Internal Revenue Service officials used $4.1 million in taxpayer money for a conference at a luxury hotel, which included training videos, some Star Trek-themed, others with line-dancing employees; speakers on topics as frivolous as leadership through painting; and perks, including a discounted presidential suite, for local employees.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an IRS watchdog, released report on the gross expenses, which led to a review by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Members of the Committee include Representative Elijah Cummings (Democrat), who Bloomberg.com quotes complaining “Mr. Fink, the money that was spent on that, that's my money. That's the lady who got the early bus this morning, that's her money.”
Representative Darrell Issa (Republican) was similarly outraged, saying that other employees “were cheated out of additional education and meaningful training by this waste” and calling it “at best, maliciously self-indulgent” according to Reuters.com.
Considering the low popularity of the IRS even before the news that the Cincinnati office targeted Tea Party applicants for tax-exempt status, it seems unlikely the organization will recover from this latest scandal, despite apologies from small business commissioner Faris Fink (Spock in the Star Trek video) and others involved.
Click here to see the Star Trek training video:
For the training video with line dancing, see the ABCNews release here: