Money can be quite a trap to fall into. Money that one is minding for someone else, whether it is the government's money, the union's, or any other organization's, must be treated as such. The temptation might be to think that it belongs to those who use it. That is a big mistake. As stewards of funds our responsibility is to make the best use of them that we possibly can with the oversight and concurrence of those we are serving.
I feel I owe Gail Brown an apology for being impatience with her questions about the finances at the business meetings. Obviously, it is important that we let those who are spending our money know that we are keeping track of them. Gail was always full of questions that really were worth asking.
As for the treasurer and the others, I have no knowledge that they were doing anything dishonest with our funds, but it appears that they were mishandled. Trips to Charleston should not take precedence over keeping the AFGE offices at State and USAID open.
We should take the latest hoopla over the funds as a wake-up call for us to review and reassess our assets, our obligations, and where we go from here. We still have plenty of work to do to help our agencies be great places to work.
This is a new blog about contracting in the government. Having had the unfortunate experience of being a whistleblower, I have learned something about how waste, fraud, and abuse happens.
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