The GSA Scandal, GSAs Dan Tangherlini Has a Message for the Nation

On Monday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held its first hearing into the General Services Administrations (GSA) Las Vegas spending extravaganza. Martha Johnson, head of GSA, testified, while Jeff Neely, the organizer of the Western Regions Conference, took the fifth. At the hearing, Martha Johnson, who assumed the agency's leadership in February 2010, apologized to the American People for the inappropriate expenditure of tax payers money. But on the flip side, Jeff Neely only had one response: Mr. Chairman, on the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my Fifth Amendment constitutional privileges. Others who testified at the hearing were GSA Inspector General Brian Miller, Chief of Staff Michael Robertson, and David Foley, deputy commissioner of the Public Buildings Service. According to USA Today, in July 2011, Deputy Commissioner Susan Brita, in an e-mail to Robert Peck, commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, admonished Vegas conference expenditures for a clown suit, bicycles used for a team-building exercise, tuxedos and a mind-reader saying they didn't lend themselves to the claim of a substantive conference. She also questioned why Jeffrey Neely, received only a disciplinary letter that is not even a slap on the wrist. As a result, on April 2, GSA Inspector General Brian Miller reported on the October 2010 Las Vegas conference that cost taxpayers $823,000, which led to the outrage and congressional hearings. Since then, Martha Johnson has resigned, Robert Peck resigned and another deputy fired, and up to 10 other employees have been placed on administrative leave. I am sure other heads will roll as the investigation continues. Inexplicably, despite the fact that he wanted an over the top Vegas conference, Jeff Neely is on paid administrative leave and received a $9,000 bonus performance award.

According to the Washington Post, Miller turned over to federal prosecutors evidence that Jeffrey Neely took various electronic items for his personal use from a GSA storeroom in the San Francisco-based headquarters for the agencys Pacific Rim. Appropriately, the GSA has demanded reimbursement for some party expenses held in their M Resort Spa Casino rooms: Peck is to repay $1,960, Neely $2,717.09 and Robert Shepard, Neelys chief of staff, $922.90," according to The Washington Post. The Obama Administration, pointing the finger at the Bush administration in an effort to minimize blame, said that in 2004, the conference cost $93,000; in 2006, the cost had ballooned to $323,855; and by 2008, it hit $655, 025, according to Fox News Insider. But what is an over the top expense: is it just the frivolous expenses -- clown suit, team-building exercises, tuxedos or a mind-reader? It seems to me that $323,855 or $655,025 may be over the top for an agency dedicated to the prudent expenditure of tax payers dollars. In that regard, GSA Acting Administrator Daniel M. Tangherlini has a message for the nation: We are committed to doing all we can to make this situation right, restore trust with our client agencies, and with the nation. He says that GSA has taken a number of steps to ensure that future misconduct doesnt occur.