Globe-trotting airport chief billed $50,894 in expenses last year

MANATEE -- Airport chief Rick Piccolo was gone almost three months last year on business trips to Switzerland, Argentina, Dubai and Hawaii among other places. The cost: $50,894. During the first six months of this year, he has been gone 22 workdays, logging trips to China, Israel and Canada and cities in the United States at a cost of almost $29,000, according to a Bradenton Heraldexamination of Piccolo's expense account records. Piccolo, president and chief executive officer at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, almost always flew first class and sometimes took his wife, records show. He spent more than double on travel and expenses in 2007 than his counterpart at the much-larger Tampa International Airport. At a Longboat Key resort, Piccolo stayed three nights - and billed his expense account $998 during a conference... [read full story]