Department of Environmental Protection. In January, the governor's office was accused of improperly ousting longtime Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.
Scott has appointed Tom Delacenserie to serve as interim Lottery secretary when O'Connell's resignation becomes effective Oct. 1.