Former Smithsonian Director Faces New Controversy Over Old Spending

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Oct 31st 2008 at 8:04AM

We first heard of W. Richard West Jr.'s spendy habits last December. The founding director of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian was in trouble then for money spend on first-class transportation and luxury hotels. Now the Washington Post, which was on the story last time reports that according to the Smithsonian inspector general's report, West submitted $17,621 in expenses without providing sufficient explanation or evidence for the spending. The report found that while West's spending was "lavish" and "extravagant" most of his expenses followed Smithsonian rules. It seems West liked to eat well, he billed $17,331 for 82 meal vouchers submitted from 2003 to 2007 (which averages out to over $200 a meal). The museum also spend $17,293 on a dinner party to unveil a $48,500 oil portrait West, who retired last year but West's old law firm, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP paid $15,000 of the expense for the dinner party. There's no denying West's significant contributions to the museum as its founding director, and likely given his previous occupation he simply wasn't accustomed to being held accountable for every last dollar spent. Luxury spending has been seen as part of the cost of doing business when it comes to some museums but those days may be at an end.

Tags: museuems, richard west, RichardWest, smithsonian