Greta: A $90K lesson in how the government wasted YOUR money - and why you should care
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By Greta Van Susteren
Let's go "Off the Record" for a minute. This should bother you ... hear me out. The D.C. government recently paid a Chicago consultant firm $89,995 for one day at most -- one day of working an education conference. That's a lot for one day. Why should you care? You don't live here, right?
Keeping listening. The $90,000 was spent on 30-minute keynote speech, three 45-minute parent workshops and books.
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Are you ready for this? Many of the speakers, including the keynote speaker, all volunteered. So, none of the $90,000 went to any of them. Someone pocketed a big payday, but it gets worse. The D.C. agency who spent the $90,000 for this one day hired a non-D.C. firm without soliciting bids for the lowest price.
Now how did the non-D.C. firm get the cushy contract for one day? Well, one of the D.C. agency's top officials knew the founder of the Chicago firm. It sounds a bit fishy, doesn't it?
Now, you might be sitting there thinking, Tough luck, Greta, that's your local tax money, not mine because I don't live in D.C.. Well, not so fast. The District of Columbia receives about $4.1 billion from you federal taxpayers each year. It's true. That your $4.1 billion that did not go directly to this one day conference, but it probably is the reason D.C. thought they had enough money to squander $90,000 for one day. They are feeling pretty rich, courtesy of your big fat paycheck each year.
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Now you get it? Why you should care?
That's my "Off the Record" comment tonight. If you have an important story or issue you think I should take "Off the Record," go to GretaWire.com and tell us about it.