GSA Chief Resigns Amid Allegations of Excessive Spending
The agency reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on a lavish training conference in 2010.
| Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2012, at 12:07 PM
Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images.
The chief of the General Services Administration resigned, two of her top deputies were sacked, and a handful of managers were placed on leave Monday following embarrassing revelations that the agency had been involved in excessive spending that included $7,000 sushi and $44 per person daily breakfasts.
The Washington Post reports that GSA Administrator Martha Johnson resigned hours before her agency's inspector general released a troubling report on an $823,000 training conference in 2010 that was held at an opulent hotel near Las Vegas. The report indicates that event planners had overstepped government spending limits, with one "team-building" exercise—the goal being to build a bicycle—billed at a steep $75,000.
The GSA handles executive branch support and logistics. The Post notes that after being appointed by the president in 2010, Johnson vowed to run the agency as ethically as possible after the agency suffered through scandals during the previous administration:
Ethics “is a big issue for me,” she said at the time, adding that “it’s right and it’s good business” to be a “responsible steward of taxpayer dollars” because “they’re trusting you with their pocketbooks.”
Politico has more on the GSA's troubles here.
