Snacks take big bite out of DOJ budget

Snacks take big bite out of DOJ budget
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
6 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - It doesn't rival the Pentagon's $600 toilet seat, but the Justice Department can fork over a mean $4 meatball.

An internal Justice audit, released Friday, showed the department spent nearly $7 million to plan, host or send employees to ten conferences over the last two years. This included paying $4 per meatball at one lavish dinner and spreading an average of $25 worth of snacks around to each participant at a movie-themed party.

There was plenty, too, for those needing to satisfy sweet tooth.

More than $13,000 was spent on cookies and brownies for 1,542 people who attended a four-day "Weed and Seed" conference in August 2005, according to the audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. And a "networking" session replete with butterfly shrimp, coconut lobster skewers and Swedish meatballs at a Community Oriented Policing Services conference in July 2006 cost more than $60,000.

The report, which looked at the 10 priciest Justice Department conferences between October 2004 and September 2006, was ordered by the Senate Appropriations Committee. It also found that three-quarters of the employees who attended the conferences demanded daily reimbursement for the cost of meals while traveling — effectively double-dipping into government funds.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070914/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/justice_pricey_snacks_1

WTF?

I guess it's real easy to spend that kind of dough when it not your money. I want my share back.

there'd be need for plenty other munchies, too. . .

:rofl:

I wonder how many of us can afford $4 per meatball - pisses me off that my tax dollars are paying for these GOP freeloaders.

what are they made out of? Do they come with a BJ?

They can get about a dozen meatballs for 4 bucks.

It was huge and spicy, first browned then simmered. I'm just saying.