I'll go with the "Sponge Bob" Forever stamp.
Posted on 04/11/2008 1:07:48 PM PDT by Cagey
Internal funds cover the $13,500 tab for filets and drinks, they say. Auditors call it 'abusive.'
WASHINGTON - When the U.S. Postal Service rang up a $13,500 tab at an Orlando steakhouse, it spared no expense during a five-hour meal that government investigators are calling "abusive" in its extravagance.
The order -- charged to government credit cards -- included more than $3,000 for drinks, more than $500 for shrimp cocktails and almost $900 for mini crab cakes, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigate arm of Congress.
And then there's the steak.
"The better question is probably what they didn't order," GAO investigator Gregory Kutz said Wednesday. He counted 81 entrees -- including just about every kind of steak -- from the 2006 feast at Ruth's Chris Steak House on Sand Lake Road.
Related links GAO report (PDF) Postal Service $13,000 dinner = good PR for Ruth's Chris Filet, lingerie, Web dates -- with your tax dollars Stamps, stamps and more stamps Photos The GAO cited the Orlando meal as part of an overarching audit into abuse of government credit cards. The report, released this week, found 41 percent of purchases reviewed by the GAO from 2005 to 2006 failed "basic internal control standards."
These include safety measures such as getting proper authorization or having someone other than the cardholder review the expense. A lack of oversight led to abuses such as embezzling or odd expenses such as lingerie, electronic equipment and, in one case, $77,700 worth of expensive suits bought by the Pentagon.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
I'll go with the "Sponge Bob" Forever stamp.
In other news today, postal rates are expected to rise....
But U.S. Postal Service officials said it was unfair to compare the dinner with other abuses cited in the GAO report. "This is not taxpayer money. What we spend is what we make. The Postal Service is funded solely by our products and services," said Gerry McKiernan, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.
Mr. McKiernan needs to find another line of work if he can’t learn to talk the truth. That is insane..
When the government starts a “business,” this is what happens.
The USPS is in a dying business, but they want to protect all those cushy jobs, pensions, etc.
These guys said the taxpayer didn’t pay for it...when the USPS has a competitor for daily mail and asks my permission before they raise their prices, I”ll believe it.
As I recall, the USPS has run deficits in the past...who picked up the tab?
Why is the USPS trying to compete with UPS? How does that benefit the taxpayer?
It’s all about the JOBS.
I’d like to see these guys try to compete in the REAL world.
I hope that Congress will remember this the next time the Postmaster General comes in humbly asking for a stamp-rate increase because of “costs outside of our control”.
If he learned to tell the truth, he’d be out of a job...
If these idiots don’t pay the money back real quick...I’d suggest that senate ought to call them in and have a steroids-style cross-examination of these folks. I’ve worked around the Air Force for years...and each guy always pays his own bills. I can’t think of a single time that we ever charged it to the government...unless you want to count the chow hall where we ate some lousy chicken for $1.55.
Somebody wake up Chuck Grassley. This is about his speed.
What I didn’t get from the excerpt is that there were potential corporate clients there. This was a sales dinner. $160 per person still seems high but it’s not like it was just a bunch of postal employees going on a splurge.
What card were the strippers put on?
The Post Office has a monopoly on first class mail. Sending a letter that USPS deems not critical can earn a visit from Postal SWAT teams. And they claim it’s “their” money?
I wonder what Sean Hannity thinks of this?! LOL!
That's ridiculous and abusive
I just got done visiting my mother this weekend and we went out to eat at a fine eating establishment. The bill at the restaurant was almost $300 for four people plus the tip, about $85.00 per person
It was just as nice as place a Ruth Chris and we had drinks and a full course meal with appetizers. We all left full and happy
....and yes I picked up the tab
But the taxpayers didn't get the bill for Hannity's or mine.
That's enough to make a fellow "Go Postal..."
Watering the Tree of Liberty is coming sooner than later I’m afraid....
Glad to see they like their beef...
“I wonder what Sean Hannity thinks of this?! LOL!”
Sean thinks they are great Americans.
yup.....whats your flavor, .223 or 7.62x39 ?
At least they didn’t order the Lobster-gram.
Ladies and Gents, the most disorganized and inefficient government agency we have, here for your perusal.
Why the heck they have “Government Credit cards”????
To buy stamps?????????
FReeekyyyy
If it were not for junk mail, they wouldn’t have much to do.
But I am stating the obvious.
A $13,500 tab? They were ripped.
Ruth's Chris Steak House sucks.
$167 per person isn’t that bad.
Their bone-in ribeye cooked black and blue and with the blue cheese crust is impeccable...SSZ
How does the Post Office get government credit cards?
I thought they were spun-off as a private entity?
Ruth’s Chris? In Orlando they should have gone to Charlie’s, IMHO
Hey wait until Hillary or Obama’s department of socialized medicine plutocrats start using their Gobment credit cards to have their “medical meetings” The postal workers will look like pikers in comparison, guranteed.
He forgets to mention that it’s a felony to compete with the Post Office in the delivery of 1st class mail. I wonder how much I could make raising cattle if the federal government would only outlaw all competition.
We're being screwed by this government.
So the peasant tax payers can foot the bill for their lavish meals, high end salaries, their top shelf medical benefits and their killer retirement pensions.
All at the stupid tax payers expense.
I’ve still got 10 tins of Czechoslovakian stuff from the 60’s, corrosive as hell, but lasts forever.
These numbers are meaningless without the # of heads at this dinner. If there were 500 people, that was $1 per shrimp cocktail and $6 for one beverage. (I know, I know there were not that many)
$167 per head! That was some party.
“”This is not taxpayer money. What we spend is what we make. The Postal Service is funded solely by our products and services,” said Gerry McKiernan, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.”
Got the gooberment goober with his own words.
If the money was not government money, then the accounting would not be done by the General Accounting Office(GAO).
Gooberment Man speak with forked tongue!
“Watering the Tree of Liberty is coming sooner than later I’m afraid....”
Given the cost of revolution, realized from the beginning of the Republic, the time honored way of watering the Tree of Liberty is pissing on the careers of the elected by voting them out of office.
It is cheaper and less destructive than a shooting revolution.
Besides, watching an out of office official or fired bureaucrat attempting to survive without that tax payer provided salary is priceless.
It's mentioned in the full article. That does bring up another question, though: How many potential clients were there versus how many USPS employees?
LOL - me too - a little of everything - from 45colt to 45/70, 7.62, .38, .22, .44, .410, 12 ga...Ive been looking for those springfield armory combo scouts - .410 on top .22 underneath
Wow. What an ignorant statement. Come along sometime on a postal carriers day, any day, especially some ice covered blizzard-y day in life-threatening temperatures, and spend some time in my shoes. Help me get unstuck for the twentieth or thirtieth time in a day. Ride along while I drive a mile down a desolate, death-defying ice-covered gravel road to deliver a pizza coupon to a single house before turning around. Blast through some two or three foot tall snow drifts to get those mass mailings out. You'll have a new appreciation for how much you get for your tax dollars and stamp money.
By the way, the most recent mail count our level of mail carried went up, and we lost pay. My route lost over $3500/year while doing significantly more work than two years ago. Maybe there's some abuse here and there like most any government agency, but you don't have to paint the entire operation with your broad brush.
And? You might work hard, but let’s face it, the USPS is highly inefficient. Anecdotal evidence, nothing more.
Care to comment?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.