What happened in Vegas...

... I actually kinda wish would have stayed in Vegas. It hurts to think about this one. It certainly puts my post about the Rockford Public School District's $18,000 conference at $1,285 a head in Chicago to shame...

The General Services Administration, the facilities managers of the US Government (buildings, leases, rentals, properties, etc.), is a group you'd expect to be pretty well versed on fiscal restraint and finding deals to be had. But, OH NO... Instead, they had their Western Regions Training Conference in Vegas, spending 2,783 taxpayer dollars a head for a total cost of $835,000. These 300 people were treated to:

• A mind reader - 3,200 taxpayer dollars
• A commemorative coin set in velvet boxes - 6,300 taxpayer dollars
• A training exercise to build a bicycle - 75,000 taxpayer dollars
• Canteens, key chains and t-shirts - 6,000 taxpayer dollars
• A clown (I'd love to know what he was paid)
• A comedian (ditto)
• Awards for a participant talent show held as an excuse to treat everyone to dinner
• Treating everyone to dinner (But let's be reasonable here. Even if they had to expense their own meals, they were still government employees expensing their meals to the taxpayers...)

Setting this kind of baby up costs money too:

• Airfare and lodging sending the planners on six trips to the venue to set it up - 147,000 taxpayer dollars (Because, you know, you can't set this sort of beauty up over the phone)
• A finder's fee to book this place that can't even remotely set up a conference - 12,000 taxpayer dollars

One of the worst parts? The news broke THIS WEEK about a conference that happened 18 months ago! That means the motherfuckers spending this kind of money as 'servants' of the public had a good solid run at just covering this up and making it go away. You gotta ask yourself, how much of this shit are they getting away with?

Luckily a hero from within the GSA reported this gross misappropriation of taxpayer dollars. Thank you, GSA Employee. Thank you.

So... What exactly were they being trained for again???

THIS is whyipaytaxes...

read more:GSA chief gone, but fallout continues in wake of lavish convention expense(cnn)

I first heard it:Obama Administration Tripped Up By GSA's Vegas Spending Scandal(npr)

Another life improved

Watch this video. Its all quite self explanatory...

TL;DW:
Taxpayers have spent over $70,000 to send a kid that can't even string a sentence together to music school. Oh, and his county gives him cash for rent, even though he doesn't pay rent.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Hops is food, no?

Now here is some top notch legislatin'

Russia now considers beer to be an alcoholic beverage.

Until now, it has been considered food.

Man... Those Russians... Always telling their citizens how to live their lives...

THIS is whyrussianspaytaxes.
read more: Russia classifies beer as alcoholic(bbc)

Getting to know one another

In a city slashing firemen, policemen, librarians, and more, Rockford, Illinois has a school district superintendent spending the city budget the smart way: $18,000 on a weekend conference for 14 school board members and staffers in a city less than 2 hours away from the district.

Must have been one hell of a conference, right? Probably learned about how to deliver excellent education in times of tightening budgets. Some sort of revolutionary way to run a school district that saves money while producing the best and the brightest, I'd imagine.

In the words of the School Board President, David 'Its all about the kids' Kelley:
"I attended a day-long seminar on what's referred to as the Meyer-Briggs type indicator," he says. "And the purpose of that was to help board members better understand each other."

Wait a minute. It took $18,000 for a conference this guy sums up as a chapter in both my Organizational Behavior and Intro to Psych college class books? Shit. I would have donated my old books if I had known they needed them.

Of the $18,000, $8,000 went to rooms. Seem reasonable for Chicago until you do a Hotwire search to discover that there is a wonderful Days Inn in Des Plaines that routinely goes for $32 per night. Now, I don't ask that the Board stays in the same accommodations I do when I visit Chicago on business a few times a year, but I think that $300 per night per person seems a bit steep for supposed public servants.

Of the $18,000, $2,000 went to ONE meal. I'm not sure when the federal per diem rates jumped above the $35 per day I'm used to, but I'm pretty sure it has not yet reached $142 PER MEAL per person.
(By one account(pdf - page 2), LaVonne 'One More - For The Kids' Sheffield (Superintendent) had to be practically carried away from the dinner table having consumed too much alcohol to depart without assistance.
Perhaps getting 14 people shitty drunk in a swank downtown Chicago hotel restaurant is what ran up the bill so high...)

Of the $18,000, $1,000 has been requested to be paid back for unapproved expenses such as spouses' dinners, in-room movies, and other charges in an e-mail sent out as soon as WREX sued under the Freedom of Information Act. No FOIA, and we would have enjoyed another grand flushed down the tubes for pay-per-view pleasures.

One last fun tidbit is the fact that when asked by the reporter that did all the leg work on this, none of the board members, including David and LaVonne were able to tell him exactly how much this weekend cost the taxpayers. They didn't really know and apparently didn't really care.

As urged by the reporter at the end of his story, I also feel it would be reasonable to call LaVonne at (815) 966-3101 and let her know what you think about this wonderful use of taxpayer dollars.

School board members getting to better understand each other at $1,285 a head...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: You Paid For It: D205's Chicago getaway(WREX)
Friend, recommend, and tweet this reporter for doing his job: Bob Schaper

Do read Dr. Patrick Hardy's account of the $2,000 dinner and the weekend overall. He was incensed that most of the 14 skipped the conference to go shopping and he refused to take part in the lavish dinners. Sounds like the day long class Mr. Kelley attended was probably the only one he attended all weekend. Suddenly his vague summary of the weekend seems about right...
The story from WREX: UPDATE: District 205 releases letter from Dr. Patrick Hardy
Dr. Hardy's letter published by WREX: Patrick Hardy's Letter to Dr. Sheffield

Groggle, Drinkle, just get me another beer

Cameron 'Cheap Beer is my Favorite Beer' Collie has a rather wonderful idea for a web site. Simply plug in your location and his service will locate the closest and cheapest beer.

Not a bad service. He thought he'd call it Groggle, as a play on the common Australian term for alcoholic beverage, grog. (No fellow Americans, the Australian word for beer is not Foster's)

"Good lord!" exclaimed Google. "What if confused drunken Australians intending to undertake an Internet search accidentally go to Groggle.com instead of Google.com??!??! Heavens No!"

So they thought they'd put the Australian government's trademark offices to work on this situation by fighting Cameron's attempts to trademark the term Groggle.

After 6 months of battling in court, they finally reached an agreement out of court. While no one is talking details, Cameron tweets that he will be enjoying a bottle of 'Australia's Most Expensive Beer' after the agreement.

Of course, Groggle lost. The new site will be called Drinkle.com. Also a fun name that ought to catch on quite nicely.

THIS is whyAUSSIESpaytaxes.

read more: Google scotches Australian 'Groggle' search(bbc)
drink more: Drinkle.com

Free Beer

The amount of money spent on beer every year in the United States is roughly the same as the annual cost of the occupation of Iraq. So they could just give everyone free beer instead. (metro)

This COULD BE whyipaytaxes...