Judges To Be Tortured by Million-Dollar-Plus Hawaii Conference

Judges’ alo-ha! at taxpayers
The New York Post by Gerry Shields  -  May 21, 2012

WASHINGTON, DC — Who do they think they are — the GSA?  Western federal judges are planning to spend more than $1 million in tax money on a lavish Maui, Hawaii, conference that will offer sport fishing, surfing lessons, yoga, golf and Zumba dancing lessons.  “The program reads more like a vacation than a business trip to discuss the means of improving the administration of justice,” Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said in a statement.  News of the planned plush August conference comes one month after congressional hearings were held on an extravagant $830,000 Las Vegas conference last year by the General Services Administration that resulted in top officials resigning or being fired.  The two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said they want to know the justification for the conference.  In addition to judges in nine Western states and two Pacific territories, hundreds of lawyers and court staffers are also invited.  The senators noted that a similar Maui conference in 2010 cost $657,000 in travel expenses alone.  They noted courthouses across the country need of renovations.  “We are concerned that using the tax dollars of the American people to pay for conferences of this sort is not the most appropriate use of funds, but is questionable in the economic environment,” the senators said.