PennDOT officials probe post-audit spending

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pennsylvania transportation officials are investigating how employees use state-issued credit cards after an audit earlier this year that found more than $250,000 in questionable spending, including $500 on giant scissors for cutting ceremonial ribbon and $1,600 worth of rubber ducks.
Officials with the state Department of Transportation said agency auditors will check financial records at each of the state's 12 district offices after a February report by state Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr.
After the report, PennDOT officials ordered employees to stop buying promotional items, scale back on meals and limit credit-card spending, said agency spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick.
Casey's audit of about $370,000 in credit-card purchases between June 2001 and June 2002 found that $252,000 -- 68 percent -- of charges were questionable. During that period, PennDOT racked up $43 million in credit-card charges, Casey said.
Novelty items printed with PennDOT logos, food and clothes accounted for most of the questionable spending, and Casey criticized state officials for not ferreting out the wasteful spending. Walsh credited transportation officials for beginning their own probe of spending.
"We are encouraged by the new administration that they are taking a look at these outrageous expenditures," Walsh said.