A misunderstanding, private donors paid for most of the trips.
Via The Daily Mail
The U.S. Department of Energy paid more than $21 million sponsoring 329 conferences over just 16 months during 2013 and 2014, including some that featured golf tournaments, ‘casino night’ promotions, lavish dinners and a Super Bowl party.
The agency’s Inspector General issued a report Feb. 11 describing the ‘social events that in our view could lead to negative public perceptions.’
Other social events associated with Energy Department conferences included dinners on a cruise boat, at an aquarium, and at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Existing guidance,’ the Office of Inspector General wrote, ‘notes that participation in any associated social events should be limited and restrained to the greatest degree practicable to avoid the appearance of impropriety.’
‘Despite this admonition, we found that attendance at some conferences included associated social events.’
Energy Department officials pleaded their case to the inspector general, saying most of the lavish events were not funded with taxpayer dollars, but were at least partially hosted by private sponsors.
‘Federal officials told us they have little control over associated conference social events in such situations,’ the report says.
But official records described all their expenses as coming out of the department’s budget.[…]
It was held at a Washington, D.C. hotel despite the availability of the Energy Department’s own federal building just a few Metro stops away.
Renting the hotel meeting space cost about $15,000, the review says.
‘The justification for using a nonfederal facility was because the department’s headquarters site was “not conducive to an efficient flow of conversation and development of concepts”,’ the report says agency officials told the IG’s office.
The Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment about what, exactly, that means.
The IG found sloppy recordkeeping practices among DOE bean-counters, finding that the department couldn’t name where five conferences were held, and that five more incurred costs without any sort of description of what the events were about.
Another 28 conferences were paid for without any indication that cost-comparisons were conducted to get the government the best deal possible, of that meeting facilities and other costs were put up for competitive bidding.
HT kdhouse