Watchdog faults cabin where Biden stayed, says guests weren’t billed

A watchdog report has found a wide range of problems with a federally owned Wyoming lodge where Vice President Biden once stayed, including the bargain rate he paid to stay there.

Biden is only one of the numerous high-ranking officials who stayed at the National Park Service’s (NPS) Brinkerhoff Lodge since 2011 for cheap or free, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, former Environmental Protection Agency Chief Lisa Jackson and former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The Thursday report from the Interior Department’s Inspector General also found guest safety problems that warranted “immediate attention,” such as a poor fire protection and no alarm system.

The report says the Brinkerhoff has frequently been used by federal officials as a cheap place to stay for vacations or other trips with little to no connection to federal government business.

Lawmakers requested the Office of Inspector General investigation following reports last year that Biden and numerous guests stayed there on vacation for four days. Biden, who could announce within days whether he’ll run for president in 2016, agreed to pay $1,200 for the visit after Time magazine asked about it.

The report found that although NPS designates the lodge for official use only, most users either had no official business or attended a one-hour briefing about the cabin in Grand Teton National Park in order to fulfill the requirement, a strategy that Biden used.

“The park rarely bills guests, and billing usually occurs only when a guest requests one as a record for a travel voucher,” the report said.

“From 2011 to 2014, however, nearly 85 percent of the guests were not billed. In other words, there were 186 nights at the lodge for which the park received no compensation, resulting in $28,875 in lost revenues,” it said.

Guests who do pay are typically charged $189 a night for the four-bedroom dwelling, while similar NPS lodges charge as much as $2,620 a night.

NPS recorded 92 stays at the lodge between 2011 and 2014 — the period for which full data were available — and more than 500 people visited during the time. But only 11 parties paid for their stays, bringing in $7,143.

NPS Director Jon Jarvis, who the Inspector General said stayed at the lodge on a vacation in 2012, said his agency disagreed with many of the report’s assessments about the purposes of guests’ stays.

But NPS spokesman April Slayton said the agency agreed with the recommendations in the report and has implemented some of them already.

“Moving forward, personal use of the lodge will not be permitted and only government employees on official travel with a valid travel authorization will be allowed to stay at the lodge,” Slayton said.

Officials will ensure that the standard federal rate for the county — currently $189 — is charged for all guests.

The Brinkerhoff has been closed for overnight stays since the Inspector General’s office began its investigation last year, and the agency plans to keep it closed until it makes improvements.

— This story was updated at 5 p.m.