Friday, December 25, 2009
Claiming it needed to train its managers about a new labor contract with air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spent $5 million this month on three one- week “conferences” in Atlanta. But an investigation by ABC News revealed that the event was little more than an extended Christmas party for 3,600 FAA employees, complete with drunken revelry and inappropriate behavior.
Undercover video taken by ABC reporters revealed FAA workers bragging about dancing on tables and almost getting arrested. One manager asked a female reporter if she was a prostitute.
In addition to spending $140 a night on thousands of hotel rooms, the FAA gave each employee $81 per day to spend on meals and personal expenses.
“It’s the wrong time to spend five million dollars on a Christmas party for anybody’s employees, especially in the government,” Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, told ABC News.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Party Time at the FAA; Critics Question $5 Million Gathering (by Megan Chuchmach, Asa Eslocker and Brian Ross, ABC News)
Brian Ross Investigates FAA Christmas Conference (ABC News video)
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