Pink Chairs and Flatscreens: How the City Spends Your Money

Kudos to Carolyn Feibel and Matt Stiles at the Houston Chronicle, who not only dug up the records of how our city council members spent their remaining 2008 budget, but also wrangled some dubious excuses out of the more heinous offenders.

Among the more comical expenditures was over $1,600 for chairs upholstered in pink fabric for the office of new councilwoman Jolanda Jones, widely known for her love of the pastel shade. Earlier this year, she also spent city money painting her office a lovely shade of "Pepto-Bismol pink." Jones had this snide remark to say in her chairs' defense: "If you didn't notice, I like to match." Because matching your outfits to your office decor is clearly the most important part of being on the city council, after all.

Other level-headed, competent, responsible uses of the taxpayers' money included nearly $3,700 spent by councilwoman Melissa Noriega on a new desk and credenza for her office (we hear you can pick those up at IKEA for about $500) and five televisions purchased by councilwoman Wanda Adams. Not to be outdone, Noriega also bought five televisions -- one for her own office (to go with the new furniture, of course) and four for other staffers.

All said, the city council spent almost $9,000 on televisions for themselves and various staff. Other city council members who simply couldn't stand another term without a flatscreen TV included Ron Green (who's in his last term anyway, but at least had the common sense to pay the city back with a personal check), M.J. Khan, James Rodriguez and -- of course -- Jolanda Jones.

Fortunately, not every city council member saw fit to waste their constituents' tax money on pink upholstered chairs and the entire stock of electronics at Circuit City. Councilman Adrian Garcia used his excess budget to purchase new saddles for the HPD's Mounted Patrol, Mike Sullivan bought $10,000 of equipment for the fire stations in his district, and Sue Lovell and Peter Brown gave a combined $17,000 to the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

Of course, in addition to their own "needs," Noriega and Jones also generously gave $1,500 and $1,000, respectively, to parks in their districts. That should be enough for a pink park bench or two.

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Photo courtesy of Flickr user Kazze through a Creative Commons license.