Comments on: GSA Chief Resigns cuz of a mindreader, a clown and a comedian?

By: eric

eric — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:59:15 +0000

I suggest people follow the link in @2, then click on the first link in that article, which brings up a pdf of the OIG investigation of the conference. Not WashPo’s, not NYT’s, the GSA’s own office of Inspector General report.

Short summary: GSA planners broke multiple federal regulations having to do with conference expenditures.

So, this is not just a case of (hotel+taxes+airfare+per diem)x 300 = surprisingly big number. It appears to be actual fraud and waste, such as paying the hotel under the table to get them to lower their hotel rate to the GSA allowable rate.

By: jamessweet

jamessweet — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:59:09 +0000

Yeah, while reading your excerpt, I was thinking the same thing. Conference expenses are, well, expensive. Big numbers do not necessarily mean mismanagement.

On the other hand, I really have to wonder what this mind reader was all about. And the commemorative coin thing deserves some explanation. Of course, perhaps it all does have an explanation — I agree completely that the reporter is not asking the right questions.

Tiny little correction: Disney World is the one in Orlando, FL. Disneyland is the one in Anaheim, CA.

No no, that was the controversy — they went all the way to California during a conference in Florida! ;p

By: Anonymous Atheist

Anonymous Atheist — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:58:52 +0000

“For example, the Principal and administrators of a school district here in the Twin Cities recently got in trouble for a conference in which people who went to the Orlando event also visited Disney Land. No school district money was spent on the trip to Disney Land.”

Tiny little correction: Disney World is the one in Orlando, FL. Disneyland is the one in Anaheim, CA. 🙂

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:17:02 +0000

The thing is, it is likely that this particular case is an example of actual misuse of funds; three people plus are loosing their jobs. My point is simply that when people, often the press, start to babble about this sort of thing the baseline is often ignored. So, “Peron spent 1000 on a thing!” ignores the fact that “thing” normally cost 500, so really, they only overreached by half.

By: RH

RH — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 02:55:14 +0000

$2,783 per person sounds like a big number as no mention of airfair or lodging for atendies was made however such numbers are common in for profit confences that sell booth space. I wonder what the specifics are that people are leaving.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 02:45:33 +0000

The clowns?

A typical conference might cost between 500 and 1000 bucks per person not counting travel and lodging, but including one food, a banquet, etc.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 02:34:01 +0000

Ok, let us assume that the airfare, etc. at $147,000 was for 300 attendees. On Wikipedia, they list another $85,100 for other expenses which could be probable. My question is that the total was for this trip $$822,000, so what constitutes the remaining $$589,900 – that is what is suspicious to me.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:32:00 +0000

Emelie, I see your telling me “I read it wrong: and raise you one “you read it wrong” … It was six organizing trips for teams of organizers.

So, if there were 100 organizers on each organizing trip …

ImaginesABeach: Thanks for that link! I couldn’t find it.

The educators at that conference did nothing wrong. It is totally normal to skip out on parts of conferences. They skipped out of sessions on the afternoon of the second day. If that is a problem, then almost everyone who has ever gone to conferences on a regular basis needs to lose their jobs RIGHT NOW.

My wife is a teacher. This week, she is putting in solid 6 hour days (including Saturday and Sunday of last weekend). This is spring break. NOrmally, it woudl be 12 hour days five days a week. Except summer, during which she works for about three solid full time weeks, none of it paid for.

The people who brought this complaint against the teachers should be flogged.

But teachers are not treated as normal people.

By: ImaginesABeach

ImaginesABeach — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:33:05 +0000

I don’t disagree with the main point of your article. However, I believe you overstated the Mickey Mouse story with respect to the school here in Minnesota. I don’t think they should have been fired, but the mediator did say that they skipped at least some of the actual meeting sessions to go to Disney.
http://www.bms.state.mn.us/documents/awards/20110418-ISD%20911.pdf

By: Emelie

Emelie — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:30:19 +0000

I think you misread the article. $147K was spend on lodging and airfare for just 6 (six) organizers. That’s over $24K per person.

http://wtop.com/?nid=109&sid=2812034
“Expenses included $147,000 in airfare and lodging for six planning trips for the organizers, the Post reports.”