Liberals Were Just Dying to Share This Talking Point Last Night
The Crusty Commies Are a Joke
Barack Obama Doing This Behind the Scenes Confirms Again That Kamala Was a...
Lawn Gone Liberty: The Update
Deportation Dysphoria in the Press, and MSNBC Loses Its Star Statistician
Jeffrey Goldberg Congratulates Himself All Over PBS
Shut Down the Department of Education ASAP
Why National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Will Make Americans Safer
Self-Destructive Democracies
The President Who Set the Precedent Against a Third Term
Roadmap to Reform CDC -- Currently the Centers for Disaster and Confusion
Progressives Are Well Organized, Patriotic Americans Have to Do It Even Better
Supreme Court’s Getting Busy
Lawmakers Shouldn’t Let Bad Actors Get Away With Harming Children Online
Where Are the Left’s Protests Now?
Tipsheet

Gowdy Wants Answers from Carson on HUD Spending, Retaliation

Rep. Trey Gowdy, Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is demanding answers from Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson over allegations of excessive spending and reprisals at the agency.

Advertisement

Gowdy wrote to Carson after a high-ranking civil servant said she demoted after blowing the whistle on lavish spending at HUD.

“To help the Committee determine whether HUD adhered to the applicable spending limitations while redecorating your office, please provide ... [a]ll documents and communications referring or relating to redecorating, furnishing, or equipping your office since January 1, 2017,” he said in the letter, according to excerpts released Wednesday.

Additionally, the chairman wrote, “please arrange to brief the Committee on this matter after producing the requested documents and information."

HUD official Helen Foster, in a sworn complaint to the Office of Special Counsel, raised concerns over spending at the department, including Carson’s plans for redecorating.

According to Foster’s lawyers, she was demoted without warning or explanation in July 2017, less than a year after being promoted to the role of chief administrative officer. In her position, Foster oversaw spending and office space at HUD.

In January 2017, Foster’s legal team says, she was instructed to “find money” for redecorating after Carson’s wife sought funds to purchase furniture. The amount was said to have exceeded the $5,000 legal limit, prompting Foster to voice her objection.

Craig Clemmensen, the designated acting secretary at the time, replied that the $5,000 “will not even buy a decent chair,” according to the complaint. (Politico)

Advertisement

Other spending concerns have surfaced, including that HUD officials dropped $31,000 on a new dining room set for Carson’s office in 2017, which came at a time the White House was planning to cut the agency’s programs for the elderly, poor, and homeless, The New York Times reports

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement