Outrageous: Hall of Shame

Five galling tales of greed and abuse found within our nation's government.

Air Farce One
What's more important, fighting terrorists or ensuring that the military elite flies in style? The answer is obvious to most Americans, but not to some fat-cat Air Force officials. In July, the Washington Post reported that the flyboys sought to divert a portion of $16.2 million set aside for the global war on terror. They wanted the funds to install first-class amenities called private "comfort capsules" on the military planes that whisk top officers and civilian officials around the world. The upgrades included 37-inch flat-screen monitors, plush leather seats, and full-length mirrors intended to make the planes "aesthetically pleasing and furnished to reflect the rank of the senior leaders."

Adding insult to the taxpayers' injury were some personal requests of Air Force generals, including one to change the color of the leather seats and seat belts and another to add seat pockets—improvements estimated to cost $68,240. Congress told the generals they could pay for these comforts out of their own budget. Even so, the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight says such pleasure pods serve no essential purpose, calling the proposal "a gross misuse of millions of taxpayer dollars that could otherwise be used to train and equip soldiers."

Bigwig Bailout
Last October, Congress budgeted $700 billion of our tax dollars to clean up the mess left by Wall Street's supposed financial geniuses. And what price did they pay? None. In fact, many of the honchos who made the riskiest—and greediest—financial deals walked away rich.

Remember those dogs at collapsed mortgage-loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? CEOs Daniel Mudd and Richard Syron pulled in $11.6 million and $18.3 million, respectively, in 2007 as they steered their companies toward ruin. After the government rode in to rescue their firms, both men were set to walk off with golden parachutes estimated at around $7 million and $6 million, until the Federal Housing Finance Agency demanded a review. Even so, it's believed that Mudd will receive $5 million in retirement benefits, and Syron, $2.3 million. A nice payday in anybody's bankbook.

Perhaps the most deplorable character on Wall Street was Richard Fuld, the former CEO of Lehman Brothers, whose September bankruptcy was the largest in history. For his brilliant management, Fuld made $72 million last year. Over the past five years, he pulled in a whopping $354 million. During congressional hearings in October, he blamed everyone, including the government that bailed him out, for his firm's collapse. Everyone but himself.

Sex, Drugs and Your Money
Sometimes government officials really are in bed with big corporations. According to an investigation by the Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General, a fraternity-house-style "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" existed among employees responsible for managing billions of dollars in contracts with oil and gas companies. In all, 13 current and former Interior employees in Denver and Washington, D.C., indulged in drinking, marijuana and cocaine use, and sexual shenanigans with representatives of companies negotiating multimillion-dollar deals. The bureaucrats also accepted corporate-sponsored golf and ski trips, snowboarding lessons, and concert tickets.

As the inspector general, with a subtle dash of humor, noted, "Sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arm's-length."

To Protect and Be Served
Given the prices at Starbucks, some people might fantasize about walking out with coffee they didn't pay for—though most of us would never actually do it. Give a certain type of person a badge and a gun, however, and it becomes a license to steal. According to an internal police department investigation in Daytona Beach, Florida, 15-year veteran Lt. Major Garvin visited a local Starbucks for several months while he was on duty, cutting the line and demanding free passion tea and coffee with chocolate mocha syrup.

The coffee shop's manager said Garvin implied that free java was "the difference between getting a 2-minute response time and a 15-minute response time" if his Starbucks franchise ever called for police help. Garvin's denial of the allegations didn't save him: He was fired on July 8.

Bad Credit
It's all too easy to get carried away with our credit cards. But not everyone charges for lingerie, booze, and online dating—and leaves the taxpayer with the tab. That's just what federal employees have been doing regularly, according to a March audit by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.

Federal workers spent roughly $18 billion in 2007 using credit cards and checks that are issued to conduct legitimate government business. One NASA employee bought a pair of expensive iPods meant to store data, even though much cheaper devices are available. A U.S. Forest Service employee was found to have given $640,000 in checks meant for government use to her boyfriend-money he spent on gambling and car and mortgage payments. (She was sentenced to 21 months in prison.) One U.S. Postal Service worker charged the government $1,100 to cruise online dating sites, and another threw a dinner for 81 at a steak house in Orlando, charging $13,500 to tax-payers, including $3,000 in alcohol. Something to remember next time you buy postage stamps.

From Reader's Digest - January 2009

 

• • Politicians
• • Your Tax Dollars

• The Government Is Wasting Your Tax Dollars!
• How Uncle Sam spends nearly $1 trillion of your money each year.
• 
• Characters: Kinky Friedman
• Kinky Friedman takes on the establishment. Pity the establishment.
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• Outrageous! Politicians Kissing Up for Cash
• When politicians and big donors get cozy, the rest of us end up paying for their sweetheart deals.
•