Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2018 14:22:30 GMT -5
On the Ben Carson $31,000 table front, Ben is trying to cancel the order, but it may be too late:
www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/us/ben-carson-dining-table-hud.html
HUD also seems to have ordered $165,000 in lounge furniture (more than the value of my mother's three-bedroom house):
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/27/ben-carson-spokesman-falsely-denied-expensive-table-bought
I know, fake news. And hey, that wouldn't come close to paying for a single golf weekend, so what's the big deal. Also, Hillary's emails.
www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/us/ben-carson-dining-table-hud.html
“At the request of the secretary, the agency is working to rescind the order for the dining room set,” Armstrong Williams, Mr. Carson’s business manager and an informal adviser, said on Thursday.
He added, however, that “it might not be possible.”
On Tuesday, Raffi Williams, a department spokesman said Mr. Carson had no problem with the order and no intention of returning the table. But early Thursday, Mr. Williams said the secretary, who was sharply criticized for the purchase at a time when his agency is facing $6.8 billion in budget cuts requested by the White House, seemed to change his mind.
“Nobody was more surprised than me,” about the order, Mr. Carson said in a statement.
But several department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said it would have been highly unusual for Mr. Carson not to have been told that a significant section of his office suite was about to be upgraded.
According to Mr. Williams, neither Mr. Carson nor his wife, Candy Carson, had any prior knowledge of the order, although a whistle-blower has said Mrs. Carson had pressured her to circumvent a $5,000 statutory limit on renovation expenses.
Canceling the order for the custom-made furniture will not be easy, and it is unlikely the government will recoup all its money even if the dining room set is never delivered. It was ordered Dec. 21 from a small Baltimore company.
“He’s not returning the table; he is attempting to cancel the order,” Mr. Williams said. “HUD is a bureaucracy, so everything is complicated. The person they contracted has already spent $14,000 making the table. While his intentions are to cancel it, we have to see what happens.”
He added, however, that “it might not be possible.”
On Tuesday, Raffi Williams, a department spokesman said Mr. Carson had no problem with the order and no intention of returning the table. But early Thursday, Mr. Williams said the secretary, who was sharply criticized for the purchase at a time when his agency is facing $6.8 billion in budget cuts requested by the White House, seemed to change his mind.
“Nobody was more surprised than me,” about the order, Mr. Carson said in a statement.
But several department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said it would have been highly unusual for Mr. Carson not to have been told that a significant section of his office suite was about to be upgraded.
According to Mr. Williams, neither Mr. Carson nor his wife, Candy Carson, had any prior knowledge of the order, although a whistle-blower has said Mrs. Carson had pressured her to circumvent a $5,000 statutory limit on renovation expenses.
Canceling the order for the custom-made furniture will not be easy, and it is unlikely the government will recoup all its money even if the dining room set is never delivered. It was ordered Dec. 21 from a small Baltimore company.
“He’s not returning the table; he is attempting to cancel the order,” Mr. Williams said. “HUD is a bureaucracy, so everything is complicated. The person they contracted has already spent $14,000 making the table. While his intentions are to cancel it, we have to see what happens.”
HUD also seems to have ordered $165,000 in lounge furniture (more than the value of my mother's three-bedroom house):
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/27/ben-carson-spokesman-falsely-denied-expensive-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.
Department officials signed a contract last September with an Indiana-based seller for the furniture, according to a federal procurement record.
Raffi Williams, a spokesman for Hud, said in an email on Tuesday evening that further records on the lounge furniture contract were not immediately available.
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.
Department officials signed a contract last September with an Indiana-based seller for the furniture, according to a federal procurement record.
Raffi Williams, a spokesman for Hud, said in an email on Tuesday evening that further records on the lounge furniture contract were not immediately available.
I know, fake news. And hey, that wouldn't come close to paying for a single golf weekend, so what's the big deal. Also, Hillary's emails.