December 28, 2007
Smithsonian Can't Keep its Coffers Shut
You didn't think we could get through the last few days of 2007 without one more Smithsonian scandal, did you? The Post has a lengthy report today on National Museum of the American Indian's retiring director Rick West and the whopping $250,000 of Institution funds he spent on travel and luxuries.
Although West can account for some of the travel -- going to visit Indian reservations, meeting donors -- much of it is vaguely characterized as trips for "speeches or presentations" in exotic and seemingly unrelated locales like New Zealand and Bali. The Post notes he traveled for a total of 576 days in the last six years -- even more than disgraced former Institution director Lawrence M. Small -- under the organization's unlimited leave with pay rule; a rule that was finally revoked after Small's resignation. Though West defends his excessive travel and posh accommodations by saying that all his expenses were approved by Smithsonian officials, the somewhat frantic emails in the past few months noting concern if the details were ever released to the public indicate consciousness that all these expenses were perhaps not in the best interest of the museum and the public that pays for it.
Not that fear of being outted stopped them. The Post also shines the light on West's many farewell parties in the past few weeks, including swanky dinners and cocktail parties with a price tag of over $120,000, complete with a sappy eight-minute video about West's career that clocked in at thirty grand.
When West punches out for the last time at the end of the year, he'll be just the latest Smithsonian official to leave in 2007 with gross financial spending as his legacy, trailing Small, who left in March, former Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer Sheila P. Burke, who resigned in June, Business Ventures Chief Gary Beer in August, among others. The Institution is still looking for new leadership, with Cristián Samper as acting Director in the interim.
Photo by LaTur
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an 8 minute retirement video for 30 g's?? rediculous.
Will the museum try to recoup some of these outlandish expenses from him???
In fairness - trips to Australia and New Zealand probably make a ton of sense for the director of the American Indian Museum. They are nations, like our own, dealing with the legacy of a "native" population that was displaced by Europeans in a recent history. There probably are a lot of ways that a museum director could be working together with his counterparts "down under" to figure out what works best.
That said, there is no excuse for lavish good bye parties. A framed picture after an overly expensive dinner would be ok. Perhaps even a watch or cuff links. But a movie for an institution that is bleeding money and cannot fix its roofs? Its way too bad for such a distinguished institution that has and could contribute a great deal to this nation.
In fairness - trips to Australia and New Zealand probably make a ton of sense for the director of the American Indian Museum. They are nations, like our own, dealing with the legacy of a "native" population that was displaced by Europeans in a recent history. There probably are a lot of ways that a museum director could be working together with his counterparts "down under" to figure out what works best.
That said, there is no excuse for lavish good bye parties. A framed picture after an overly expensive dinner would be ok. Perhaps even a watch or cuff links. But a movie for an institution that is bleeding money and cannot fix its roofs? Its way too bad for such a distinguished institution that has and could contribute a great deal to this nation.
Boy, am I in the wrong line of work! My boss actually expects me to WORK instead of traveling to exotic places -- what a scrooge!
Did West take advantage of outrageously generous Smithsonian policies regarding paid time off, and travel for outside responsibilities? It would appear so.
Is this article the most heavy-handed sort of hatchet job? It would defnitely appear so. The wide-eyed way that the article rattles off price tags on international plane tickets with shock and horror (as if there's such a thing as a cheap ticket to Australia), or recounts the specific details of dinner menus, is just Muckraking 101.
West was the head, and then continued to be very active, in the main museum professional association, the American Association of Museums, and his leadership of that organization genuinely had benefits for the museum and the Institution as a whole. The fact that any AAM-related travel would be questioned by this article is fairly ridiculous, but they've actually included all of it in their giant total. Rolling up every conceivable outside expense for a full decade in order to get the total up to $250k is also a pretty cheezy tactic.
Nate, I agree with you on the travel. The part that upset me is stuff like the video. Perhaps, it was paid for by an outside donor and not the Smithsonian itself. But they lost my annual contribution over it. This afternoon we got their annual request and I filled the envelope with an angry letter about their misuse of funds. They may think such retirement gifts are ok but I don't and they want my money.
Nate, I agree with you on the travel. The part that upset me is stuff like the video. Perhaps, it was paid for by an outside donor and not the Smithsonian itself. But they lost my annual contribution over it. This afternoon we got their annual request and I filled the envelope with an angry letter about their misuse of funds. They may think such retirement gifts are ok but I don't and they want my money.