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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

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To: unclewest who wrote (244764)	4/6/2008 3:01:22 PM
From: ManyMoose	Read Replies (1) of 793897

You could not make this stuff up. I'm not willing to condemn the VA on the basis of this information. I have no facts about the cases cited, but I once had a government credit card. I was required to use it for all lodging and meal expenses while traveling. I submitted a per diem claim after each trip and got reimbursed for my expenses on the card which I had to pay off. I was personally responsible for it, not the government, even though it was an official card. My per diem was sufficient to cover lodging and meal expenses and plane tickets (I never used it that way), but every expense had to be documented and I was still responsible for the bill. Some procurement employees have credit cards with which they purchase supplies and other items for official purposes. I don't know how the statement is paid for that type of transaction, but I venture that the employee is personally accountable for every purchase. As for charges at casinos, that could be attributable to lodging expenses for conferences or training. Sometimes casino hotels are cheaper than a straight hotel. I never stayed at one on official travel, so I'm not sure about this. Franklin Covey sells day planners and PDAs like the Palm Pilot. These items are very useful for keeping daily business organized. I acquired my first Palm Pilot at my personal expense, but the government started buying them for everybody because they could see people like me making huge improvements in productivity with the devices. I don't know about Sharper Image. Sometimes they sell motivational posters which I saw on official walls periodically. I found the posters to be objectionable personally. They also sell other useful items that could explain the VA expenses. I worked in the government for 38 years and know of two or three instances where an employee abused procurement privileges. All were severely dealt with. The employees lost their jobs and faced criminal charges. Again, I have no facts to base my opinion on, but I saw pictures of pallet loads of Ben Franklins being delivered to Iraq, for who knows what purpose. No doubt there was a good reason for such deliveries, but until I see a good explanation I'm very skeptical about this practice. I'd appreciate an explanation.

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