Sneaky Spending

In the blog “Posh redo of House Lounge ‘not our project,’ Craddick’s office says,” by Paulburka of Burkablog. The author provides an inquiry to why the Texas House of Representatives is decided in time of financial crunch to do “remodeling” of their lobby. Using the article Tax dollars used to fix Texas House lounge of MSN as his source, the author informs his tax-payer readers of the House expenditures. I found another article by the Dallas News that provides the same information as the blog and its source. The author seems to be more concerned with the time and presentation of the event rather than the actual event. As the author said,” Up to this point, the story is just routine, if delicious, “gotcha” journalism. There is nothing wrong with spiffing up the lounge before the session. It does not involve any new tax dollars; the money has already been appropriated. Craddick’s office should have just said, Yes, that’s what we’re doing, it hasn’t been done in [fill in the blank] years, the speaker thinks it’s important.”

I agree with the author, I try to sit back and have an open mind about the situation. I believe it is the wrong time to make substantial upgrades to a lobby, especially with Rick Perry asking businesses and agencies to conserve expenses. I found a video of Rick Perry having a meeting with “key trade associations” about how the economic situation is impacting Texas industries. I’m glad Rick Perry is having a pro-active attitude towards Texas economy but his administration needs to practice his lectures. The renovations probably aren’t necessary but it probably would not hurt. A presentable lounge is probably somewhere on the list of things to do but when you have media hunting for reasons to blast unnecessary spending it’s a bad time to upgrade the lounge. The other problem is presentation. Like the author said don’t pretend like you’re sneaking around to upgrade the lounge, or blame it on fellow team members. This act brings more suspensions and foul play into mind. The only way to roll with the blows from the media is to be upfront about the upgrades.