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The government official on the frontlines of the scandal involving a wasteful government conference, U.S. General Services Administration regional commissioner Jeffrey Neely, will invoke his 5th amendment right against self-incrimination, his lawyer Preston Burton tells ABC News. He won’t comment on the $822,751 conference, many of the expenditures for which the GSA Inspector General called “excessive” and “wasteful.” He won’t comment on the bizarre awards ceremony, or the commemorative coins, the mind-reader/motivational speaker. Mr. Neely bares a bit more in a photo collection on his wife’s Google+ page. There visitors can see photos of Neely staying in a luxurious suite...

When in doubt, President Obama is quick to push for more government regulations as a universal cure to all problems. No matter what the problem, be it health care, financial reforms, small business growth, taxation, Team Obama tells Americans that new regulations that will expand governmental control and operations, are vital. What Obama fails to realize is that more regulations piled atop the already huge regulatory thicket, are not the solution to the problems this nation faces. Moreover, new regulations and the corresponding expansion of government, are likely to create far more problems and continue to hobble economic growth. Daily,...

The General Services Administration official tasked with organizing a now-infamous $822,000 Las Vegas conference plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights ahead of a scheduled Monday grilling on the Hill. On Thursday, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) served a subpoena to require Jeff Neely to appear before the committee, according to Democratic committee documents obtained by POLITICO. Neely’s attorney on Friday informed the committee Neely will exercise his right against self-incrimination and requested not to attend the hearing. “Requiring Mr. Neely to travel from California to appear before the Committee when you have been advised that...

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Wednesday that five employees associated with the recently scandal-plagued Government Services Administration went to Hawaii for up to a week in 2011 to attend an hour-long groundbreaking on space leased by the federal government for the FBI. ... In October 2010, a GSA division spent more than $823,000 at an employee-training conference in Las Vegas. During the investigation and the release of the Inspector General's report this month, videos surfaced of employees do skits about the lavish spending.

Washington (CNN) – House Republicans released new information exposing excess spending by the General Services Administration beyond the now infamous 2010 Las Vegas convention. The agency appears to have spent $330,000 to relocate an employee from Denver to Hawaii, and likely "millions" on others over a two year period. That information comes from an interview with a GSA event planner conducted by an investigator with the GSA inspector general in March, 2011. The transcript of the interview was provided to CNN by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It is unclear from the transcript whether the government was reimbursed...

Latest Doc Dump Shows GSA's Johnson Planned to Meet with Solyndra but Changed MindBy John Parkinson | ABC OTUS News – 8 hrs ago The House Energy and Commerce committee released documents late Wednesday that show former General Services Administration administrator Martha Johnson had planned to meet with Solyndra in California at the same time GSA employees attended a lavish Las Vegas conference, but she changed her mind just days before her trip. An investigation into that conference and other wasteful spending at GSA led to Johnson's resignation earlier this month. Johnson did not attend the Solyndra meeting scheduled for...

The GSA Was Doing an In-Your-Face to Taxpayers RUSH: The GSA employees who made a big deal out of spending taxpayers money, mocking us. This was an in-your-face thing. This was done on purpose. These people are, in their minds, untouchable. Nothing can happen to them. They are government employees. This was in our face. This was designed purposely, these party videos and the messages attached, all the fun and all the mocking, using taxpayer money, that's an in-your-face move. This is not "look at me, notice me." There might have been some of that in there, but the target...

Fed Workers Caught Singing 'Go Green' Songs To Obama Fire it up 4/9/2012 | FOX NATION.COM "Martha and Bob to take the lead... You Know They Need Us So... POTUS wants a press event..." The Committee On Oversight & Government Reform have released a brand new video today, via their YouTube channel, that continues to expose the General Services Administration's (GSA) "lack of judgment exhibited during the 2010 Western Regions Conference." In this video, GSA federal government workers film a music video tribute to President Obama about their field office "going green" From the official press release... More GSA “American...

The recent exposé of clowns and mind-readers as critical support elements of government training at a U.S. General Services (GSA) conference in Las Vegas has served as a politically expedient way for Barack Obama to pretend to be tough on the issue of wasteful spending. There can be no doubt that cracking down on a federal agency that was so misguided that it spent almost a million taxpayer dollars on a training conference (where clowns were considered essential personnel) is a good thing--especially when GSA is the very agency that determines the travel, meals and per diems for the rest...

(CNN) -- Congressional investigators are accusing the General Services Administration of violating its employee gift limit with rewards of iPods, digital cameras and other electronics, just as a video emerged of a lavish conference that shows employees drinking and making jokes about wasteful spending. The video, obtained by The Huffington Post on Friday, offers a glimpse inside the agency's $820,000 conference in Las Vegas. It has prompted taxpayer outrage, embarrassed the administration and put a spotlight on the wasteful spending by the agency that acts as a real estate agency for the federal government.

<p>First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha are visiting Las Vegas after stopping in South Dakota on a family trip.</p>

President Barack Obama took another dig at Las Vegas at his New Hampshire town hall Tuesday after similar remarks got him into hot water last year. Obama said that people should now "blow a bunch of cash in Vegas" during a tough recession. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman called for Obama to apologize after he made comparable comments last February. "When times are tough, you tighten your belts," he said at the forum." You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save...

The administration also argued Friday night that the cost of the Western Regional Conference increased sharply under the Bush White House -- from $93,000 in 2004 to $323,855 in 2006 to $655,025 in 2008, then $840,616 in 2010, or just 28 percent under Obama.

Workers at the General Services Administration think wasting taxpayer money is so hilarious, they can’t help singing about it! A shocking new video has surfaced showing an employee for the embattled agency wearing sunglasses and performing a wild rap song in which he jokes about blowing public dough on lavish perks. The musical celebration of careless spending was so well received by other GSA workers, they actually gave it the top prize in a talent show held during a notorious 2010 junket to Las Vegas in which the federal agency blew $820,000 on a four-day bash. In the short video...

Say goodbye to Martha Johnson. This week, she was forced to resign as chief of the General Services Administration, the federal agency that manages real estate for the government. Somehow Johnson managed to spend an incredible $820,000 for a conference outside of Las Vegas. Among the expenditures she okayed: $31,000 for a "networking reception," $146,000 for catered food and drinks, as well as $130,000 in expenses to "scout" the conference's hotel location. Apparently, Johnson's advance team had to travel to Vegas six times to get a handle on where best to discuss GSA business. Somebody had to do it. In...

What your "fair share" went to pay for ($800K). "Obama better prepare, when I'm Commissioner. I'd have a road show like [Acting Regional GSA Administrator for Region Jeffrey] Neely, every time you see me rolling on 20s yeah, in my GOV. Spend BA 61 on all fun. ATF can't touch GS-15 guns! Cause I buy everything your field office can't afford. Every GS-5 would get a top hat award. Donate my vacation, love to the nation, I'll never be under OIG investigation."

An obscure federal agency may have set a new benchmark for lavish conferences on the taxpayers' dime. Lawmakers are voicing outrage following a government report that found the General Services Administration held a blowout $820,000 conference near Las Vegas which grossly exceeded what the planners were allowed to spend. The employees dropped thousands of dollars on luxury items and convention giveaways -- including more than $6,000 on commemorative coins, $8,000 on a "yearbook," and $3,200 for an in-house mind reader. "It's unbelievable that red flags didn't immediately go up well before this junket," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said. In the...

General Services Administration head Martha Johnson has resigned along with two of her deputies, reportedly over an impending inspector general’s report detailing lavish spending on a Vegas conference for a handful of government employees:Organizers spent $835,000 on the event, which was attended by 300 employees. The expenses included $147,000 in airfare and lodging at the hotel for six planning trips by a team of organizers. Among the other expenses were $3,200 for a mind reader; $6,300 on commemorative coin set displayed in velvet boxes and $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle.“When the White House was informed of...

Indiana freshman Representative Bob Morris is learning the hard way that the Girl Scouts of America is to the progressive agenda as the Komen Foundation is to Planned Parenthood, and the Catholic church (or so Obama presumed) is to an Obama abortion mandate. What is -- in one word -- cover. ....Full disclosure: I am as endeared to the doe-eyed keepers of the Thin Mint for which I would sell my soul most days as anyone. I cringed when I heard Morris's original remarks. It was just the crazy talk the left feeds upon -- and the right, consequently, takes...

BOISE, Idaho, March 1, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When Grace Swanke, 10, found out that Girl Scouts is entangled with Planned Parenthood, not only did she decide to quit her troop, but as someone who loved to sell cookies, she decided to make and sell her own brand of cookie, but with a pro-life twist. “The thing I enjoyed most about the girl scouts was selling cookies, and then I realized I could still sell cookies, I just had to bake them myself,” Grace told LifeSiteNews. Several years ago, a significant number of Girl Scout councils nationwide admitted to partnering with...