Posted on 03/24/2018 5:49:27 PM PDT by Kaslin
Critics have lambasted President Donald J. Trump and Republicans for ludicrous government spending and proposed price tags on items such as the wall along the Mexican border, but Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) is calling for explanation as to a how a door could have possibly cost the Interior Department nearly $140,000.
Rep. Gowdy, House Oversight Committee Chairman, sent Sec. of Interior Ryan Zinke a letter on Thursday, saying, "The committee is aware of numerous reports about the need for replacement doors at the Department and allegations of excess cost" and asked for proof and expense reports that the door cost $138,670.
But, a spokesperson for the Department claims that request for the upgraded door was made under President Obama.
"The secretary was not aware of this contract but agrees that this is a lot of money for demo, install, materials, and labor," Interior press secretary Heather Swift said in a statement.
"Between regulations that require historic preservation and outdated government procurement rules, the costs for everything from pencils to printing to doors is astronomical. This is a perfect example of why the secretary believes we need to reform procurement processes."
Regardless who ordered the door, as Swift noted, should this price tag not be a wake up call that the government should perhaps review and get rid of "outdated government procurement rules" to avoid this price tag? For clarification, this was simply a balcony door that leaked when it rained.
But, that being said, how was Sec. Zinke unaware that this expense was occurring under his watch? Are there more upgrades leftover from the Obama era that may surprise the government this year? 140k may come across as a small drop in the bucket, but it is a little troubling that tax dollar waste occurs on such a grand scale on even the tiniest problem.
Sheesh! We have a friend who when he built his house had the double wide arched doors handmade and carved by Mexicans. $10,000. And I thought that was a lot! Lol
His doors are absolutely beautiful by the way.
You’ve got to be kidding. Someone is getting a kickback.
Gold leaf and its application is not cheap.
Especially on large carved doors.
Zer0 counting: “10 dollars for me. 10 dollars for the door. 10 dollars for me. 10 dollars for the door . . . Mooch! I’m counting now. Don’t have time for the dusting.”
“how a door could have possibly cost the Interior Department nearly $140,000.”
Easy - other people’s money.
There’s probably tens of thousands of items like that where we the people are getting royally screwed by our “royalty”.
A little kickback here, a little kickback there, and now you know why Congressmen/women and Cabinet secretaries come to DC not being millionaires and leave being multimillionaires.
There’s no gold leaf. Those are 2 humongous, arched, hand sewn, and hand carved doors from 2 huge pieces of wood. I guess Mexican artisans aren’t cheap. Lol
Must have one helluva set of knockers
No I was figuring out to get from $10K to $140K....
the $140K is for 3 sets of double doors, enhanced with biosecurity, so nobody gets locked out on the balcony. Another article said they were going to do metal doors and then faux paint them but they would still leak so they’re going to wood again, or maybe fiberglass. The CNN article of Mar 08 says the existing lower panels are taped with cardboard.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/08/politics/department-of-interior-door/index.html
That is a stupid statement. If the secretary is doing his job, do you think he has time to review renovation costs? I have found that a lot of waste is doing stuff that doesn't need to be done.
For instance, I am responsible for a building on a military base outside the US. The base fire department told us that the pump for the fire sprinkler system needed to be replaced. The planned cost was $250K. But it did not make sense. The sprinkler system had never been used (we had never had a fire), so why did it need to be replaced? We budgeted the funds for replacement, but before we also had a test done. The end result- it cost less than $6000 to repair. We found out later that someone on the base wanted all of the sprinkler pumps replaced, so directed that if any sprinkler pump was found not to be fully operational then they were directed to be replaced. Luckily, my building does not belong to the base, so they cannot direct- only recommend. If we had just blindly followed the fire department's "recommendation," the taxpayer would have been fleeced for about $244,000.
Do you think my boss' boss knew about the sprinkler system? No he does not and why should he? He has other many more important issues than concerning himself about a sprinkler pump. And my boss' boss is no where near the secretary level.
O.K. Now the $140K makes more sense.
A lot of times, once you know the whole story the "issue" goes away. Remember the $3000 coffee machine? Well it turns out that the "coffee machine" was for our P3 aircraft (a submarine chaser). The P3 flys for over ten hours at a time, so a coffee machine makes sense. The actual coffee machine was designed so that you could throw it across the room and it would not spill (kind of important for a coffee machine in a plane that has very expensive electronics). Oh yeah, the commercial airlines were using the same coffee machine and they were pay more than DoD.
Trump starts building the really big wall across our border very soon.
Remember the smiles on repub and demo leaders faces when they thought they won.
1.6 b for Trump to spend. Look for military to build the wall, soon
Said an idiot reporter that doesn't know the difference between a manager and an executive.
Those always end up costing a heck of a lot more than you’ve planned.
Or have.
I read a book about Washington corruption during the Carter years that had a $80,000 door installed for security which was in a hallway and was never closed.
My grandfather had a similar book from 1946.
Nothing much changes.
Critics have lambasted President Donald J. Trump and Republicans for ludicrous government spending and proposed price tags on items such as the wall along the Mexican border, but Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) is calling for explanation as to a how a door could have possibly cost the Interior Department nearly $140,000.
Rep. Gowdy, House Oversight Committee Chairman, sent Sec. of Interior Ryan Zinke a letter on Thursday, saying, “The committee is aware of numerous reports about the need for replacement doors at the Department and allegations of excess cost” and asked for proof and expense reports that the door cost $138,670.
But, a spokesperson for the Department claims that request for the upgraded door was made under President Obama.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
maybe the contractor was AAAwan construction?
Makes the china set seem like a bargain...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.