It's been more than three months since news broke about a
2010 government conference in Las Vegas, where employees of the General Services Administration (GSA) allegedly spent $823,000 on travel, catering and entertainment. Although heat from the scandal was finally beginning to temper, the temperature appears to be rising again thanks to a second-round of accusations: The GSA's inspector general reportedly has launched an investigation into a $270,000 awards ceremony held just outside of Washington, D.C.
According to Fox News, GSA Inspector General Brian Miller recently sent a letter to Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), head of the subcommittee that oversees the GSA, informing him of the investigation, which centers on a 2010 banquet that took place in Arlington, Va.
The event, which was brought to Miller's attention by acting GSA chief Dan Tangherlini, allegedly included a violinist and guitarist, an $8,600 appearance by someone named "Agent X," "plenty of novelty items for guests" — including "time temperature picture frames" on which the agency spent $28,000 — and a "drum band exercise" that included 4,000 drumsticks for attendees at a cost of nearly $21,000.
"We have begun a preliminary analysis of the information we have received from the agency and we have opened an administrative investigation," reads Miller's letter to Denham. "Our initial findings show costs upward of $268,732 for the one-day ceremony."
Denham's response, according to Fox News: "Instead of clowns and mind readers, we've got violinists and guitarists — GSA has really classed up their act … We've known that there is a culture of waste, fraud and abuse within the many layers of GSA, and this proves that this is a systemic problem that is rooted deeply within this organization."
The GSA also condemned the event. "This event took place in 2010 and has been in existence going back to 2002," the agency said in a statement. "Today, under the new GSA leadership, this event and type of spending is not tolerated. As of April 15, 2012, all spending for events, including training conferences, leadership events, team building exercises [and] award ceremonies, [was] suspended. These events indicate an already recognized pattern of misjudgment which spans several years and administrations."
In response to criticism about excessive spending, the GSA announced this week that it is instituting a hiring freeze and cutting senior executive performance awards by 85 percent.
"We are committed to doubling down on our core mission of promoting efficiency, driving steeper bargains, delivering better value and creating greater opportunities for government-wide savings," Tangherlini said in a post on the GSA blog, according to Fox News.