SMALL'S HIS NAME BUT HUGE IS HIS EXPENSE ACCOUNT
JAMES V. GRIMALDI, WASHINGTON POST - Internal Smithsonian documents
offer a glimpse into what one senator called the "Dom Perignon"
lifestyle of the taxpayer-supported institution's chief official, who
turned in a $15,000 receipt for the replacement of French doors at his
home and spent $48,000 for two chairs, a conference table and upholstery
for his office suite.
Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small's spending has been the subject
of intense public scrutiny after The Washington Post published details
last month from a confidential inspector general's report delving into
his $2 million in housing and office expenses over the past six years. .
.
Small spent nearly $160,000 on the redecoration of his offices in the
institution's main building on the Mall shortly after he took the helm
of the world's largest museum system in 2000. The expenses include
$4,000 for two chairs from the English furniture-maker George Smith,
$13,000 for a custom-built conference table and $31,000 for Berkeley
stripe upholstery. . .
I. Michael Heyman, Small's predecessor, began working in the secretary's
offices in the castle in 1994. "I didn't change the office at all from
the time that I got it," Heyman said, adding that he was reluctant to
talk about his successor. "I might have brought in a small table.". . .
In late 1999, as Heyman was moving out, the Smithsonian retained an
architectural firm, Adamstein & Demetriou, which had designed Marriott
Corp.'s board room and adjoining test kitchen. The architects were paid
$43,000.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2007/03/18/AR2007031801369_pf.html
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JAMES V. GRIMALDI, WASHINGTON POST - Internal Smithsonian documents
offer a glimpse into what one senator called the "Dom Perignon"
lifestyle of the taxpayer-supported institution's chief official, who
turned in a $15,000 receipt for the replacement of French doors at his
home and spent $48,000 for two chairs, a conference table and upholstery
for his office suite.
Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small's spending has been the subject
of intense public scrutiny after The Washington Post published details
last month from a confidential inspector general's report delving into
his $2 million in housing and office expenses over the past six years. .
.
Small spent nearly $160,000 on the redecoration of his offices in the
institution's main building on the Mall shortly after he took the helm
of the world's largest museum system in 2000. The expenses include
$4,000 for two chairs from the English furniture-maker George Smith,
$13,000 for a custom-built conference table and $31,000 for Berkeley
stripe upholstery. . .
I. Michael Heyman, Small's predecessor, began working in the secretary's
offices in the castle in 1994. "I didn't change the office at all from
the time that I got it," Heyman said, adding that he was reluctant to
talk about his successor. "I might have brought in a small table.". . .
In late 1999, as Heyman was moving out, the Smithsonian retained an
architectural firm, Adamstein & Demetriou, which had designed Marriott
Corp.'s board room and adjoining test kitchen. The architects were paid
$43,000.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2007/03/18/AR2007031801369_pf.html
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You didn't note something important from this story. Small is a Republican, and his strongest supporters on the Board of Regents are folks like Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts. Small's deputy secretary used to work for the Republican chair of a Senate committee. Lots of interesting Republican fingerprints on this bloated waste of our money.
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