"We received threats against our employees by people who are in the American public," said SSA Regional Commissioner for San Francisco Peter Spencer in defense of the conference. He said "there is a tremendous amount of stress involved in the job that we do."
The conference, which included a performance by a motivational dance company that was captured on tape by Phoenix affiliate ABC15, was held at the Arizona Biltmore, a hotel described as the "Jewel of the Desert" with an oasis of 39 acres of lush gardens, swimming pools and a golf course. SSA executives were invited to join in the dancing.
But the partying didn't stop there. Some of the government managers brought along their relatives, and there was a night excursion to a local casino.
Even top Social Security administrator Michael Astrue made a special guest appearance. His spokesman said he flew coach, and the SSA said it arranged the lowest rate possible for the event.
Critics were incensed with the spending, especially during a financial crisis, and took issue with the idea that executives saved as much money as possible.
"Actually, they didn't do it as low cost as possible," said David Williams of the watchdog Citizens Against Government Waste group. "Because as low cost as possible would be a video teleconference. It would not be flying people in from all around the country to have this conference." - ABC News
1 comment:
By now many, if not all, of you have heard of the lavish, $700,000 party that was held for managers in the Social Security Administration. What follows below is taken from the SSA’s website. I suggest that you contact the SSA and report the party as a violation of public trust. Get your friends and relatives to contact the SSA. I would love to see this post go viral on the web and on the internet. If any of you can help make that happen, please do so. Copy what you wish. Change what you wish. Just get it out there. -- Bob
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Public Service is a public trust . All SSA employees are bound by the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch. Violations of this include [but is not limited to] accepting gifts and/or money from a person doing business with SSA, holding financial interests that conflict with official duties, not obeying any federal, state, or local laws or regulations. If you know of an SSA employee violating these, or anything else you believe to be a standard of conduct issue, please contact us.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Fraud Hotline provides an avenue for individuals to report fraud, waste, and abuse within the SSA’s programs and operations. We handle allegations regarding violations of law or regulations affecting SSA programs and operations.
Individuals have a variety of ways to report fraud to us. Individuals can contact us by:
Internet: Fraud Reporting Form [available by going to the SSA’s website]
U.S. Mail: Social Security Fraud Hotline
P.O. Box 17768
Baltimore, Maryland 21235
FAX: 410-597-0118
Telephone: 1-800-269-0271 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
TTY: 1-866-501-2101 for the deaf or hard of hearing.
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