
The head of Obama's General Services Administration resigned today over allegations of excessive spending at a Las Vegas training conference for federal workers that featured a mindreader, a clown, and a comedian.
The Washington Post scoops that GSA Administrator Martha Johnson submitted her letter of resignation to the White House Monday after the administration learned about the the conference from a forthcoming report from the GSA's watchdog.
According to the Post, the report found that the GSA used $835,000 in taxpayer funds to host a 2010 training conference for 300 employees at a luxury hotel in Vegas. Expenses included $147,000 on airfare and lodging for conference organizers; $3,200 for a mind reader; $6,300 for commemorative coin sets; $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle. The Post does not specify how much money was spent on the clown and the comedian.
Johnson's deputies have also stepped down over the spending scandal, and four GSA employees who organized the conference have been placed on leave pending further action, according to the Post.
In a statement to the Post, White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew said the President learned about the spending report before his recent trip to South Korea and "was outraged by the excessive spending, questionable dealings with contractors, and disregard for taxpayer dollars."
"On his first day in office, President Obama made clear that the people who serve in his Administration are keepers of the public trust and that public service is a privilege,” Jack Lew said. “When the White House was informed of the Inspector General's findings we acted quickly to determine who was responsible for such a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
- SHOCKER: Ron Paul Hates Paul Ryan's Budget Plan
- A Bankruptcy Judge Has Approved The Solyndra Bonuses
- Paul Krugman On The 'Policy Malpractice' That's Doing 'Double Damage' To The American Economy
read full article
Related Posts:
-
Inflation is not on the radar anymore. We do hear occasional comments from central bankers who warn about future inflation arising from QE. We also recall a few statements in the media along...The drop in gold prices since the beginning of the year has broken the spirits of investors seeking it as a safe haven for their wealth. Short positions are at all-time highs, and the charti...Electric car battery supplier Better Place plans to file for bankruptcy within the next few days, CNN Money reports. Better Place was a proponent of battery swapping technology, which involv...









