Top 10 examples of government workers behaving badly

1. GSA parties
Considering the lavish conferences, retreats, and bonuses paid for by the General Services Administration, it is disturbing to think this was the same agency in charge of spending President Obama's fiscally irresponsible stimulus package. While not every federal agency parties like the GSA, multiply waste and unnecessary expenditures across the entire federal government and the rationale of the tea party becomes clear.

2. Secret Service prostitutes

The Colombian romp with prostitutes by Secret Service agents and members of the U.S. military reflected poorly on the nation, just as President Obama was attending the Pan-American summit. We won't go into all the sordid details of the sexcapades at Cartagena's Hotel El Caribe, but let it be said that we expect a higher standard of conduct from the men who protect the life of the president, than we do for the president himself (see Clinton, William Jefferson).

3. Fast and Furious debacle

The Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm officials who approved the Fast and Furious operation allowing high-powered weaponry to fall into the hands of Mexican drug lords acted with reckless disregard for the outcome of their actions. That outcome turned out to be the deaths of hundreds of innocent Mexicans and the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. That the Justice Department won't come clean on the details of the operation, only makes the malfeasance worse.

4. Do-nothing Senate Democrats

The most essential task of just about any professional enterprise is crafting an annual budget. Tell that to the Senate, where the Democratic-controlled chamber hasn't passed a budget in three years. Enjoy your do-nothing fiefdom while you can, Harry Reid. Come November, your title will be minority, not majority, leader.

5. Panetta's pricey trips

No one expects the defense secretary to fly commercial, but was it really necessary for   Leon Panetta to take 27 weekend trips home to California, costing taxpayers some $800,000, or nearly the cost of a GSA convention in Las Vegas? Each round-trip cost taxpayers some $32,000, and Panetta reimbursed the government $630 per jaunt. Sure, it's nice to get out of Washington, but that's three trips every month to spend time on the Panetta walnut farm.

6. Federal tax scofflaws

One good way to tackle the mounting budget deficit would be to collect back taxes from federal employees. A report by the Internal Revenue Service showed that nearly 100,000 federal workers owed a combined $1 billion in back taxes. Some $2 million could be collected just by going after members and employees of the U.S. Senate.

7. Afghan photos

Yes, it is tough being a soldier in a war zone, but still part of their job is not to embarrass their nation or put their fellow warriors in harm's way like the military personnel did by posing with dead Afghan bodies. The worse crime, however, is that the Los Angeles Times would publish the photos.

8. TSA bullies

We are sure that there are many fine employees working for the Transportation Safety Administration, but their overall antics are wearing thin. Reports of juvenile behavior and criminal activity among TSA workers seem routine and their full-body pat-downs of grandmothers and small children are heavy-handed and nonsensical.

9. Anthony Weiner

The former Democratic congressmen was still on the government payroll when he Tweeted racy photos of himself on his government-issued BlackBerry. Weiner tried to fight to keep his job, but ultimately the public embarrassment was too severe to withstand. His resignation opened the door for Republicans to gain a House seat that they hadn't held in over 50 years.

10. Justice for Trayvon

What were Justice Department officials doing stoking racial division following the Trayvon Martin shooting? Members of department's Community Relations Service worked with the mobs protesting the lack of action by the police in the shooting, teaching leaders how to manage the crowd and arranging a police escort for a group of college students marching to demand George Zimmerman's arrest. The only action by the Justice Department in the case should have been to indict the thugs putting a bounty on Zimmerman's head.



Posted over at Human Events