Massachusetts Governor Patrick will repay taxpayers for office decor

[DeepModem Mom]

Boston Globe: Patrick to repay taxpayers for decor
$10,000 spent for drapes; governor to offset car costs
By Frank Phillips and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | February 21, 2007


In this photograph taken Feb. 16, Governor Deval Patrick is shown in his office with his new $10,000 drapes. (PAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE)

Governor Deval Patrick spent more than $10,000 on damask drapes for his State House office as part of a $27,387 makeover that also included a new desk, settee, and other furnishings paid for with taxpayer money.

Yesterday, after an inquiry from the Globe, Patrick abruptly announced that he would repay the state for the draperies and furnishings.

At the same time, Patrick said he would contribute $543 each month to the lease of the Cadillac DTS he uses for state business, bringing the cost to the public in line with the more modest Ford Crown Victoria used by Governor Mitt Romney.

Patrick, who just days ago defiantly defended his lease of the $46,000 luxury car, said he changed his mind after a weekend spent struggling with the state's dismal finances and the budget cuts he has asked his agency leaders to make to bridge a deficit of at least $1 billion....

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/02/21/patrick_to_repay_taxpayers_for_decor/

[Little Wing]

1. This is so dumb of him, why not just get sucked off on the Capital steps

while he's at it?

He's been in less than a week, and solidifying all those stupid right-wing comments about measuring the drapes. Who cares about drapes? Just get your ass in the chair and do some work!

[saltpoint]

4. dupe

[saltpoint]

5. I thought of Wilbur Mills and Fanne Fox, the Argentine Firecracker,

years ago.

Governor Patrick seems to be more discerning soul than Congressman Mills.

http://www.congressionalbadboys.com/Mills.htm

[saltpoint]

2. Seems as if this will do Gov. Patrick only good, and is a model for

other states' governors.

[Atman]

3. CONTRIBUTE $543 towards his lease???

Wussup wit dat? CONTRIBUTE? What the hell? Did he have to go through a high-risk loan agency or something? How much is that freakin' lease, anyway???

.

[Little Wing]

6. 1600+ a month for an armored caddy

as opposed to the 1100 a month for the Crown Vic. He's paying the difference out of pocket.

Either way, someone's making a killing

[Atman]

7. An ARMORED caddy?

For a GOVERNOR of a state the size of a football field? You're right...$1600 or even $1100 is insanity. When the government is the buyer, the price of everything just seems to skyrocket, doesn't it? Just submit the bill, someone will pay it. And they do.

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[BayCityProgressive]

8. What a joke

This is how politicians bend to the will of corporations. they are aloud all these luxuries while so many citizens go without. I don't care if he is a Dem or a Rep. the only reason he is paying up now is because he got caught! A $1,600 car when the nation is in such debt!?!??! Get a Fucking Saturn buddy! I pay 158 a month! A new Desk? Foucus on desks in the schools falling apart! Drapes that cost thousands!?!? How about housing for the homesless. The politicians in this country are vile..Dem and Rep.

[GCP]

9. Patrick appears to have a tin ear

I voted for the guy and so far I'm very disappointed with his performance - WTF is he playing at? Get a Honda Accord for $300 a month, buy the drapes from Bed Bath and Beyond for a couple hundred buck and get to frikkin' work.

:grr:

[Atman]

10. Why does he need new drapes AT ALL?

What gives? Do drapes just disintegrate and fall off the rod after a couple of years? These fuckers move into a PUBLIC house and immediately feel they have to decorate it to their liking...IT AIN'T YOUR HOUSE, PATRICK. You're working for us, this is what your office came equipped with. If you don't like it, you can do what every other working (cubicalized) American does...bring in a plant and some pictures of the kids to try and make it homier. NOW GET TO FUCKING WORK. Or at least come clean now and admit you're a DINO and a stealth righty. Which is it gonna be?

.

[twiceshy]

11. Ouch!

Glad to see the DU community being consistent - well deserved criticism for Deval. As a MA resident, I am still waiting for his BOLD new policies, that will help revive the flagging fortunes of this state. He is off to a horrible, really inexplicably, bad start. He must have the same PR guy as the old IBM. They used to say if IBM was selling sushi, they would market it as "cold, dead, fish". lol

[Atman]

12. I was born in Mass, and lived there for many, many years.

Now I live in CT, close enough to still hear the rumbles about our northern neighbor. I'm just dumbfounded by Patrick. It just makes me think he's actually a Republican who was good at reading the polls, so he ran as a Democrat.

.