Surprise: More lavish spending from the GSA

Just days after dropping a cool million in Vegas, the General Services Administration (GSA) spent another $260,000 in taxpayer money patting themselves on the back with a luxurious awards ceremony:

Now it turns out that just weeks after that lavish affair two years ago, the federal General Services Administration spent $20,000 on drumsticks – the kind used for hitting drums – and nearly $30,000 for “time temperature picture frames” for an awards ceremony in nearby Virginia, according to its Office of Inspector General.

The ceremony, which appears to have involved two events at separate hotels, cost taxpayers $268,732, according to the initial findings, GSA Inspector General Brian Miller said in a letter Thursday to several members of Congress.

More than half of that money – $140,464 – went to a public relations, marketing and advertising firm for “coordination and logistical management,” Miller wrote.

Besides the 4,000 drumsticks, which were used for a drum band team-building exercise, the expenses included $42,000 for venue charges, a violinist, a guitarist, and food for 200 people; about $42,000 in travel costs for 49 attendees; $7,800 for 68 shadowbox frames; $8,600 for an “appearance” by someone called “Agent X;” and $10,000 for “Mission Possible Agent X management.”