The big scary monster strikes again. With what I've read from commenter Steverino on BMG, I'm about to be very angry.
Emily Rooney just reported on "Greater Boston" to the nodding agreement of Paul Cellucci's Republican press secretary, that the curtains were falling off the wall in the office--and that a table collapsed under the weight of a book at a press event the week before the furniture arrived. You heard me. A press event. Which none of its attendees reported on. The press knows exactly what they're doing--playing their "outraged" readers and viewers for fools.If it's a choice between Deval spending money without being a little more transparent and getting kicked around in the media, rightfully so or not, or the media just, well, lying... I'd rather Deval be made the villain. Otherwise, the media is dead - and not just dying slowly. Ultimately, I can't think of one thing more important to democracy than a free and fair media... so to see it officially six feet under would be a crying shame.
It could have been that Deval really did need new furniture - that the furniture and decor that was there was completely falling apart. Budget crisis or not, those things need to be replaced if that's the case. It's not like drapery is cheap... look what upwards of only $600 buys for one window at JC Penny! And furniture?? Just ask Steverino about it...
And in a world where one can easily pay $10,000 or more for a single couch, the furniture was hardly "lavish." The prices reported in today's Globe were right in line for decent furniture. While, as a grad student, you doubtless have humbler tastes, don't you agree it might have raised a few eyebrows to replace the collapsing
furniture in the governor's office with beanbag chairs and crushed Dorito bags?
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10 comments:
Those drapes look very nice. Even if you bought 10 of them you would still have only spent half of what Deval did.
And don't tell me that most people spend 10,000 big ones on a single couch. Maybe in Newton, but in the rest of the state thats worth more than our cars. How much does a semester at UMass go for, Ryan? Which do you think the average person in this state is going to spend that kind of money on? A couch, or college tuition for their kids?
Academic Year 2006-2007
Tuition: $1,417
Curriculum Support Fee: $6,302
College Fee (minimum): $210
Total Academic Cost: $7,929
Oh, please, anon. $30k for an entire office is not that bad. You get what you pay for: that furniture is going to be used every day by people from all around teh globe and state. It ought to be good ones. Bernie & Phills probably isn't going to cut it - at least for the standard I hold up for the mf hundreds of years old STATE HOUSE!
Ryan,
Your "taking my ball and going home" mentality to the Deval drapery debacle is frightening. You seem to miss the point that there is a happy medium to be found here. When does the Governor's office exceed the description of "well-appointed" to become extravagant? No one suggests the furniture come from Bob's or BJ's, but when there is deficit can we reject Deval's need for opulence?
It's not Deval's office. It's my office, it's your office... it's this state's office. He could have spent a 100k easy on that office if it was "oppulance." Instead, it's just nice - something we can be proud of if we ever visit the State House.
It's just that the Republican occupents were probably more afraid to put in for new stuff, because they would have been raked over the coals far worse than Deval is getting if they had put in for new stuff. Just put it on a four year schedule, to be replaced routinely then it won't be such a story. I hope the "old" stuff went to a homeless vets shelter.
Before you criticize, it is "opulence," not "oppulance." And furthermore, it is not "furnature," it's "furniture." The spelling on this blog is atrocious.
Get off your high horse - and be prepared to debate facts, not use typical partisan hackery. When the going gets tough, meek critique spelling.
Pardon the fact blogger doesn't have spell checker for comments - and I don't have the time to spell check myself. I blog everyday, am doing a musical and try to be a decent student. Time is limited.
You need to get the new edition of Mozilla. It underlines spelling errors everywhere. Even the comment box.
Sorry, Ryan. Please do not confuse your opinion with fact. Your opinion is that Deval's necessity for elegance and extravagance is warranted. My opinion is that his insatiable desire to adorn himself is a waste and abuse of taxpayers' money. That's a fact! This blog smacks of partisan hackery. Who can forget your clever KH ads. You remember, you did call her a slave driver. I think it was a song from one of your other musicals. So clever, decent student.
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