Free Republic

When Martha Johnson thinks back to that Monday in April 2012 when she resigned as head of the General Services Administration, she remembers a day as still as the hands on a broken clock. She had spent the weekend practicing her resignation speech in front of the mirror. She repeated it over and over until her face had memorized how to form the words without twitching. Until her voice could say it without warbling. Until her eyes could stop all that blinking. Finally it was time. She walked into the 2 p.m. senior staff meeting at the GSA, gave her...

(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>

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...

President Obama on Wednesday blasted Senate Republicans for using "holds," a tactic that delays considering nominees -- even though as a senator he used the technique to block several of President George W. Bush's appointments. < break > As an example, Mr. Obama said his nominee to head the General Services Administration, Martha Johnson, is being held up over issues unrelated to GSA's business of running federal buildings. < break > Mr. Obama made use of that power when he was in the Senate. He was one of several senators in 2007 to put a hold on Hans A. von...