'What's done in Vegas needs to be shared with EVERYBODY': Video exposes extravagance of notorious $820,000 GSA conference

• Total cost of catered food and beverages was $146,527
• Travel expenses for conference planning totalled $100,405.37
• Participants received souvenir books costing more than $8,000
  
• GSA officials hosted several semi-private parties in their hotel rooms or suites, which were funded by the taxpayer
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 14:10 EDT, 7 April 2012 | Updated: 14:16 EDT, 7 April 2012

Embarrassing footage of the General Services Administration's now infamous $820,000 Las Vegas conference has emerged, showing employees destroying office property, downing margaritas, putting on magic shows, and frolicking with a clown.

The conference made headlines this week when the Office of Inspector General published their year-long investigative report into the Public Buildings Service's 'excessive and wasteful' 2010 training session, forcing a senior government official to resign.

The footage, obtained by the Huffington Post, follows the release of a spoof video of a GSA employee named Hank Terlaje singing about the lavish party and making a joke about their high-spending office culture.

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Extravagant: A smoking 'angry clown', who is either a GSA employee or a professional, tells guests: 'Meetings are good to have in between breaks.'

The true extravagance of the five-day team-building trip can be seen in the series of videos showing employees boasting about their designer tuxedos, before urging people to 'dispense with the notion that what's done in Vegas stays in Vegas.'

In one video, conference attendees strike poses on a red carpet alongside acting GSA administrator Jeff Neely, who says: 'What's done in Vegas needs to be shared with everybody.'

In another clip, a smoking 'angry clown', who is either a GSA employee or a professional, tells guests: 'Meetings are good to have in between breaks.'

Attendees also performed their own renditions of Frank Sinatra's Luck Be A Lady, watched magic shows and took part in a contest to see who could blow the most bubbles through a hula hoop.

'These videos reinforce once again the complete lack of judgment exhibited during the 2010 Western Regions Conference,' Greg Mecher, a GSA spokesman, said in a statement to The Huffington Post. 'Our agency continues to be appalled by this indefensible behavior, and we are taking every step possible to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.'

The White House accepted General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson's resignation on Monday after she dismissed two deputies and suspended other career federal employees over the 'over the top' conference, that allegedly also featured a comedian, bicycle giveaways and lavish after-hour receptions in resort suites for federal workers.

Caught on camera: A federal employee sings in a spoof music video about the costs of the Las Vegas conference

Controversial: The White House accepted General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson's resignation after she dismissed two deputies and suspended other career federal employees over the $820,000 conference

The 300-person event at the M Resort Spa and Casino in Henderson, Nevada, included $3,200 for a mind reader, $6,300 on commemorative coin sets, and $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle in 2010.

It also included a $95-per-person dinner and reception as well as various violations of federal laws and policies, and costs for a clown and a comedian, according to the Washington Post.

'As the agency Congress has entrusted with developing the rules followed by other federal agencies for conferences, GSA has a special responsibility to set an example, and that did not occur here,' the inspector general concluded in its report.

Public Buildings Service chief Robert Peck and Johnson's top adviser, Stephen Leeds, were forced out. Four GSA employees who organized the five-day conference have been placed on administrative leave pending further action, a White House official said.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the embarrassing episode within the federal agency that oversees office space and supplies, transportation and management tasks.

'On his first day in office, President Obama made clear that the people who serve in his administration are keepers of the public trust and that public service is a privilege,' White House chief of staff Jack Lew said in a statement.

Forced out: Public Buildings Service chief Robert Peck, left, and Johnson's top adviser, Stephen Leeds, right, were fired after the controversy

'He was outraged by the excessive spending, questionable dealings with contractors and disregard for taxpayer dollars.

'He called for all those responsible to be held fully accountable given that these actions were irresponsible and entirely inconsistent with the expectations that he has set as president.'

The planners spent more than $136,000 on a pre-conference visit to Las Vegas, including $57 lunches, according to an internal review first reported by The Washington Post.

That report also found 'redundant and wasteful' practices, such as hiring outside event planners when the agency already has in-house workers for those tasks. Those outside planners received a $12,000 commission from the resort, which the investigators said 'strongly indicates that further discounts might have been available to GSA if GSA had contracted the hotel directly.'

The report also found costs that exceeded the original projections and officials who skirted federal rules that set aside some contracts for small businesses. The internal review found questionable actions, such as the event planner asking the hotel that an agency employee who arrived a day early get 'a friend of a friend of the owner rate (wink).'

Another agency employee sought a discount on a $98 purse from the hotel gift shop. She received a $30 break.

Luxurious: The M Resort Spa and Casino in Henderson, Nevada, where the 300-person event that included $6,300 on a commemorative coin set, and $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle in 2010, took place

Plush: One of the expensive rooms in the Las Vegas hotel where the five-day conference took place

The conference also spent $75,000 for a training exercise to assemble 24 bikes that were later donated at the agency's direction to the Boys' and Girls' Club. Any equipment purchased with taxpayer dollars is supposed to be sold during government sales, but planners attempted to skirt those rules by having the trainers claim ownership of the cycles.

Planners spent $31,000 on a 'networking reception' that featured a $19-per-person 'American artisanal cheese display' and $7,000 in sushi. Taxpayers also footed the bill for $5,600 for in-room parties, $3,700 for T-shirts and almost $2,800 in water bottles.

A separate cocktail reception included $1,500 for 'Boursin scalloped potato with Barolo wine-braised short ribs' and a $525 bartender fee for a cash bar. A senior official spent $2,700 entertaining other employees after the closing dinner. And three officials spent almost $400 for rented tuxedos.

All of this occurred during a conference that a regional administrator directed to be '"over the top," bigger and better than previous conferences.'

Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called the conference a 'junket'.

'It is never appropriate for an agency to fund lavish conferences that waste tax dollars,' she said. 'This is especially true at a time when American families are struggling to put food on their own tables and the U.S. government is piling up debt at an historic pace.'

'Over the top': Taxpayers footed the bill for a $3,200 session with a mind reader amongst other lavish expenses

Unnecessary: The luxury $800,000 training conference also allegedly featured a clown

Johnson seemed to agree. 'I find the information in your report to be very troubling as it outlines potential violations of federal procurement laws and agency policy,' Johnson said in a memo that accompanied the inspector general's report.

The White House found out about the draft internal report in early March, and Lew and White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler investigated the conference for employees of GSA's western region. Obama later was told of the findings and demanded accountability.

Johnson put in place new rules to prevent future spending, such as dealings that went around bidding rules, ignored contracting requirements and questionable expenses such as tuxedo rentals - but they were not enough to keep her in her job.

'I fell I must step aside as administrator so that the agency can move forward at this time with a fresh leadership team,' Johnson wrote in her resignation. 'Collectively, the people of GSA now must review, repair and rebuild.'

Johnson served as a co-leader for the Obama transition team and previously was a vice president at 90,000-employee Computer Sciences Corporation. During the Clinton administration, she was a White House aide, an official at the Commerce Department and the chief of staff at the General Services Administration.

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