Leslie Byrne: Screw the Consumers, I'm going to Paris

As the race heats up, Jacque #3 reminded me of a little controversy Leslie Byrne created after the Clintons gave her a position at the Office of Consumer Affairs. (She was quite the kneecapper for the Clintons in her brief tenure on the Hill.)

In the fall of 1997, the Office announced that it would have to terminate several employees, disconnect a national consumer hotline and cutback on customer service because it had exceeded its annual budget by $90,000. Part of the reason why the Office ran out of money, of course, was that Leslie Byrne took an expensive vacation to Paris on the taxpayer's dime. (Ostensibly to attend a conference, but why did her husband need to go too?)

As a result of Byrne's reckless misuse of government money, hard working folks lost their jobs, consumer's couldn't get the help they needed and, ultimately, the Republican Congress later zero-funded the Office of Consumer Affairs.

So, Leslie Byrne claims to be a crusader for consumers, but her inappropriate actions nearly closed down the Office of Consumer Affairs. Go Leslie!

There isn't a link because it happened so long ago, but interested parties can check our an article on this fiasco that ran in the Washington Post on 9/11/97.