The case of the $16 muffin, not unlike a lot of other scandals in Washington, D.C., at first might seem to be a bit trivial. But the impact of “Muffingate” on conference and meetings spending by federal agencies is going to be very real and painful.

OIG report

The controversy was triggered by an audit of U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) conference planning and food and beverage costs by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The 148-page OIG report (pdf) says that DOJ spent more than $4.4 million on 10 conferences that were reviewed by OIG.

Half the conferences brought in external event planners, who ended up billing the DOJ a total of $600,000 for event-planning services. But the main focus of the report is on the $490,000 food and beverage costs.

In particular, the OIG report zeroes in on the alleged $16 muffins served at the five-day Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) legal training conference held at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., in August 2009.

EOIR spent $39,360 on refreshments for the 534 attendees. Of this, $4,200 was spent on 250 “assorted muffins” at a list price of $14 per unit plus service charges, which put the price charged for each muffin at $16.80.

But turns out it’s not as cut and dry as it looks. First up, the 534 attendees came for two separate EOIR conferences, so the hotel gave them meeting space for free. Secondly, the hotel provided EOIR with 15 gallons of coffee, 30 gallons of iced tea and 200 pieces of fruit at no cost.

Also, the hotel followed instructions to limit overall spending on refreshments to the official $14.72 per person per day allowed. So it’s hard to argue that attendees ate $16 muffins. In a statement sent to AFP, Hilton Worldwide stressed that $16 was the inclusive price for a contracted breakfast, and not just a single muffin.

Be that as it may, the damage is done. All federal agencies have been ordered to review spending of taxpayer dollars for meetings. Pending the spending reviews, all conference activities and spending will have to be approved at the deputy secretary level.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says he is going to introduce legislation in Congress “that cuts off the wasteful spending on conferences.” He is also calling for the Super Committee on debt reduction to “take a hard look at this report when looking for the easy cuts to make.”

Photo – justice.gov

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