Pornography, tattoos, concerts, dating services — you name it, state and local employees have charged it and taxpayers have paid for it.

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A Journal-Constitution analysis of more than four million transactions on government purchasing cards in the last three years reveals a program that has morphed from a simple way for workers to buy office supplies into a spending spree on track to hit $370 million this year.

There are now more than 23,000 cards floating around the state. State, city and county employees used the cards to buy hundreds of thousands of items, from mattresses to jewelry, the records show.

The cards function as Bank of America credit cards and are billed to government agencies.

When an employee of Georgia Perimeter College, for example, spent $51.55 at drnatura.com — "The #1 Colon Cleansing and Body Detox Resource," — that charge would have appeared on a bill paid by the college's Student Life Department.

Other agencies paid charges of $2,024.68 to Brooks Brothers (Georgia Tech); $1,800 at Frank's Gun Shop (Department of Human Resources/Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund); $2,335 to a dentist; (Ware County Board of Commissioners); $1,140.20 at Bridal Basics (Middle Georgia Technical College) and $326.32 at Mac's Beer and Wine (Georgia Tech), records show.

Clayton State University and DeKalb County schools both paid charges at Ed's Pawn Shop — $720 and $160 respectively.

While state officials say the vast majority of purchases are legitimate — University System spokesman John Millsaps said the colon cleansing was a prize for a health fair — there are plenty that raise questions.

In many cases, the questions are complicated by shaky policies and practices on card usage.

Here are a few categories of state and local employees' card charges since 2005, according to the AJC analysis:

• $13 million in travel expenses, including $6 million for plane tickets, $240,000 in booking fees and $6.1 million in hotel and resort charges.

• Nearly $6 million at Amazon.com

• $2.2 million at florists

• $9.3 million at restaurants and caterers, including $657,000 at Chick-fil-A

• At least $91,000 at jewelers

• More than $56,000 on gift cards.

Purchasing-card policy prohibits purchases of gift cards, as well as fuel and professional services like doctors or lawyers. Entertainment is off-limits, but some travel expenses are allowed. The policy specifically prohibits personal use of the cards.

Still, tracking questionable spending is tricky.

Transactions list vendors — such as Amazon.com or Office Depot, Match.com or *XFC Inc. — but not individual items. It takes a little research to know *XFC Inc. is linked to a pornographic Web site.

If supervisors aren't examining each charge, it's hard to tell what is legitimate, said John Abbey, the director of performance operations at the state auditor. Abbey's office spot-checked seven state agencies this year and found widespread abuse.

"When you look down the list, unless it says something like 'Victoria's Secret,' you won't know," Abbey said. "The review has to occur at the individual level."

Policies vary

Confusion over what are allowable purchases has been another issue with the program.

At colleges and universities, the cards are funded from a variety of sources, including athletic associations, National Science Foundation grants and student fees. Sports teams use p-cards for travel and food. Professors use them to buy lab equipment with grant money. Some workers have multiple cards paid from different funding sources.

Colleges and universities are among the biggest card users and, according to the state audit, often had the most lax rules governing their use.

Policies and spending limits vary by agency. Charges that look suspicious often turn out to be authorized.

In Forsyth County, an employee charged $853.20 for tickets to a NASCAR race. Donna Kukarola, who heads the county's purchasing department, said county commissioners approved the expense as a prize for an employee appreciation luncheon.

The GBI charged $278.35 in DragonCon tickets. Turns out the tickets were for one session for a special agent and a computer specialist who investigate hacking.

"They did not attend any other part of DragonCon," said GBI spokesman John Bankhead.

Shannon Dunaway, a police sergeant in Colquitt, used his card for two transactions totalling $190 at Psycho Clown Tattoo. He said he found himself in a bind while traveling after his personal credit card was frozen.

"They had done the work and I didn't have no choice," he said. He said he reimbursed the city when he got home. The transaction nevertheless violated policy.

With millions of transactions on thousands of cards, it is impossible to write a policy to address every possible kind of misuse, said Brad Douglas, the commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services.

"First and foremost, it's a people problem," he said. "Any manager worth his salt will look at a charge and say, 'Is that legitimate?' "

No new cases of fraud

Whatever their problems, p-card programs are increasingly popular nationally. Just three states, Alabama, New Hampshire and Illinois, do not use them for state business.

Douglas, the Administrative Services commissioner, said his agency is developing tighter p-card controls, including supervisor training and clearer policies. The department has created an audit staff for continued monitoring.

When the results of the state audit were made public in October, the governor was "absolutely livid," Douglas said. Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered all 129 state agencies that use the cards to review their purchases.

"Everyone is taking it extremely seriously," Douglas said.

The state agencies submitted reports to the state's chief financial officer and chief operating officer in November. The reviews turned up no new cases of fraud, according to the agency reports.

The governor's office issued a statement last week saying the Department of Administrative Services is auditing or plans to audit several agencies, including Georgia Tech. P-card spending is down 23 percent and almost 1,200 cards have been deactivated, the statement says.

"The governor is pleased with the steps state agencies and DOAS are taking to correct these challenges, but he expects regular status reports and updates on the additional oversight. ..." the statement said.

The review of 129 state agencies covers about 6,600 of the total number of cards in use.

Employees of the University System, which operates separately, used 10,000 cards. The system is conducting its own review, culling 600,000 transactions from the last fiscal year at 35 public institutions. So far, auditors have visited eight campuses. Two university employees have either retired or been fired as a result of the additional scrutiny. The system plans to finish by March.

The 6,400 cards used by county and city governments and school systems aren't subject to state oversight.

Self-approval allowed

Missing receipts, poor documentation and little oversight of card use were the norm at many agencies.

State auditors found that Tech employees responsible for reviewing card use were overseeing too many cardholders, In one case, a p-card coordinator oversaw purchases for 116 cards.

Tech has overhauled its policy, including reducing the number of cards any one supervisor must monitor. And, instead of assuming charges are legitimate until there's reason to suspect otherwise, cardholders may now be required to demonstrate their purchases are work-related.

At Georgia Perimeter College, where five employees have resigned or have been terminated in the p-card scandal, more than a dozen staffers were allowed to approve their own purchases without a manager's review.

Employees in the Student Life Department routinely charged hundreds of dollars with Ticketmaster for events including Justin Timberlake concerts and the Hot 107.9 Birthday jam. The tickets were sold to students at a discount price, according to University System spokesman Millsaps.

Student Life employee KaToya Fleming made car payments, paid debt collectors and bought manicures, clothing and groceries, ringing up more than $13,600 in suspect charges, according to records. She was put on unpaid administrative leave in May and resigned in June, according to her personnel records.

Another employee stayed on the payroll months after preliminary audit findings challenged her charges in May.

Patrice Wright, who bought gift cards and a debit card she used to reserve a hotel room in Hawaii, worked at Perimeter until final audit results were released two months ago.

Wright, serving as interim director of student life, was suspended for two days without pay in September for violating the school's code of conduct in connection with p-card use, according to her personnel records. She returned to her previous job as coordinator of wellness and recreation at an annual salary of $36,673 and was no longer allowed to have a purchasing card. She resigned in October, according to her personnel file.

Fleming and Wright were among three Georgia Perimeter employees whose purchases were detailed in the original state audit. They aren't identified in the audit by name, but the records analyzed by the AJC link names and purchases.

The GBI subsequently investigated all three employees, said Bankhead. The results have been turned over to the state Attorney General's office, he said. The AG has not yet taken action.

Efforts to reach both women by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful.

Keith Chapman, director of College Services at Perimeter college, said employees are no longer allowed to approve their own purchases.

"It was a flaw in our system," he said. "We now have a lot stricter record-keeping."

AJC staff member Kevin Keeney contributed to this report.