I, For One, Welcome Our New Civil Service Overlords

$146 million would pay for a lot of Medicare joint replacements and broken hips.

WASHINGTON - Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one-year period on business- and first-class airline tickets, in some cases simply because they felt entitled to the perk, congressional investigators say.

A draft report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, is the first to examine compliance with travel rules across the federal government following reports of extensive abuse of premium-class travel by Pentagon and State Department employees.

Among the worst offenders: the State Department, whose employees typically fly abroad on official business.

[...]

Investigators found that senior officials often flew business- or first-class because they felt entitled to the perk.

"Entitled" would be the word I'd choose.  This is the same mentality that lets climate warriors Al "Carbon Bigfoot" Gore and Laurie David fly around in private jets advising their minions to transform their own meager lives, the poor bastards.  You all in the government, could you do us a favor?  Please stop acting like you're special just because your rich Uncle Sam signs your paycheck.

10/4/07 1140: Jay Tea has another story of a government bureaucracy overstepping it's bounds.  They didn't really sell data obtained via professional licensing, did they?

10/6/07 0900: Ah, my first Insta-lanche, and it only took three years!  Thanks, Glenn.

Comments

[Curly Smith]

Entitled? You bet they're entitled to the perks. You should consider yourself lucky that they allow you to pay taxes to fund their entitlements. And, it's pretty obvious that you're not paying your fair share. If you know what's good for you, you'll make a contribution to the correct political party / campaign and you should do it before the investigations start.

[AndyJ]

They are having a career. You may have a problem, but they are having a career. They are spending days, weeks, months waiting for retirement. They never say "Yes". They never-ever say "No". They will "study" your problem, ideas, suggestions issues. They will have meetings to design the proper way to examine your issues. They will review the study of the report on the proper way to examine the issue. If it involves travle, they will move faster. Everybody loved taking a field trip. Civil Servants view travel as a "day out"... plus they get per diem and a day off for compensation...

Just don't get in the way of the career. If you threaten The Career the answers you sought will not be favorable, but they will be swift.

"Evolution Not Revolution, When We Get To It"

[NSC]

I've been a government employee for 27 years, first serving in the Air Force, and now as a civil servant. While I don't doubt this kind of waste, I have never had the good fortune of seeing it wasted on me or anyone I work with. You would not IMAGINE the crap we get if we even try to make our own travel arrangements so they are timely and painless (we go through a grossly ineffective contract travel agency), much less try to get any fancy upgrades like those noted here.

The same thing goes for other budget areas. We count every fricken penny from travel funds to gasoline funds to bank card money to fix a copier.

Point being, if money is being wasted it certainly is not being wasted on me and people I know.

That's a good thing, by the way. I'm not complaining. I just think you need to know it's the big-wigs wasting it here . . not us grunts.

[Jake]

You post doesn't take into account one simple fact. And that is, it not unreasonable to think that SOME people in the government rate a first class flight. For example, a person who reports to the ambassador of Singapore, shuttling between South Korea, Washington and home over a three month period, simply could not do his/her job without flying first class. Have you ever flown Singapore>>East Coast in cattle class? Let me tell you. You have about a 50/50 chance of getting a serious cold or the flu, it takes at least two days to recover from jet lag, and the three meals you eat will screw up the system of anyone with digestive problems. Virtually every reasonable company flies their people first class on Asia routes simply because in the long run it is cheaper than having them out sick or, more to the point, having them quit for reasons of travel abuse.

[Truffle]

Hey Jake, ever hear of business class? While coach might be too rough, first is a completely unnecessary expense. My only question was whether their FF miles or FF status was taxed or seized? If not, that value should be added to the $146 MILLION!

[DK]

I have to agree with NSC. I've been in government for 24 years and have never had the chance to travel anything but steerage. I don't doubt that some State Dept honchos or Congressional staffers fly first class and drink all the paid-for booze on the way, but the rest of us don't get this kind of treatment (and I'm a GS-15 BTW).

[Bill]

Jake, what a load of hooey! I have done the trip in "cattle class", did have to adjust (welcome to being a human), and was still able to perform my job. I like flying business and first class, but I don't expect the taxpayers to fund that level of comfort they would never see for themselves. Guess it just depends if you think it's really government "service." If one is that delicate, go to industry. I trust that the republic will survive the loss of that person's talents.

[Dave_Violence]

This is pretty surprising. Government agencies USUALLY have the most anal travel regulations around. Coach is the way one travels every single time unless there is an extraordinary occasion (the reason(s) Jake mentions may be legit, but would require a lot of higher authority sign-off, and that can happen, sure). Additionally, Government travel is more expensive in general because of the argeement(s?) the government has with the carriers, for example, tickets may be canceled, changed, etc. at a moment's notice, and for that a premium must be paid.

That being said, the State Department has an overabundance of prima donnas, so it's not surprising that they'd, ahhh, take serious advantage of whatever perq they can - even if it means stretching the limit of prudence.

Extraordinary occasions I can think of: "escape" from somewhere and the only available seat is in FC. Business class is all that's available. One that won't work is a long trip to Europe. Luftansa's coach class is nicer than any first class offering an American carrier has (free beer, fer goshsakes!).

[Giacomo]

Point is, while I don't suspect that this kind of thing is widespread, the GAO did find $146 million worth of rule-bending waste. So somebody was doing it.

[Tom Frank]

The DOD operates under what is known as the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), which is a massive tome that details everything that is permitted or prohibited vis-a-vis travel.

If Pentagon employees were flying first class (and it wasn't simply a courtesy upgrade based on frequent flyer miles), either it was permitted under the JTR, or those folks are in a lot of trouble.

If it WAS permitted under the JTR, you can be certain that it was the trip from hell (there are many layers of approvals required, and the circumstances where such is permitted is tightly controlled), and most reasonable people would not begrudge the traveler the comfort.

If it WASN'T permitted under the JTR, both the traveler and the travel office offical who approved the orders can be suspended or fired - after they pay back the excess cost.

I would not be surprised to learn that the 'congressional investigators' haven't actually read the JTR cover to cover (it is 1000+ pages of legalize), and thus may be making certain assumptions that will not bear up under further scrutiny.

I have no idea what State does.

[Merry]

Jake - This strikes me as a bad example; flying from Singapore to the East Coast takes longer than fourteen hours, and therefore would entitle that poor Embassy employee to a business class ticket. S/He would not be entitled to business class from Singapore to Seoul, though. (And I've done the trip from the East Coast to various places around Asia in coach dozens of times; would I rather be in Business class? You bet. Is it impossible to survive the coach trip without getting sick? Of course not.)

[R. Richard Schweitzer]

The WSJ today has a good analysis of how minimal this particular issue is, something like 1% or less of "investigated" flights involved.

If you would like to examine "entitlements" (which are really the obligations of the rest of us to provide), take a look at what we provide the Famous 545 of our Federal Legislature, and the total costs of their services: Look at what it costs us to have the Legislature we have - it's enormous! And what does it provide in return? That's what needs examination, because it continues to expand (not "grow").

R. Richard Schweitzer
s24rrs@aol.com

[michael i]

Hey Jake, "a person who reports to the ambassador of Singapore" had better not be on the U.S. payroll! Rather, that person had better register with the U.S. Government as an agent of foreign influence when on American soil.

[amr]

In the few media reports I have seen, I have yet to hear of any actions taken against those violating the rules. No consequences = continued violations. And yes I know it is almost impossible to punish a civil servant. So ask the FBI to investigate and charge them criminally and more so if they lie. That would get people’s attention; even civil servants

[Jim N]

It was many years ago when I lived in Overland Park, Kansas. It seemed that overnight, the police and public vehicles went from being standard "four-door Chevys and Fords" to being top of the line cars and SUVs. Now I live in Cape Coral, Florida and voters here recently rejected a ballot item for a new $100,000,000 public service building. Since that was rejected, they are now submitting a ballot item for a new $40,000,000 building. The question begs, if the $40,000,000 building is now acceptable, what exactly was the request for the $100,000,000 building all about? There is no responsibility in how the government handles spending taxpayer dollars. How many people have had the unfortunate circumstance to have their income actually drop from one year to the next (in real dollars)? What government has EVER spent less in one year than they spent in the prior year? Government spending has been completely out of control for more years than I care to count. Jeez... we even have a number of police officers cruising around the town on Segways.... Sure, some local official can "justify" this... they always can.