Go Spend it All (General Services Administration or GSA nickname)
The General Services Administration (GSA) was established in 1949 to supply goods and services for U.S. government offices. In 2012, a GSA scandal emerged, with videos of lavish and wasteful conferences in Las Vegas and other places. Late-night television comedian Jay Leno of the Tonight Show said, “You know what GSA stands for? Go Spend it All.”
Other GSA nicknames include “Government Squandering Administration,” “Guaranteed to Spend Alot,” “Go Screw Accountability” and “Got Screwed Already.”
Wikipedia: General Services Administration
The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops government-wide cost-minimizing policies, and other management tasks.
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On April 2, 2012, Martha Johnson, chief of the GSA, resigned after a report by the inspector general identified improper payments for a Public Buildings Service (PBS) Western Regions training conference in Las Vegas. Before turning in her own resignation, Johnson fired two other GSA senior executives, PBS head Robert Peck and senior advisor Stephen Leeds. Four PBS Regional Commissioners, who had been responsible for planning the conference, were placed on administrative leave. The conference was the most recent in a series of similar lavish conferences organized by GSA’s Public Buildings Service. In previous years, PBS also held conferences in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Lake Tahoe, where the Caesars hotel provided lakefront views, a lagoon-style indoor swimming pool and a 24-hour casino. U.S. Representative John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called for a congressional investigation into the misuse of federal money by GSA. Mica indicated “The Las Vegas fiasco is just the tip of the iceberg,”
On April 5, 2012, a video was distributed by the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform after being uncovered through the Inspector General investigation. The video included a clip of a spoof video produced by GSA Public Buildings Service (PBS) employees and submitted as part of a contest during the controversial PBS Western Regions Conference. In the video, PBS employee Hank Terlaje jokingly brags about excessive government spending in GSA’s Public Buildings Service in a parody of Travie McCoy & Bruno Mars’ “I Wanna Be a Billionaire.” Terlaje raps that if he were PBS Commissioner, he will never “never be under OIG investigation,” would be “rollin’ on 20s in my GOV,” and “would buy everything your field office can’t afford.” At the end of the video, uncovered by the GSA IG, it cuts to a clip from the actual PBS Western Regions Conference, in which the video was played at the conference’s “Capstone Dinner Event.”
Inside Edition
Outrage Grows Over Lavish GSA Party
Airdate: 4/6/2012
Outrage continues to sweep the nation as we learn more about that lavish government conference in Las Vegas that cost taxpayers a whopping $823,000.
Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show, “Even better than the scandal spending $800,000 on a conference,” then cut to a clip from Fox News that said, ‘They got $8,000 spent just on yearbooks for the conference participants,’ They got yearbooks?!”
The four-day taxpayer-funded junket was thrown by the General Services Administration (GSA), the very agency charged with eliminating wasteful spending.
On the Tonight Show, Jay Leno said, “You know what GSA stands for? Go Spend it All.”
Principled Policy Blog
Principles and Policies Podcast for 4/6/2012- GSA Now Stands For Government Squandering Administration
NetRightDaily
13.04.2012
Obama’s Blunders: The G.S.A. And The Vegas Vacation
By Frank McCaffrey — So the organization that is supposed to cut waste, fraud and abuse gave us more waste, fraud and abuse than we have seen in a long time.
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COMMENTS
Howardjones
GSA means Guaranteed to Spend Alot
Yahoo! News
Secret Service, Buffett Rule Snafus Hurting Obama
By John Ingle | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Apr 16, 2012
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GSA means ‘Go Screw Accountability’
Wall Street and big business has been hammered for the last four or five years for lavishly spending on golden umbrellas, executive bonuses and expensive corporate outings. Now it has come to light that the General Services Administration has spent just as recklessly, including a conference in Las Vegas and other high-priced gatherings. So much for Obama controlling federal spending.
Murray M. Silver, Esq. “Legaleagle”
April 17, 2012 · 11:55 am
GSA! – Got Screwed Already!
Yes, the ugly head of fraud, deception, corruption rose steadfastly last few days!
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, has been defrauding the USA for years! Then when he just couldn’t take it any more, GSA Inspector General BRIAN MILLER, blew the whistle, loud and long!