Giving David Williams A Break, Courier Journal Does Its Next "HIT" Over Television Sets On His Running Mate, Richie Farmer. David Williams Is Next, I Guarantee It!
Agriculture Department's purchase of two TVs for $4,068 questioned
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Government watchdog groups are questioning the Agriculture Department’s purchase of two widescreen televisions for $4,068 last year after a burst water pipe drenched the agency’s executive offices.
One of the Sony 60-inch TVs hangs over a conference table in Commissioner Richie Farmer’s office, the other is across the hall in a conference room.
Bill Clary, spokesman for the department, said TVs were bought to do PowerPoint presentations at meetings and to replace a ceiling-mounted projector ruined by the water damage in the old offices.
The department received a price quote for a new projector of $1,000 — about half the cost of one of the TVs. It decided to purchase the two TVs instead.
“Basically we now have two audio-visual systems in two different conference areas,” Clary said. “We now have more functionality. A projector can be used for one thing, the screens can be used for two.”
But Jim Waters of the Bowling Green-based Bluegrass Institute questioned whether two TVs are one too many.
“How many Kentucky business owners would have two 60-inch TVs in their offices and claim that they need those to show PowerPoints in their conference rooms?” Waters said. “PowerPoint is fine, but why two 60-inch screens? And I think most Kentuckians would have a hard time buying these are both for PowerPoint presentations.”
Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause Kentucky, said “that they bought two of these seems to show a sort of casualness of spending on taxpayer-owned property.”
Clary said it was decided to get two TVs “because we have meetings in both rooms. In fact we have meetings in both rooms quite often.”
“I have never seen the one in the commissioner’s office used as a television set, and I have meetings there all the time,” Clary said. “The other screen I’ve seen, maybe twice, somebody watching the news on it.”
Records obtained by The Courier-Journal under the Kentucky Open Records Act show that Farmer’s former offices on Fountain Place near downtown Frankfort were damaged when a water pipe in the ceiling burst on Jan. 15, 2010.
State government is self-insured, and the department eventually received a $12,856.15 settlement from a claim it filed with the state Finance and Administration Cabinet.
Clary said the department used the accident as an opportunity to get out of an expensive lease at Fountain Place and move the commissioner’s offices to space within buildings the department already leased east of Frankfort.
“Over the long run we’re saving $14,000 a year in rent,” he said.
Department records show that in addition to the $4,068 cost of the two TVs, the department spent $2,616 in the spring of 2010 for to extend an underground cable TV line and for electrical upgrades in the building where Farmer’s new offices are located.
Clary said the expenses for the electrical upgrades and the cable TV line would have been necessary to make the new offices functional, even without the purchase of the two TVs.
Farmer is running in November for lieutenant governor on the Republican slate headed by Senate president David Williams. They are opposed by incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and his running mate Jerry Abramson, and the independent slate of Gatewood Galbraith and Dea Riley.
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Government watchdog groups are questioning the Agriculture Department’s purchase of two widescreen televisions for $4,068 last year after a burst water pipe drenched the agency’s executive offices.
One of the Sony 60-inch TVs hangs over a conference table in Commissioner Richie Farmer’s office, the other is across the hall in a conference room.
Bill Clary, spokesman for the department, said TVs were bought to do PowerPoint presentations at meetings and to replace a ceiling-mounted projector ruined by the water damage in the old offices.
The department received a price quote for a new projector of $1,000 — about half the cost of one of the TVs. It decided to purchase the two TVs instead.
“Basically we now have two audio-visual systems in two different conference areas,” Clary said. “We now have more functionality. A projector can be used for one thing, the screens can be used for two.”
But Jim Waters of the Bowling Green-based Bluegrass Institute questioned whether two TVs are one too many.
“How many Kentucky business owners would have two 60-inch TVs in their offices and claim that they need those to show PowerPoints in their conference rooms?” Waters said. “PowerPoint is fine, but why two 60-inch screens? And I think most Kentuckians would have a hard time buying these are both for PowerPoint presentations.”
Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause Kentucky, said “that they bought two of these seems to show a sort of casualness of spending on taxpayer-owned property.”
Clary said it was decided to get two TVs “because we have meetings in both rooms. In fact we have meetings in both rooms quite often.”
“I have never seen the one in the commissioner’s office used as a television set, and I have meetings there all the time,” Clary said. “The other screen I’ve seen, maybe twice, somebody watching the news on it.”
Records obtained by The Courier-Journal under the Kentucky Open Records Act show that Farmer’s former offices on Fountain Place near downtown Frankfort were damaged when a water pipe in the ceiling burst on Jan. 15, 2010.
State government is self-insured, and the department eventually received a $12,856.15 settlement from a claim it filed with the state Finance and Administration Cabinet.
Clary said the department used the accident as an opportunity to get out of an expensive lease at Fountain Place and move the commissioner’s offices to space within buildings the department already leased east of Frankfort.
“Over the long run we’re saving $14,000 a year in rent,” he said.
Department records show that in addition to the $4,068 cost of the two TVs, the department spent $2,616 in the spring of 2010 for to extend an underground cable TV line and for electrical upgrades in the building where Farmer’s new offices are located.
Clary said the expenses for the electrical upgrades and the cable TV line would have been necessary to make the new offices functional, even without the purchase of the two TVs.
Farmer is running in November for lieutenant governor on the Republican slate headed by Senate president David Williams. They are opposed by incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and his running mate Jerry Abramson, and the independent slate of Gatewood Galbraith and Dea Riley.
Labels: General information
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 8:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home