Redstate

But he evidently has great taste in furniture

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Democrats — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

As Hunter has documented, Mitt Romney has had a tough time of late. Yes, it is still early, and Mitt's devoted boosters can take heart: at least Mitt is not this:

Governor Deval Patrick for the first time publicly expressed regret yesterday for spending thousands of dollars on new office decor and a luxury car lease , but stood behind his wife's need for a $72,000 aide and the effort to make his corner office suitable for visitors.

"Oh, yeah, we screwed up," Patrick told a horde of reporters, a day after promising to repay the state for office furnishings and a portion of the lease for his official car. "I am so sorry that we all have spent the kind of time we have on what we have spent time on, and I am sorry to have been responsible for that."

The new governor's public mea culpa came after a week of spiraling reports about his spending of taxpayer money, including $1,166 each month on a Cadillac DTS and $12,306 on new draperies in his office.

One of the first rules in local, as opposed to national, politics should be: Do the mea culpa only after those reports begin to spiral; otherwise, we all get dizzy.

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Fortunately, as part of that spiraling reports quagmire, the Boston Globe offers an itemized list of what Governor Patrick bought to make the governor's office "suitable for visitors":

2 couches, Cabot House $4,470
Draperies, Boston Window Design $12,306.35
2 wing chairs, Baker Knapp & Tubbs $3,870.36
Desk, Oak Hollow Antiques $1,650.
Sideboard, Oak Hollow Antiques $1,395
Sideboard, Patriot Warehouse $1,000
3 lamps and shades, Neena's/Stuart Swan $1,074.15
Sofa table, Thomasville $486
Shipping and handling $1,136
Total: $27,387

Wow! We just purchased two lamps for the bedroom: $150 at Kmart at The Big K or Sears or whatever it is these days. The shades were included, and they weren't even Blue Light Specials.

But we weren't spending someone else's money, and our bedroom was not the hellhole which must have been the governor's public quarters post-Romney.

My first suspicion was that Mitt's staff trashed the place. It has happened before to a much bigger house, the one Romney wants, but those folks were Democrats.

No, Patrick doesn't claim that; instead, he explains:

Patrick said he had replaced items that Romney personally owned and took with him when he left office. According to Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney left behind draperies, a desk, a desk chair, a hutch, a conference table, and chairs. He took a sofa and two armchairs that he had personally purchased, said Fehrnstrom.

Then what happened to Mitt's draperies? Perhaps Patrick donated them to Rosie's Place.

The blogger at TJICistan is suspicious:

Sounds like either a Romney spokesman, or Deval Patrick, is lying.

The Romney spokesman has no motive, that I can see.

No motive aside from a Presidential campaign, but the benefit of any doubt goes to Romney. No more than one can imagine a Republican governor's staff doing scorched earth can he picture an independently wealthy, upstanding governor stealing furniture. (Yes, that has happened before. Again, it was a Democrat. The same one. Go figure.)

The Boston Herald tells us:

Despite his apology, Patrick told reporters that he was sorry about the spending controversy because it has drawn attention from other business. “I am so sorry that we have all spent the kind of time we have on what we have spent time on, and I’m sorry to have been responsible for that,” he said.

Even as he decried the media’s focus, Patrick said he wants to work with reporters. “It’s very important to me that you in the media help me get the message out about what it is we are concentrating on,” he said. “The municipal partnership package, for example, the budget that’s coming out, the way we’re taking steps to reduce property taxes . . . Unless I get this off your screens, then I don’t think we’re going to get that through."

We've heard that line before, and I think you know where by now.

So we've established that Mitt Romney is neither a Deval Patrick nor a Bill Clinton.

Come have some pie with me. (Wait, that's a Democrat as well.)