Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994                   TAG: 9403150171
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAVIAR, SHOES

A recent audit of just a handful of defense contractors showed they billed taxpayers some $5 million, in the past three years alone, to support them in the lifestyles to which they've grown accustomed, thanks to taxpayers' largess.

Junkets to Hawaii, to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Jamaica, to Grand Cayman? No problem. Call it a business meeting, and the federal government will pay, according to the General Accounting Office report.

Illegal or questionable billings uncovered by the GAO include $62,000 in expenses related to a party aboard one company's yacht; a $10,600 invoice from another defense contractor for a buffet featuring a three-page menu including caviar, salmon and smoked duck.

From another contractor came a $14,000 bill for tickets and parking for Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics games, plus $10,000 for "schooner rentals" for 40 employees and their guests, plus $12,000 in cable-television charges for the contractor's retirees, plus $5,800 for running shoes for its employees. Ah, life is good.

"No, this is not Donald Trump's Visa bill," said Sen. Jim Sasser, D-Tenn., of the GAO report. "It's the tab the American taxpayers are picking up for what defense contractors euphemistically call 'overhead.' The point is that this abuse is happening all over government."

The new defense secretary, William Perry, is regarded as an expert in defense procurement and contracting. Perhaps soon the Clinton administration can turn from its Arkansas-savings-and-loan troubles back to reinventing government for the benefit of taxpayers.

Many Americans who may not know yet what to make of Whitewater sure as heck know they don't want to pay for defense contractors' schooner rentals.