Victory!

Taxpayer victories are few and far between so when news came out that a Defense-funded art project was being scrapped, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) was thrilled because of the savings and the fact that it is one of the first examples of government waste exposed by the group.  

On April 1, 2011, TPA exposed an impending Department of Defense expenditure at the new $900 million Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia which included a frog sculpture that lights up, gurgles “sounds of nature’ and carries a 10-foot fairy girl on its back.  Now, it looks like the frog has lost its legs and funding. 

According to U.S. News and World Report, “The Army, under public and congressional attack for a $600,000 plan to dress up a bus depot at a new military facility near Washington with three pieces of art, such as a 10 foot-tall fairy riding a gurgling toad, has scrapped the project. Instead, it will go with a simple plan to ‘enhance the aesthetics’ of a concrete wall at the new Mark Center in Alexandria, Va.”

The art also caught the attention of Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) who quipped that “With a national debt of more than $14 trillion, we’ve got to make sure spending is in line with the national interest.”  And, also according to U.S. News and World Report, the Pentagon will “focus on the initiative to enhance the aesthetics of the long blank concrete wall at the transportation center.”

Now that the art has been nixed, it appears that construction costs need to be scrutinized.  The Army also updated Sen. Grassley on the cost of the overall Mark Center project noting that its original construction contract had increased from $953 million to $969 million with an added $38 million for furniture, fixtures, and equipment and $146 million for information technology.

It looks like TPA’s job is never done so we will continue to monitor the final expenses of the Mark Center.