TAMPA - The FBI has opened an investigation into the office of former Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson with a subpoena of documents related to a blistering audit that showed Johnson overspent his budget by almost $1-million. The subpoena was served Wednesday on the Tampa office of Ernst & Young, which performed the audit of Johnson's spending, according to Phyllis Busansky, who became elections chief after defeating Johnson in the general election.

Busansky said she called Ernst & Young Wednesday to inquire about a second audit she wants done and was told by Executive Director John DiSanto that another audit might be difficult, since “the FBI just came and took all our working papers.”

Ernst & Young officials declined comment. An FBI spokesman said the agency was “not in a position to comment on the matter.”

“I think (the FBI) would be very interested in looking at what went on,’’ Busansky said. “They evidently think something was wrong in this office.”

AMPA - With millions of dollars at his disposal and his re-election in jeopardy, Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson launched a voter education campaign last year unique in its scope and extravagance.

The smiling supervisor's likeness was on colorful brochures mailed to voters. His name was broadcast on radio in English and Spanish.

The campaign ostensibly was to educate voters about the change in voting machines from touch-screen to optical scan mandated by the state Legislature. Johnson spent about $2 million in county and federal funds on the education effort, far more than surrounding counties.

He also left his successor, Phyllis Busansky, with just $300,000 in the elections office account out of $3 million the county commission appropriated to cover operations through Sept. 30.

Auditors have yet to fully detail where that money went, and Johnson would not comment for this article. But check receipts and other records examined by The Tampa Tribune point to the voter education campaign as a likely source of much of the overspending.