FLYING THE FRIENDLY SKIES: Responding to a request for an inquiry by Sen. Norm Coleman, the GAO released a report yesterday that revealing that “military and civilian defense officials improperly used government credit cards to buy 68,000 first-class or business-class airline seats when they were supposed to fly coach.” The tickets cost the government in excess of $124 million over two years. The GAO reported that John Stenbit, the Assistant Secretary of Defense purchased 17 first class tickets for $68,000, citing an unspecified medical condition. Jack Dyer Crouch, another Assistant Secretary, took 15 luxury trips costing $70,000, justifying the expense by saying he needed to be ready for meetings upon arrival. The Pentagon has convened a task force to investigate.
I hate this! I mean, when you’re that bold to do something you know you shouldn’t be doing, considering the news gets a hold of just about everything, what are you doing that is still undiscovered? And there are people who say why didn’t this get reported at the administrative level. Let me tell you why. No one cares about what the administrative assistants say.
For two years I’ve tried to report someone in my department who grossly misuses government funds. Nothing has happened. If someone did listen, that person who did the reporting could become the scapegoat in an already corrupt department. And so the violations continue to happen unchecked.
It makes me livid.