Attorney General Wants to do $3.2 Million of Sprucing Up

By Paul Friswold Thu., Feb. 23 2012 at 7:31 AM

They're also great for holding records -- musical, not legal.

Attorney General Chris Koster wants to use some of that sweet penalty money he's collected prosecuting consumer fraud cases on behalf of the people of Missouri to jazz up his staff offices. He's proposed receiving $3.2 million to replace cubicles and carpet, raise the ceiling on two floors of the Broadway State Office Building and improve the heating and cooling system.

$3.2 million? Someone's been watching too much HGTV. Koster claims he doesn't want anything too spashy, he's just trying to bring the space up the level of a modest law office. That's great, but doesn't he know the state's facing a budget crisis? Here's what you do: Save that money for something vital, and get a couple guys who just got out of college to come over and re-do those offices in late Salvation Army.

A couple of wobbly-legged mismatched desks, some second-hand sofas, a few of those grandma lamps you can always pick up for $10 -- that's how a lot of us live anyway, dude. If you're representing us, you should try decorating like us.

Say, Mr. Koster: Have you ever seen a cubicle built out of milk crates? I'm not gonna tell you where I got the milk crates, what with you being the top-dog prosecutor, but I will tell you that they make excellent lightweight walls. Put a few of them on their sides when you're wiring them together and you have instant shelves. A couple box fans and some space heaters will take care of your climate control issues, too. ProTip: Buy the fans now, and get the space heaters when it gets hot -- it's cheaper that way.

We're all in this together, A-G Koster. Maybe you could spend like it.

Tags:

Attorney General Chris Koster, budget trouble, redecorating

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Honestly

Talk to just about anyone in the AG's Office, and you will hear about an AG who loves to decorate and micro-manage our desktops and our wall space. He also involves top staff in making sure we are looking good, at least according to him. Koster gets rid of the staff who protects consumers and instead focuses on making sure new lighting is perfectly hung, new conference tables are exactly centered and walls get a mauve makeover. But have you looked at his Website? Embarrassing. Wrong priorities. What was his campaign slogan -- all prosecutor, no politics?Or was it all pretty, no protecting consumers?

Uncle Ron

Dumb response to a reasonable plan to bring the prosecutor's office up to some form of professional standard. It is a shame that government offices of all kinds (including school administrative offices, county and city offices, and others,) seem to be at a standard just above a third-world banana republic. Threadbare, rundown, embarrassing.

How can we expect to attract and retain quality professional employees, who can offer intelligence, efficiency and dedication, when they are expected to work in crappy offices with crappy equipment? And don't give me that "serve the people" and "public service" non-sense. Public employees should have the same right to expect good tools and a quality work environment that private sector employees expect, or that public sector employee (or at least the good ones) will go elsewhere. If I walk into an office walled off by milk crates, believe me, I'm going elsewhere for work.

The average citizen (who isn't being prosecuted) would walk into the current offices and be embarrassed by our State surroundings. Crappy.

Uncle Ron