WASHINGTON, April 6 (UPI) -- Scrutiny of the General Services Administration resurfaced with the release of a video of an employee rapping about lavish spending at a Las Vegas conference.
The clip, one of several released Thursday by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., offered another dim view of the conference paid for with $823,000 in taxpayer money, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
The event was advertised as four days of training and team-building for 300 employees who flew to the luxury M Resort Spa Casino in October 2010.
Issa received the clips from the GSA's Office of Inspector General, which released a year-long investigation of the Western Regions conference Monday. GSA Administrator Martha Johnson resigned, two of her top deputies who attended the conference were fired and four commissioners were placed on administrative leave.
The GSA controls the government's real estate holdings and buys supplies from car fleets to computers.
"It takes a lot of work to spend $3,000 a person and at a time when unemployment was nearly 10 percent, Americans were suffering and GSA was enjoying the good times and doing so with high-ranking political employees," Issa said in a statement.
He also criticized the White House for waiting until the report was made public before removing the GSA's top leaders, despite knowing about the investigation for nearly a year.
GSA spokesman Adam Elkington said the video was an "example of the complete lack of judgment" shown during the conference the Post reported.
The video showed the employee rapping about what it would be like if he were a Public Buildings chief. Among his lyrical promises: GSA would "never be under OIG investigation."
Elkington said, "Our agency continues to be appalled by this indefensible behavior, and we are taking every step possible to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."
