Shocked. SHOCKED!
Posted on 04/03/2012 12:48:57 PM PDT by Carriage Hill
An obscure federal agency may have set a new benchmark for lavish conferences on the taxpayers' dime.
Lawmakers are voicing outrage following a government report that found the General Services Administration held a blowout $820,000 conference near Las Vegas which grossly exceeded what the planners were allowed to spend.
The employees dropped thousands of dollars on luxury items and convention giveaways -- including more than $6,000 on commemorative coins, $8,000 on a "yearbook," and $3,200 for an in-house mind reader.
"It's unbelievable that red flags didn't immediately go up well before this junket," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said.
In the wake of the report, the White House accepted the resignation of General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson. Johnson also dismissed two deputies and suspended other career employees over the affair.
The 300-person event at the M Resort Spa and Casino in Henderson, Nev., included a $95-per-person dinner and reception as well as several violations of federal laws and policies.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Aghast = Fearful their own lavish conferences will now come to light.
“Lawmakers aghast”.
I doubt that .. More like jealous..
Where is the outrage over Moochelle Obama’s Vegas Vacation?
And resigned Martha Johnson - how much will she collect in lifetime benefits, what will be her monthly pay via the U.S. taxpayer for the rest of her worthless life?
And the other two as well. Throw them on the heap.
And no government agency should be “obscure” - if people don’t know who they are and what they do - their budget should be eliminated.
Social Security Administration (SSA) did over 750,000 last year. What is the problem?
I think you've nailed it. A lot more heads need to roll for this.
TAXPAYERS aghast over continual reports of MASSIVE DEFICIT SPENDING by lawmakers!
It’s the tip of the iceberg-—every government agency and sub-agency has these worthless “conferences” and a disproportionate number of them are held in Las Vegas.
Read the whole thing. Appaling. Just like the private citizens obama is calways calling fat cats. These people are more like pigs at a trough. 3 grand to rent two tuxedos?
Criminal charges should be filed for stealing from the taxpayers. Boyrack would be all over this if it were republicans. Most unethical administration in America’s history.
How much have the taxpayers paid for Mooch’s vacations, her kids Mexican ‘get-away’ with 20+ of her closest friends? When I was 13, I never dreamed of taking a vacation without my parents, let alone going to a country that is on a ‘Watch List’ with 20+ of my friends.
This extravagance at the hands of Obama’s team, is just par for the course. It’s what they do, extragantly abuse the offices in which they hold, while threatening fence-sitters and accusing Republicans of doing the same thing.
Shocked. SHOCKED!
Somebody needs to redefine 'aghast"!
In Susan's world this GSA deal doesn't even rise to the level of chump change.
The lights are on and the cockroaches are scurrying. It’ll go nowhere in this govt-corrupted, poisoned atmosphere. Sadly.
That 100x worse, IMO, but the lib-media infers that “she’s entitled”, don’t they?
The GSA is in charge of getting the FBI a new building. Seems their old building (which many of us watched built since it was a 15 story deep hole in downtown DC) is crumbling into concrete dust ~ GSA managed that contract too.
The GSA does the federal court houses.
I still don’t know “exactly what” the GSA is/does, except spend our money.
750,000 “what”? Expenses? Parties? You got me stumped on that one. Googling it...
This?
http://www.opinion-columns.com/praguewriter/2007/10/750000-american.html
Or this?
Give me a hint, please?
It was just about the cheapest conference anyone had ever seen ~ done outside the tourist season I recall he got hotel rooms for $10 a day and free conference rooms ~ including the extension cords!
Air fare was dirt cheap that time of year too.
So, what did he do wrong? Well, it was in Puerto Rico. That was rather like holding a conference in Las Vegas.
Something really gets the dander up when bureaucrats discover a conference center and cheap airfare.
BTW, provable ~ if you have an average distribution of employees or other people you want to send to a conference, send them to Oklahoma City ~ your air fare savings will be incredible.
Oh, BTW, you do that through DFW. Flying to Dallas has been the cheapest deal for national draws for a number of decades, but OK City has cheap eats and cheaper hotels. There's a regular shuttle service back and forth between the two cities. Take advantage of it. Do it in August/September during the 110% humidity and 130 degree temperatures and they might even pay you to go there.
Your conference attendees will remember you for the rest of their lives.
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