Muffins costing $16 (£10) and biscuits at $10 were among the “extravagant and wasteful” conference spending by the US justice department, a report has found.
Critics voiced outrage at the spending shown in the internal audit, including $8 coffees and $32-per-person snacks.
The justice department said it accepted the findings, adding that it had taken steps since 2009 “to ensure that these problems do not occur again”.
This is atrocious and it is also a customary thing.
However, busy senior federal officials in the Washington, DC area with overflowing agendas may request that meetings be held during the government ‘lunch inactivity period,’ generally between 11:30am to 1:15pm and the custom is for the senior officials to provide a ‘working lunch’ in compensation for the missed lunches of the attendees.
However, it is much rarer for such meetings to be scheduled for later than 3:30pm if the attendees are not all under under the direct authority of the official calling the meeting.
Federal government offices in the Washington, DC area are generally ‘ghost towns’ between 11:00 am and 13:30pm and after 4:15pm.
For those of us who ‘cared’ about the missions of our offices, these ‘ghost town’ periods were opportunities to accomplish essential work at our desks.
When I worked as a summer intern for my state government during college, literally the first question I was asked by other employees when I started was, “when was my birthday?” When I told them it was in June, they were delighted.
I soon found that a common ploy of employees was to take someone out to lunch for their birthday, and that lunch could very well take 2-3 hours. It seemed like we had at least one of those birthday lunches each week. And yes, don’t bother calling one of our state offices after about 3:30 p.m., because no one will pick up the phone.
Sorry about your state government Jim, and we all know the Feds are a mess. I am an advocat of small government who happens to be the lowly manager of a state government office that primarily serves our veterans. We have lost 1/3 of our personnel over the last several years but we still maintain a same-day (or worst case, next-day) standard of service for requests that aren’t marked “urgent,” in which case we respond immediately. We eat at our desks and are available as needed during that time. Our department has a birthday lunch one day a month and that takes place in the department break room and lasts no more than 1 1/2 hours. We are allowed two-hours for office Christmas (not “Holiday”) parties the week before Christmas and on that occassion I take my staff out to lunch at the restaurant of their choosing. Our offices are open from 8:00 to 4:30 and there is always at least one person here by 7:30. From 7:30 ’til 4:30, all incoming calls are answered by a human being, unless all are on the phone, in which case the call goes to voice mail and is returned promptly. I share in all of the office tasks as my staff. I can’t vouch for all of our state’s government offices – I’m sure some of them are a disgrace – but in our Department of Military Affairs, quality customer service and stewardship of the taxpayers resources are truly the top priorities.
Interesting that this is from a British paper rather than a US paper – either its not news or its not news that feeds the right audience.
There are two issues here. The first is whether the Justice Department needs to have meetings at hotels. If so, that’s what it costs. They give you “free” meeting space and support, but you get creamed on the catering fees. I am the past president of a legal group in South Carolina. We have our annual meeting at a not so fancy facility near the fairgrounds in Columbia, and for a not so fabulous buffet we pay $35 per head for 1/2 day use of the space. That does include coke, coffee and water. We used to have it at a Holiday Inn and later at Embassy Suites, and it was even more expensive, and we aren’t in Big cities. To cater a seafood buffet at our spring meeting at the beach is about $80 per person, without a bar, plus our own beverages and $500 for a bar tender, and it is so bad we have started renting out a local restaurant, instead. That said, there is no reason they can’t use government ofiice/conference space and either have have “lunch on you own” or have Panera or Schlotzskys cater. Also, #4, this WAS reported on the dreaded Fox News Network two days ago, but I’m sure the Obama channels didn’t run it.
They haven’t run anything about Michelle Obama’s new $45,000 diamond bracelets either.
“In all, the report said, the department hosted or participated in 1,832 conferences in 2008 and 2009, at a cost of $121 million. Each of the 10 conferences examined by auditors – covering topics ranging from drug enforcement to violence against women – were at major hotels that applied service fees of roughly 20 percent “to the cost of already expensive menu items,’’ the report said. Most of the conferences were held or planned during President George W. Bush’s administration.” BostonGlobe.com
Reply to Mike L. (#7.).
This sort of thing has been chronic in Washington, DC for a long time. Its not about the Bush or the Obama administrations. And its not just about catering expenses.
I used to work alongside people who kept up their aerobic physical fitness requirements by running. Some arrived early at work and ran and showered before the workday began. Others ran during the work day, which was permitted.
Generally a good 3 to 6 mile run with shower and social time would take 50 minutes to 2 hours.
Who had the better work ethic. The early runner or the person who was unavailable during working hours? By the way, an early run usally resulted in an invigorated and more productive frame of mind.
And also,by the way, is the Boston Globe an unbiased news source?
#6 I’ve seen plenty about the bracelets, which were stunning. Since they were on loan from an up-and-coming young designer, all of this coverage has been in the Style section where it belongs. It’s not real news.
#5 That has been my experience in event planning as well. It’s possible that, much like the new Presidential bus, this is one of those things that looks insane until you actually run the numbers and see that, taken as a whole, it’s less expensive than the other available options. I hope so, anyway.
This is almost as bad as the $750 toilets and $100 thermos bottles on US military transport aircraft! I should know, because I’ve used both.
It just goes to show there’s no such thing as a free lunch.