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VA Purchase Cards: Not Exactly Scandalous
 By Tom Shoop | Monday, April 07, 2008  |  11:23 AM

Last night, the Associated Press moved a story over the wires that went out with this headline: "AP Impact: VA Workers Charge $2.6B on Gov't Credit Cards at Luxury Hotels, High-End Retailers."

That's a grabber, huh? And given the fact that we at Government Executive have reported on these kinds of abuses at various agencies in the past, it didn't come as that much of a surprise.

But it turns out there's quite a bit less here than meets the eye. First of all, the $2.6 billion figure refers to the total amount of spending by Veterans Affairs employees using federal purchase cards. And a detailed list of purchases obtained by the AP "reveals few outward signs of questionable spending, with hundreds of purchases at prosthetic, orthopedic and other medical supply stores," the story acknowledges.

Even the stuff the AP characterizes as questionable seems fairly routine -- and doesn't add up to a lot of dollars. It includes purchases totaling $8,471 at Sharper Image, a high-tech electronics specialty store, and less than $2,000 worth of spending at Franklin Covey, purveyor of high-end planners for executives. Those purchases could be perfectly legitimate, and they're certainly not on the order of using a government card to buy photos of Elvis or get DirecTV service.

The AP report also noted that "employees based at VA headquarters made credit card charges at Las Vegas casino hotels totaling $26,198." But the agency is building a VA hospital in the city and -- for better or for worse -- a lot of conferences and events are held there. So $26,000 doesn't seem like an outlandish amount of total spending in Vegas. And the details included in the piece on how the money was spent could be misleading. "One VA headquarters employee appears to have passed up casino hotels by booking at a Holiday Inn Express in Las Vegas for $787.75," the AP notes. But virtually all federal travelers stay at government rates under federal per diem policies, so who's to say if the Holiday Inn Express actually was cheaper?

On the whole, I'm with the folks over at the OhMyGov site on this one: The facts don't appear to support the tone of the article, and the righteous indignation drummed up by the usual-suspects list of members of Congress and heads of watchdog groups quoted in the story isn't terribly convincing.



Comments


Thanks for the support.

The media is hyperbolizing another story - the ICE Halloween party mishap. We posted an article about it from a pragmatic point of view but it didn't get the visibility we were hoping it would. All the other media organizations seem to have jumped on the more sensationalized version of the story - that being that Julie Myers is a cover up artist, a liar, and a racist. The alternative version is that she made a bad judgement call and Congress is now wasting tons of money on a witch hunt.

Feel free to check it out for yourself on the site.

-The OhMyGov! Team

OhMyGov!  | Thursday, April 10, 2008 |  07:13 PM


The VA is set up to take care of the Veterns period... I'd love to see the breakdown of personnel costs on hospital staff and non care givers.
There are too many meetings and conferences other than doctors learning a new technique, everything else can be by distance learning. Every VA has a satellite system use it and stop taking treatment dollars away from the vets.
THe entire sytem should be run 100% by vets and this waste will stop

dan ketter  | Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |  03:51 PM


We live in the age of hate all worker bees. Remember the government, at the behest of the big lenders, mandated the cards.

Wise Old Owl  | Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |  09:56 AM


Think about it people... do you really think that it was a 1 night stay for $787 a night at a holiday inn express. this is a non-story. To read the headline we should be outraged. However, praising government employees for doing a good job does not sell newspapers. I do not know what is worse the papers for dreaming up and writing about everything VA in a bad light, or the clueless politicians who follow alnong like lap dogs.

bob  | Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |  08:00 AM


Before you think this is clearly a sign of fraud, did you stop to think that maybe the guy (sorry Dan, clown) stayed at the Holiday Inn Express for more than a night?

wallyp  | Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |  07:26 AM


Are we talking purchase cards or travel cards? Because purchase cards are not suppose to be used for travel.

On the subject of lodging in Vegas, a quick check of the 2007 per diem rates shows the Government lodging rate to be $100-$114 depending on the time of year. Since the article doesn't say the duration of the stay for the $787.75 mentioned, we really can't draw any concrete conclusions. I personally can see why someone would not want to stay in a casino.

Lane Narrows  | Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |  06:49 AM


$787 in Vegas buys alot more than a NOT cheap hotel room!

maureen murphy  | Monday, April 07, 2008 |  09:31 PM


Ohhhh stop I'll bet if this clown was spending his money he'd be able to find a hotel for less tha $787 in Vegas. I've been there a number of times and $200 buys a suite

dan ketter  | Monday, April 07, 2008 |  11:45 AM



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