Thread: Twitter ~ Social security staff spent $700,000 lavish retrea

Social security staff spent $700,000 for a lavish retreat. Wow, where's my relief? That's right someone has to continue to work & pay taxes

about 3 hours ago from mobile web

http://twitter.com/americanfarm/statuses/2662527553

Congress demands answers after $700,000 Arizona conference
Reported by: Josh Bernstein
Email: jbernstein@abc15.com

Video Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the story

PHOENIX -- Members of Congress are giving the Social Security Administration just two days to turn over all records about a $700,000 management conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa.

The call from Congress comes on the heels of an ABC15 investigation.

ORIGINAL STORY: Social Security spends $700,000 on Phoenix conference
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/inves ... Tm4uQ.cspx


Our hidden cameras captured hundreds of federal employees dancing in Phoenix on your dime, private dance recitals and paid motivational speakers.

There was also a trip to a local casino.

"What we want to know from the agency is, how much money did you spend?" said Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas. "Not just on rooms at night, but on travel and organizing the conference."

Brady, who is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee that oversees the Social Security Administration, is describing the three day conference as "a bad use of our tax dollars."

"It's especially frustrating when you have people who truly are disabled who will wait years just to get their case heard and years more just to get a little help," he said. "When they see the government and the agency wasting their money like this, I know it makes them angry and I know it really frustrates them."

Social Security Regional Commissioner Peter Spencer told ABC News that staff members needed to learn how to reduce stress because of a growing number of death threats made against them.

So, nearly 700 executives from the administration gathered for the lavish three-day conference last week.

"We received threats against our employees by people who are in the American public," said Spencer during an interview with ABC News. "There is a tremendous amount of stress involved in the job that we do."

SSA officials also said the conference would help improve the quality of service people received from employees nationwide.

"What we were trying to achieve was an opportunity to bring together our managers so they could focus on a number of very important initiatives that are in place in the agency," Spencer said.

But that's not sitting well with taxpayers and members of congress.

A letter from the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means describes the conference as "troubling."

The letter is addressed to Social Security Commissioner Micheal J. Astrue and demands that the Social Security Administration turn over "all conference costs paid by the taxpayers broken out by category, including travel, rooms, meals, speakers, entertainment, conference room rentals and equipment charges."

Read the letter for yourself
http://www.centralmediaserver.com/knxv/LettertoCOSS.pdf

Social Security's head of West Coast operations said the conference was essential, that teleconferencing was not an option, that the entire conference at the Biltmore Resort was put out for bid.

But it's not enough according to Congressman Brady:

"It is good to competitively bid anything," he said. "But you can competitively bid a Lexus to use as a government car. That doesn't mean you buy it. It doesn't matter how good a price you got on it. And I think in this case we should have watched every penny. The agency should have rethought that before they did it."

David Williams with Citizens Against Government Waste told us this was a waste of tax payers money too.

“There are so many things wrong with this picture," he said.

Williams said there was no need for the conference and that Social Security could have saved a fortune by teleconferencing or holding the meetings at their offices instead of this four-star resort.

Let us know what you think by posting a comment below.

See the original investigation and extra video clips
Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau defends Social Security trip
An economic stimulus. That's what the Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau is calling the recent meeting of Social Security Administration managers in Phoenix, costing taxpayers more than $700,000.

"It's value for the city and the state. The economics are there," said Doug MacKenzie, spokesman for the Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It provides good jobs for lots and lots of citizens who are sending their kids to school and paying mortgages. It's economic stimulus that's happening now."

MacKenzie says meetings like the SSA meet and greet have a ripple effect on the economy which generates billions of dollars every year. According to the Arizona Office of Tourism, lodging, restaurant and amusement sales topped $12 billion last year.

MacKenzie argues face-to-face meetings still have a place at a time when technology allows for alternatives like video conferencing. "Meetings are part of the fabric of America," he said.

MacKenzie sat down with ABC 15's Steve Irvin Monday night.

Video Watch the video interview here.

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/inves ... e5i6A.cspx