The P-I reports on Seattle city government's $2+million annual spending on travel junkets:
Destinations included Mexico, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Ecuador, Scotland, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and France.Imagine what they'd be spending if it weren't for the "down to the bone" budget. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 21, 2006 11:30 PM | Email ThisThey also went to Las Vegas, Anaheim, Calif., San Francisco, Orlando, Fla., Reno, Nev., Washington D.C., New Orleans and Denver. They routinely stayed at the Hilton, Hyatt, and Wyndham hotels, but also at Walt Disney World Resort, Caesar's Palace, Mandalay Bay Resort and a long list of other resorts hosting conferences, training and trade shows.
Hotel rooms nearing $200 per night were routine for many.
training can be done via computer, sattelite or self-study. NECESSARY (and directly related to training) seminars can be selected per proximity or omitted due to excess travel. this is done is private business allthe time--called hard coices & limited resources. and--when business travels, it uses the lesser hotel chains, not 5 star.
'sister cities' are a waste of $ & useless in this communication age. how much of this is critical training? and it can't be done locally? many of us take CPE/CLE and make those same training choices, so don't snow-job us, politicians!
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on November 22, 2006 06:19 AMFor municipal employees, I don't see how a trip to Australia is even close to necessary. Trips like that simply do not happen in the private sector unless its directly related to a large piece of business for the company. They should be required to submit a statement the justifies the trip and what is the ROI to taxpayers.
Posted by: Palouse on November 22, 2006 08:08 AMOnly if the case can be made should it even be considered for a slot in the budget.
Posted by: Smokie on November 22, 2006 08:58 AMThese "conferences" were fake conferences run by a single book publisher who brought in some not very talented book authors to talk about why the instructors should buy their books. They were sales events masquerading as conferences.
Upon return, the department chair made serious attempts to overrule faculty selection of text books in order to steer business to his preferred (and kickback giving) book publisher. I say kickback giving because that is pretty much what the fake conference was - a kickback.
Travel costs were paid by the state. The conference itself was apparently funded by the book publisher. When I left the organization, I reported all of this to the college president. While I do not know if this specific issue was dealt with, I do know that the college president took my thoroughly documented list of problems and recommended solutions extremely seriously and that many changes were made after I left.
The organizational structure was such that I could not have made my report without quitting. Since I was in a tenure track position and the individuals committing fraud were on my review committee, I had to quit in order to report widespread abuses.
Because the problems occurred because of systematic organizational design failures, I suspect they occurred much more widely than the narrow focus of which I reported. I also sent my report to the WA State Auditor's office, who responded - try not to gag - by saying that he did not have the authority to investigate this fraud in a state funded agency.
Again, I do believe the college president handled the situation, and I was very impressed by the response and caliber of the executives I subsequently dealt with. However, I strongly suspect this type of fraud is widespread in all governments in our state. In the community college, problems of past failed leadership, going back years, the granting of tenure to incompetent and unqualified individuals, and union rules, largely created an unmanageable organization. These problems (excepting tenure), are likely to exist in many other government bodies.
Posted by: Ed on November 22, 2006 09:10 AMA.Bodyguard for Nickels in Australia? Is he on some kind of international hit list?
B.So what if the police department picked up the tab. It's still at tax payer expense.
C.With the size of Nickels' body how can one person do the job?
/s/ Tim, I Wannabe Port Chief Executive, Ceis
Posted by: Tyler Durden on November 22, 2006 10:19 AMBrad
Posted by: Brad Strecker on November 22, 2006 11:30 AMWhy, Stefan, are you linking to a news story in what you nominated as The Worst Newspaper in America?
You know, the one that revealed the true cost of the monorail?
Is it the Worst Newspaper in America, or maybe only when it's not in lockstep with your political viewpoints?
Your pathetic hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Posted by: Kenny Dale Hill on November 22, 2006 11:53 AMDr. Ruth knows more tricks than a monkey on thirty feet of grape vines.
Posted by: Harpoontang on November 23, 2006 08:00 AM