Sen. Evelyn Lynn. R-Ormond Beach, announced that because of all of the negative publicity over her $120,000 job at Florida State, she will work through the end of her one-year contract in September without pay.

In a letter to FSU President T.K. Wetherell, which the senator released to the media Monday, she wrote: "I am requesting that my current status, leave of absence without pay that I requested for the legislative session, be extended through the end of my contract."

As first reported by the St. Petersburg Times web site, Lynn, an Ormond Beach Republican, is paid $120,000 in government money to oversee a reading program for FSU that she helped create in her home county of Volusia. Lynn also is chairwoman of the Senate appropriations committee that oversees universities' budgets, including FSU's.

Also Monday, Gov. Charlie Crist reacted negatively Monday to Lynn's situation. "Well, I think I need to look at the facts a little more but it doesn't look great to me," said Crist, an FSU alum who had Lynn's support when he ran for governor in 2006.