Sure I'll take good care of the taxpayer's money!
Posted on 09/06/2012 4:15:42 PM PDT by RightGeek
The General Services Administration’s Julia Hudson was ready to party last month, inviting roughly 1,200 federal employees to celebrate the second anniversary of her appointment as the scandal-scarred agency’s National Capital Region administrator.
Refreshments would be served in Hudson’s seventh-floor downtown D.C. office suite, including a cake bearing her image, GSA sources familiar with the event’s planning tell POLITICO.
But on the morning of the event, the GSA’s top leadership abruptly canceled it. They were unaware of Hudson’s plans until the night before — and determined to avoid yet another embarrassment to an agency still suffering from the infamous 2010 Las Vegas conference that featured commemorative coins in velvet boxes, a clown and a mind reader.
GSA leaders verbally reprimanded Hudson for scheduling the event, said agency spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara.
“The event was canceled because it does not meet the new guidelines and we determined it was not a good use of employees’ time,” Alcantara said. “This event was not submitted for review. All GSA senior staff has received these guidelines. … As soon as we found out about this event, we acted.”
Since Administrator Martha Johnson resigned and two of her deputies were fired in April, all internal events must be cleared by GSA Chief Administrative Officer Cynthia Mezler. GSA estimates it has saved $11 million in taxpayer money from canceled events.
But this celebration of a political appointee’s job, set for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 28, wasn’t cleared.
Nor was it the first such party for Hudson. She held a similar event last year to fete the first anniversary of her appointment.
Dozens, if not hundreds of employee work hours would have been spent at Hudson’s celebration. Alcantara says Hudson told GSA officials she would have paid out of her own pocket for the refreshments, estimated at $200, had her event taken place.
As national capital region administrator, Hudson is “responsible for the entire Washington metro area federal real estate inventory of 96 million square feet in more than 80 government-owned and leased facilities that house nearly 300,000 federal workers,” according to her GSA biography. She also oversees the “acquisition of office space, equipment, telecommunications and information technology.”
Hudson did not return repeated phone calls and email messages requesting comment.
Prior to joining GSA, Hudson worked as vice president of Chase Communications and chief of staff for Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).
In addition to the Las Vegas conference, the GSA also came under intense scrutiny for conducting events that included sending staffers to cooking classes and procuring $20,000 of drumsticks for a “drum band exercise” at an Arlington, Va., hotel.
As GSA’s acting administrator, Dan Tangherlini vowed earlier this year to clean up the agency.
“We are taking steps to improve internal controls and oversight to ensure this never happens again,” Tangherlini told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, promising “full accountability for these activities so that we can begin to restore the trust of the American people.”
Tangherlini and GSA Inspector General Brian Miller are scheduled to testify next Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the future of the agency.
Sure I'll take good care of the taxpayer's money!
As long as GSA pays for it...
Why not? Remember the near coronation that Pelosi had when she became speaker? Self congratulations is just part of the Dems DNA.
Ms. hudson should be frogmarched to the nearest cell and stay there for several years. What a sickening lack of integrity. Does this pinheaded Lib fool get away with this crap because she’s LGBT or something?
Probably.
She’s just taking her cue from Dear Leader and the Empress.
After all... “The Government is something we all belong too”.
She built that! lol
If a billionaire wants to throw a celebration of some sort for himself he has the means to do so. This dear woman who is a selfless “public servant” and apparently a minority and of course a woman does not have the means to do so. At least not in the proper manner. So it is only fair that the taxpayers fund a party to her liking. So shut up and get back to work to earn lots of nice taxable income
Julia E. Hudson
(202) 708-9100
julia.hudson@gsa.gov
Ah, one of the almighty educated taxpayers/producers. Bet she can’t decide which socialist to vote for. Have fun. Enjoy the slide.
Funny you put it that way. If a wealthy American, ok, a wealthy, Conservative American throws a big party (1200 guests) the MSM would mount their high horse and proclaim how evil! A member of the entitled class that works for the gub’mint blows our money and nothing.
PETER PRINCIPLE IN ACTION AWARD
She is verified to be incompetent.
A party 2 years after her quota hire? 25 years maybe but 2 years?
merely another self loving RAT cow with delusions of grandeur and her snout stuffed into the public trough up to her eyeballs...
Another Democrat who thinks the universe revolves around her.....how rare.
these kind of government workers are in managment positions all over the country and none of them care about this counrty but to use it up and take it down. this one should be fired.
So, did she ever pay back the country for the “$200” refreshments she probably billed us for her first party?
Did she reimburse the government for the cost of the salaries of 1200 employees that was wasted from them spending their company time eating at her petty party instead of doing their jobs?
$200 worth of refreshments for 1200 people? What was she serving, one donut hole per person, and they had to bring their own drink?
you bet it is and most people appointed to these positions are not interested in the welfare of others..Just themselves.
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