GSA Official Declines to Testify on Las Vegas Event
A General Services Administration official refused to answer U.S. lawmakers’ questions about the planning of an $823,000 Las Vegas conference.
Jeff Neely, a regional commissioner who oversaw the event, had been scheduled to testify today before the House Oversight Committee. He cited his Fifth Amendment rights.
Brian Miller, the GSA inspector general who investigated the spending, told the committee he has asked the Department of Justice to consider criminal charges.
GSA Administrator Martha Johnson resigned April 2 following the inspector general’s report on the 2010 conference for agency employees. The five-day event featured a professional mind reader, a clown and a $75,000 team-building exercise that involved assembling bicycles.
Johnson apologized at today’s hearing. “I will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment,” she said in her opening statement.
The agency’s deputy commissioner, David Foley, told committee members that he understands the “outrage” over the conference. “I sincerely apologize,” he said.
Representative Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, questioned why Neely had been granted a bonus after the agency already was aware of the inspector general’s interim findings. Neely has been placed on administrative leave.
“He’s still being paid by the taxpayer,” Chaffetz said. “What does it take to be fired from the GSA?”
Four Hearings
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, was the first of at least four congressional committees that have scheduled hearings this week on the GSA’s conference spending spree.
The others are the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.
Issa has requested government-wide data about the cost and frequency of agency-funded overnight conferences and the individuals hired to plan those events.
The GSA, which manages property and purchases goods and services for other government agencies, held its gathering at the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson, Nevada. Its outlays also included $8,130 to print “yearbooks” for participants and $6,325 for commemorative coins, according to the agency’s inspector general.
The conference included breakfasts with a price tag of $44 a person, more than triple the $12-a-person government allowance for Las Vegas, according to the report.
President Barack Obama was “outraged by the excessive spending, questionable dealings with contractors and disregard for taxpayer dollars,” Jacob Lew, White House chief of staff, said in an April 2 e-mailed statement. Johnson fired two senior agency officials and disciplined others before resigning, Lew said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Ivory in Washington at divory@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Stoughton at sstoughton@bloomberg.net
Regional GSA Commissioner Jeff Neely
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Jeff Neely, regional commissioner of the public buildings service Pacific Rim region with the U.S. General Services Administration, invokes his Fifth Amendment constitutional privilege during a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing in Washington, on April 16, 2012.
Jeff Neely, regional commissioner of the public buildings service Pacific Rim region with the U.S. General Services Administration, invokes his Fifth Amendment constitutional privilege during a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing in Washington, on April 16, 2012. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Former Administrator at U.S. General Services Administration Martha Johnson listens during a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on April 16, 2012. “I will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment,” Johnson said in her opening statement.
Former Administrator at U.S. General Services Administration Martha Johnson listens during a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on April 16, 2012. “I will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment,” Johnson said in her opening statement. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
GSA Official Declines to Testify on $823,000 Las Vegas Event
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Inspector General Brian Miller, from left, former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson and GSA Regional Commissioner Jeff Neely, swear into a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on April 16, 2012.
U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Inspector General Brian Miller, from left, former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson and GSA Regional Commissioner Jeff Neely, swear into a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on April 16, 2012. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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