WASHINGTON, D.C.
A top executive at the General Services Administration could face more dire legal consequences in the continuing fallout from a 2010 conference the agency held near Las Vegas as Congress continues to probe the event’s expenses.
Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., sternly warned Public Buildings Service event planner Lisa Daniels that she should retain legal counsel to defend her role in putting together the Public Buildings Service event, which cost nearly $823,000. During a hearing Tuesday by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, Denham dismissed Daniels from testifying briefly after the hearing started.
“I would just issue you a word of caution,” Denham said during the hearing. “I’ve read your testimony, and there is a good deal of troubling information in it.”
GSA Inspector General Brian Miller released a scathing report two weeks ago on the agency and its tab for a four-day event it held near Las Vegas in 2010. Miller, who testified at Tuesday’s hearing, said the GSA appears to have skirted spending guidelines to splurge on appetizers, oversized suites and questionable negotiations with vendors. GSA executives also appear to have agreed to spend more on food costs for the event in exchange for the hotel lowering its daily room rates to bring them into federal spending guidelines, he said.
