Forbes Familiar With ‘Wasteful Spending’

During Steve Forbes’ lone government job, the radio operation he oversaw paid excessive salaries and benefits and spent $250,000 to renovate one official’s living quarters, federal audits state.

Forbes has made “wasteful Washington spending” and cutting the size of government a major theme of his Republican presidential bid.

But during his more than seven years as chairman of the International Board for Broadcasting, which oversaw U.S. radio broadcasts to Communist Europe, the operation’s budget doubled - from $108 million in 1985 to $218 million in 1993.

The after-tax pay of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty’s top executives was between $20,000 and $40,000 more than their counterparts in federal government, according an audit reviewed by The Associated Press.