Flashback: Clinton staffers removed "W" from keyboards & other vandalism

[In response to a liberal's false allegations about this post: Facts are stubborn things ... and some liberals ignore them.]

Remember back in 2001 when George W. Bush was preparing to become the next President ... and remember the Clinton staffers who vandalized the place before leaving it? Reading all the news about the inauguration and the new administration caused me to think back to the not-so-smooth transition between the Clinton and Bush administrations.

I started searching to see if others had blogged about it and found this November 5, 2008, post at Free Republic:

Will Bush's White House staff trash the place, steal stuff and pop the "O's" off the keyboards?

Then I began searching for news reports and information, and found this June 2002 LA Times article that reported $15,000 in damage left by the Clinton administration during the transition:

The GAO [General Accounting Office] concluded that ”damage, theft, vandalism, and pranks did occur in the White House during the 2001 presidential transition.” The report stated that some incidents, such as removing keyboard keys, placing glue on desk drawers and leaving obscene voicemail messages ”clearly were intentional,” and intentional damage would constitute a criminal act under federal law. No prosecutions are planned, though.
...
Notes in desks or affixed to filing cabinets allegedly left by Clinton staffers reading "GET OUT,” "Hail to the thief” and "W happens” were shown to investigators but were not included in the report, the letter said. Other pranks included stickers in the West Wing depicting President Bush as a chimpanzee and a photograph in an Executive Office Building safe showing a blank election ballot with the word ”chad” spelled out in punch holes.

Other reports alledged $20,000 in damages which reportedly included:

* The removal of the letter "W" from 100 computer keyboards;
* Five missing brass nameplates with the presidential seal on them
* 75 telephones with cover plates missing or apparently intentionally plugged into the wrong wall outlets;
* Six fax machines relocated in the same way;
* Ten cut phone lines;
* Two historic door knobs missing;
* Overturned desks and furniture in about 20 percent of the offices;
* Obscene graffiti in six offices;
* Eight 14-foot loads of usable office supplies recovered from the trash.

The Bush Administration played down the incidents and did not pursue them.