GSA: Let's go to Vegas!

I have to start this column by thanking Martha Johnson because without her it probably would have taken me a bit longer to decide what to write for my last column of the semester.

For those of you who do not know, Martha Johnson is the chief of the General Services Administration.

If you go to the GSA website, you will see its values include integrity, effective leadership and responsible decision making. What is even more ironic is that the GSA says its vision is “a government that works ever better for the American people.”

Johnson and two of her top executives were about as good at these things as North Korea is at launching missiles.  In March, Johnson paid $820,000 for an employee conference in Las Vegas. When I say she paid, I mean her agency did, so you and I as taxpayers actually did. 

The expenses included $79,511 for breakfast and refreshments, a breakfast that cost almost $50 per person, a dinner costing almost $100 per person and more than $100,000 in expenses for a “pre-planning” trip.  Oh, and I forgot to mention $7,000 of sushi and $3,200 for a mind reader.

That decision making is about as responsible as when my friend Paul did a cannon ball into a glass coffee table.  

Even if our country wasn’t almost $16 trillion in debt (and counting), $3,200 for a mind reader is absolutely ridiculous. But because our country is so far in debt, this expense is absolutely ridiculous.

Last August, our Congress could barely come to a consensus about whether to raise the debt ceiling and how to begin to cut federal expenses. I am pretty sure Speaker of the House John Boehner and President Barack Obama would have had a little easier time coming to agreement to cut expenses such as this compared to some of the other things they debated.

Then again, we do have to remember who nominated Johnson as chief of the General Services Administration. That’s right: Obama. When Obama nominated Johnson, the approval of her nomination was prolonged. Because of this, Obama came out and said, “Nobody can tell me that there’s anything particularly wrong with her.”

Turns out President Obama spoke a little too soon. If she thinks it is OK to spend taxpayer money on a mind reader, I think there might be something “particularly wrong” with her.

Even funnier is that in 2009 when President Obama was elected, he was quoted as saying, “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street.” 

So, I guess President Obama was elected to nominate “fat cat” administrators?

Once again, Martha Johnson, thank you for giving me a great topic for my last column of the semester.

­— wfgryna@indiana.edu