S.S. execs spend $700K on Ariz. trip

PHOENIX, July 15 (UPI) -- Nearly 700 U.S. Social Security Administration executives attended a conference at a plush Phoenix hotel last week, ABC News reported Wednesday.

The purpose of the three-day conference at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel was to learn how to reduce stress from death threats made against them. It cost taxpayers about $700,000, the U.S. broadcaster said.

One of the conference events, taped by a Phoenix television station, was a performance by a motivational dance company during which the Social Security executives were invited to join in.

The network said relatives of some administration managers came along and the Phoenix trip included an excursion to a local casino.

"We received threats against our employees by people who are in the American public," Peter Spencer, Social Security's regional commissioner for San Francisco, told ABC in defending the conference, adding that "there is a tremendous amount of stress involved in the job that we do."