Mill Valley’s Neely Leaves GSA Gig After Spending Scandal

This just in: If you become that earns you a week-long stint as villain du jour on the 24-hour news channels, you aren’t likely to keep your job.

In a less-than-surprising development, Alto resident Jeff Neely, the embattled General Services Administration regional commissioner who planned a lavish employee conference in Las Vegas that cost more than $800,000, left the agency Thursday, according to the Washington Post.

“GSA is in the process of completing its review of activities associated with the Western Regions Conference and pursuing all available avenues for appropriate disciplinary action against those responsible,” a GSA spokesman told the newspaper. “Jeff Neely was placed on administrative leave based on his involvement in the WRC. As of today, he’s no longer employed with GSA.” 

Neely and his wife Deborah last month for their role in a federal spending scandal in which they reportedly took dozens of trips on the taxpayers’ dime, including an over-the-top Las Vegas conference that cost $823,000.

That five-day event featured a professional mind reader, a clown and a $75,000 team-building exercise that involved assembling bicycles, drawing the ire of a host of late night comedians, including a recent segment on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

After Neely, a GSA regional commissioner who oversaw the event, declined to testify before Congress, citing his Fifth Amendment rights, reports surfaced that had his Deborah Neely accompanying him on a number of government trips, often serving as a party planner of sorts.

The inspector general’s office has asked the Justice Department to conduct a criminal inquiry into Neely’s activities and possible contracting violations, the Post reported.

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