The 2,609 Internal Revenue Service managers who flew to Anaheim, California, for a three-day conference on "Leading Into the Future" were treated to a welcoming reception with free cocktails and gifts, including briefcases, engraved pens and Los Angeles Angels baseball tickets.

Some attendees stayed in two-bedroom presidential suites at the Anaheim Hilton, complete with wet bars and billiard tables.

One conference speaker was paid $27,000 in taxpayer money — plus $2,500 for a first-class plane ticket — to deliver two one-hour speeches on how seemingly random ideas can drive innovation. Another speaker collected $11,430 to give workshops on how to increase IRS managers' happiness at work.