US housing department to spend $165,000 on own furniture

[-Nurot]

I'm not a brain surgeon, like Carson, but this sounds like some wasteful spending.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...e-table-bought

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) has agreed to spend $165,000 on “lounge furniture” for its Washington headquarters, in addition to a $31,000 dining set purchased for housing secretary Ben Carson’s office.

The revelations on Tuesday of Carson’s expensive decor spending come as Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a cut of $6.8bn to Hud’s annual budget, or roughly 14% of its total spending, which would lead to reductions in programs aimed at poor and homeless Americans.

Details of the furniture purchases were revealed after a senior career official at Hud alleged in a complaint to a federal watchdog that she was demoted after refusing to break a $5,000 spending limit for improvements to Carson’s office.

Helen Foster said she was told “$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair” after informing her bosses that this was the legal price limit for improvements to Carson’s suite of offices. Her complaint was filed to the office of special counsel (OSC).

[Machismo]

The woman who challenged the wasteful spending had her career ruined for it...

[Endus]

Y'know, I was coming into this thread all prepped with "the Housing Department is a big department" and "sometimes you need customized stuff which costs a bundle", but I see from the article that none of those arguments hold to this instance, and this is just Carson being an elitist dicknozzle.

[Grapemask]

Y'know, I was coming into this thread all prepped with "the Housing Department is a big department" and "sometimes you need customized stuff which costs a bundle", but I see from the article that none of those arguments hold to this instance, and this is just Carson being an elitist dicknozzle.

Same. I was even thinking, "It's fine to want our government facilities in Washington to look nice." But the "$5000 for a chair" and all of the details made it clear that "nice" isn't what they're going for. Somewhere in the category of "gold plated" is the vibe, apparently.

I mean, where do you even find a $5000 chair?

[draynay]

I mean, where do you even find a $5000 chair?

Ben Carson's "office".

[Vizardlorde]

Same. I was even thinking, "It's fine to want our government facilities in Washington to look nice." But the "$5000 for a chair" and all of the details made it clear that "nice" isn't what they're going for. Somewhere in the category of "gold plated" is the vibe, apparently.

I mean, where do you even find a $5000 chair?

I was looking for office chairs on amazon and i found quite a few over 1k. Maybe they had cocaine cushioning, who knows?

[Dontrike]

I couldn't even imagine spending more than $500 for a chair, and barely more than that for an entire office.

Who wants to bet who the first apologist is going to be for this wasteful spending?

[Xeones]

5000... is way too much for one office.

But 165k? What the fuck.

[Hobb]

Corrupt political appointments seems to be a norm for Trump.

[Deleted]

Not sure how the US does it with their departments, but I know that we at least have a certain discretionary budget that is used for decoration and just general maintenance of public buildings. Not sure if this is the same, but if it is, I wouldn't call it particularly outrages.

[DisposableHero]

Suddenly we've dropped into a backwards universe where political thread titles sound reasonable but are actually massively understating the absurdity of the item being discussed.

[Hobb]

Not sure how the US does it with their departments, but I know that we at least have a certain discretionary budget that is used for decoration and just general maintenance of public buildings. Not sure if this is the same, but if it is, I wouldn't call it particularly outrages.

True, but they had in place a $5000 spending limit cap in place.

[Deleted]

True, but they had in place a $5000 spending limit cap in place.

From what I can gather that wasn't an actual set limit, merely that it was something that a watchdog person felt was proper. That of course makes it bad, but not exactly the worst.

[Dontrike]

Not sure how the US does it with their departments, but I know that we at least have a certain discretionary budget that is used for decoration and just general maintenance of public buildings. Not sure if this is the same, but if it is, I wouldn't call it particularly outrages.

It literally says "$5,000 spending limit". No way an office costs $165,000 to redecorate. I wouldn't be surprised if he was keeping some of it for himself.

[Cthulhu 2020]

The founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves. Republicans are turning our legislature into more of a palace than a place to govern. Their ideals of the state were to govern, not be elitist dickheads.

[Gestopft]

The founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves. Republicans are turning our legislature into more of a palace than a place to govern. Their ideals of the state were to govern, not be elitist dickheads.

Hey now, let's be fair: if you want the "best people," clearly they need the best stuff. Y'know? To be at their best?

But seriously- at least before this Carson was just incompetent. Now it's apparent that he's as bad as the rest of Trump's anti-Cabinet.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Hey now, let's be fair: if you want the "best people," clearly they need the best stuff. Y'know? To be at their best?

But seriously- at least before this Carson was just incompetent. Now it's apparent that he's as bad as the rest of Trump's anti-Cabinet.

I mean, if someone has a back problem and needs a special chair, cool, go for it.

My mother has back problems and the university she works for got her a special chair for her back problems.




It cost them $600, not $5000. Lol.

[Deleted]

It literally says "$5,000 spending limit". No way an office costs $165,000 to redecorate. I wouldn't be surprised if he was keeping some of it for himself.

I read that completely wrong, my apologies it does indeed say that it is a spending limit, not that the watchdog wouldn't just go above that.

[Flarelaine]

I'll just point out quietly that this is a Trump appointee, after all, and we all know his "taste" in interior design.

[Breccia]

5000... is way too much for one office.

I especially like the argument that $5000 is not enough for a chair, for the person in charge of fixing inner city slums. What kind of fuckwittery demands a throne for that job?

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, right. THAT kind of fuckwittery.