Top Obama Cost Cutter Resigns After $800,000 Vegas Spree
The Obama Administration's top cost-cutting official -- Martha Johnson, the head of the General Services Administration -- was forced to resign after a scathing Inspector General report revealed serious squandering of taxpayer funds.
GSA is the federal government's principal procurement agency. The idea is that by centralizing the procurement of office space, vehicles and supplies, the federal government will save funds and cut costs. What could go wrong?
According to Federal Times, GSA recently spent $822,000 on a conference in Vegas for only 300 employees. That included $147,000 for airfare and lodging for planning trips by conference organizers! I can't help but wonder if that figure includes other costs. I almost hope it includes gambling, cocaine and female entertainment at that price.
But here's my favorite part:
Among the other expenses were $3,200 for a mind reader; $6,300 on a commemorative coin set displayed in velvet boxes; and $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle, according to the IG report, which was obtained by Federal Times.
GSA also promised the hotel an additional $41,480 in catering charges in exchange for the "concession" of the hotel honoring the government's lodging limit.
The agency also spent $44 a person per breakfast and $95 per person for its closing reception dinner.
The agency also spent money on mementos for attendees, clothing for GSA employees and tuxedo rentals, according to the report.
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Jan '11
Re: Top Obama Cost Cutter Resigns After $800,000 Vegas Spree
I was OK with it until the part about the tuxedo rental. A bit much.
Jan '11
Re: Top Obama Cost Cutter Resigns After $800,000 Vegas Spree
I guess that's why the Volt is so expensive. They are being built by government employees on retreats.
Aug '10
Re: Top Obama Cost Cutter Resigns After $800,000 Vegas Spree
When I worked for Commerce back in the 80s I confess to having champed at the bit, for having to stay in "government rate" hotels but there was nothing we could do about it (correctly).
On another side of the same coin, the program I was running required me to appoint an agency for the national ad campaign we were running, and we had to open the contract first to minority-owned companies. I spent a year spinning wheels with two-bit shops who lacked the qualifications required. After begging, pleading, and filling out hundreds of pages of added paperwork, I was allowed to open the search to non-minority firms, we awarded the contract and the program was a success. The compromises I would have had to make in hiring the minorities would undoubtedly have led to an inferior program and the ten million we spent truly would have been wasted.
It is the classic case of bigness and bureaucratic control screwing things up -- the rules we had to use to hire an ad agency were no different to those that would have been required to purchase cruise missiles. It was a life of absurdity.
Feb '12
Re: Top Obama Cost Cutter Resigns After $800,000 Vegas Spree
Who guards the guardians?
Actually, there is a mechanism, the qui tam suit. Would such a suit be applicable here?