Skip to content

Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

Because no one
is above the law!

Donate

Corruption Chronicles

Govt. Spends $700,000 For Lavish Employee Retreat

In the midst of the nation’s dire financial crisis and astounding unemployment rate, the federal government spent $700,000 to treat officials of one struggling agency to a lavish three-day conference at an upscale resort. 

U.S. taxpayers treated hundreds of Social Security Administration employees (and their relatives) to a festive retreat at one of Arizona’s fanciest hotels, the Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, which is described as a desert jewel with a golf course, dozens of acres of lush gardens and swimming pools. 

Besides the fancy lodging, the getaway included airfare, hotel entertainment, dancers, motivational speakers and food, according to news reports. There was also an evening excursion to a local casino. The agency says such meetings are essential and that the Phoenix jaunt was just one in a series of such regional meetings at an annual cost of more than $1 million.

The purpose of this latest desert oasis getaway, according to Social Security Administration brass, was to master the art of reducing stress due to a growing number of death threats against agency employees. No details were offered on who exactly has threatened their lives, however. 

The retreat outraged several lawmakers, including top members of the House Ways and Means Committee who demanded an explanation for the trip in a letter to Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. The federal legislators ask why “At a time when millions of Americans are out of work and having to do more with less,” it decided to put on a taxpayer-funded $700,000 motivational conference at the prestigious Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa.


Related

Judicial Watch: Court Orders Trump Justice Department to Declare Whether It Will Continue Biden…

Press Releases | February 12, 2025
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that a federal court ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to declare whether it intends to continue denying Judicial Watch’s req...

DOJ Ordered to Turn Over Fani Willis Files

In The News | February 12, 2025
From Townhall: In another legal victory for Judicial Watch, a federal court has ordered the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to furnish all available files they have on any communi...

CBP Agent Charged with Smuggling, Trafficking in City Judicial Watch Exposed as Major Cartel…

Corruption Chronicles | February 11, 2025
A federal agent in a border region long known as a major corridor for Mexican cartels smuggling narcotics and Islamic terrorists into the United States has been arrested and charge...