Editorial: Nothing but the best

Thursday, April 21, 2005 | 9:15 a.m.

A collection of art work totaling $252,392. Services of an art consultant costing $29,032. Silk plants with a price tag of $30,085. Expenses incurred by a luxury resort in Las Vegas to pamper its high-rolling guests? Not this time. These costs were run up by the Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency created after 9/11 whose mission is to improve airport security.

The outrageous purchases, made in 2003 for the agency's new crisis-operations center in a suburb of Washington, didn't stop with art work and silk plants. The Homeland Security Department's inspector general, who uncovered the expenditures, also reports that the new building has seven kitchens and a top-of-the-line fitness center that cost $350,000 -- all for 79 full-time employees. There is no justification for such high living with taxpayer dollars -- and it's even more infuriating in light of another report by the inspector general that found the agency still is having difficulty meeting its core mission. The Transportation Security Administration, the inspector general notes, has not made significant progress since a 2003 inspection in which workers failed to adequately detect weapons or explosives during security screening.

With respect to homeland security, President Bush too often has paid lip service and not made a real commitment -- in terms of dollars -- to make our borders and ports truly secure and to provide local governments with enough equipment in the event of another terrorist attack. That is why it is so sickening to see his administration permit such frivolous, wasteful spending. It is nothing short of a scandal.