State officials overspending, despite fiscal crisis

Louis Hansen and David Gulliver of The Virginian-Pilot obtained spending records from Virginia's Department of Game & Inland Fisheries showing that "officials regularly traveled to conventions, bought expensive sporting goods and routinely exceeded limits on their state-issued charge cards ... Oversight of the department's use of charge cards appeared lax: 19 different employees exceeded their state-imposed monthly limits, many repeatedly." The spending came at a time when Virginia agencies were instructed to hold down spending.