First on CNN: Emails show Ben, Candy Carson selected $31,000 dining set

[DonViejo]

Source: CNN




By Rene Marsh and Gregory Wallace, CNN

Updated 6:35 AM ET, Wed March 14, 2018

Washington (CNN)Newly released emails cast doubt on claims by Secretary Ben Carson and his spokesman that he had little or no involvement in the purchase of a $31,000 furniture set for his Department of Housing and Urban Development dining room.

Emails show Carson and his wife selected the furniture themselves.

An August email from a career administration staffer, with the subject line "Secretary's dining room set needed," to Carson's assistant refers to "printouts of the furniture the Secretary and Mrs. Carson picked out."

The documents were released following a Freedom of Information Act request from American Oversight, a liberal watchdog group led by former Obama administration officials, and offer a snapshot into how the agency acquired the furniture.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/14/politics/emails-ben-candy-carson-dining-set/index.html

[trusty elf]

1. This will give you an idea of Carson's taste.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3755083/Dr-Ben-Carson-plunks-4-3-million-Palm-Beach-villa-just-stone-s-throw-Donald-Trump-s-Mar-Lago.html

[dalton99a]

12. +1

[Docreed2003]

2. ...

[catbyte]

3. You'd think that such a self-described "devout" man who has this picture in his home

would be a little more cognizant of the 9th Commandment and not bear false witness, thus throwing his staff under the bus in a lame attempt to save his own sorry butt. BTW, all that painting needs is to be painted on black velvet. Tacky, tacky, tacky.

[IMG][/IMG]

[pangaia]

5. Yes, there really ARE people this stupid.

And they actually are allowed to vote.

[hatrack]

7. It's OK - Spa Jesus gave him the go-ahead on the furniture . . . .

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. OMG! He's friends with Commander Worf!

And apparently likes to go to the spa with him.....

[GulfCoast66]

11. Oh, Jesus...

What large hands you have!

[Merlot]

13. Just because he has a picture with his karate instructor doesn't mean

he's "devout."

[Blue Owl]

15. Let's give Mr. Carson a big hand...

[riversedge]

4. Carson is a LIAR like his boss Trump.

[UpInArms]

6. Lying grifters have taken over our government

Grrrrrr

[SweetieD]

9. Maybe someone showed them a catalog and they picked it. In high end furniture catalogs

There is no price next to the item. The furniture dealer is the one who negotiates the price with the manufacturer or supplier and then quotes after all pieces are ordered.

[louis-t]

10. And yet he still lied about it.

He could have even come up with a better lie, such as "I swear the price was $3,100" or "my secretary told me the price was $900".

[Merlot]

14. ya, that's the ticket...no prices in the catalogue

[Cha]

17. Bull

[uncle ray]

18. there's also a saying that goes with buying items with no price listed:

"If you have to ask..."

i guess it doesn't apply when spending taxpayers money.

[Cha]

16. Of course he LIED.. he's a gd LIAR.

Thank you, Liberal Watch Dog! I bet carson hates you!

[WhiteTara]

19. He's as good at grifting as every other one of these

slimy POSes

[hexola]

20. I read this article - and it sounds like they are being set up

The newly released emails show discussions about the dining set going back to last May, when two Carson aides asked for repairs to the chairs of the existing furniture. "Could you all get the dining room chairs tighten up?" one of the aides wrote. "Most of them are loose and wiggling."
Another called the chairs "fairly precarious" and wrote that she wanted to "avoid someone having an accident (and embarrassment!) should the chair collapse beneath them." About a week later, HUD received an estimate for $1,100 to repair the chairs, documents obtained by CNN show.

Ok - so this shows that the first concern and request was for REPAIR...back in MAY...

Read this and the Guardian piece carefully.

I have a hard time sinisterizing the Carsons here.

This building is plagued with a bad history of waste...Carson walked into an ongoing shit show.

I'm the first to believe Carson is a nit wit - and way out of his league as an administrator.

This incident makes it painfully obvious.

But read these articles carefully...and read about the building that houses HUD and its history.

Yes - Mrs. Carson exchanged emails...but it sounds a lot like her input was solicited by the staff - and not some original directive from Mrs Carson.

All of the money quotes in this story are from somebody else - and not the Carsons.

The Carsons seems to be the ones who point out that the furniture is needing repair - and that's about it.

This was a foist - and a setup by building/facility careerists who were already in trouble.

If you could criticize the Carsons for anything, it's bad taste. Why the heck would they pick that antique furniture in a building that is SO Mid-Century modern?...that place looks like something from the Jetsons - not exactly a place you'd expect that kind of decor.

Am I reading this CNN piece wrong...?