Earlier this week we all read the headline that our state government spent well over $75 million dollars in 2009 on cars, furniture and conferences.
I had a chance to ask why yesterday during a hearing of the Assembly Committee on Government Accountability and Administrative Review.
Today, I’m still waiting to get good answers to why we’re paying $7,000 for each employee cubicle, why we retire cars in the state fleet after they accumulate 120,000 miles, and why California spends $2 million each year paying for employees to go to conferences at hotels and convention centers when the state owns facilities that can accommodate those needs.
In the face of California’s taxpayers – our working families and small businesses – who are being stretched more than ever and making do with less, hiring new employees and making these sorts of purchases is unconscionable. But it’s the status quo in Sacramento. Only here, do people justify spending $7,000 on one workspace because it’s a cubicle–gee a whole desk with walls. That makes sense.