The Throne: Interior Secretary spent nearly a quarter million on his bathroom

thejohn.jpg, originally uploaded by Lawrence Whittemore.

Outgoing Secretary of the Interior Dick Kempthorne spent $235,000 taxpayer dollars renovating his office bathroom with all the amenities including "a new shower, a refrigerator and a freezer," plus monogrammed towels.

Comments

[Vance Maverick]

So does the "Interior" in his title refer to his own interior, or to interior decoration?

[(O)CT(O)PUS]

Before you get pissed off, lift the seat ... pleeze.

[Aaron Baker]

I've heard of shitting where you eat, but this is just silly.

[TB]

That must be some bathroom ... pictures would be nice, but I bet the guy has got horrible taste.

[cfrost]

Hey, that's my boss you're talking about. When Kempthorn was first appointed Sec. of Int., we sent a couple of our jet boats up to Seattle so he could stage a dog & pony show/photo-op for the press on Lake Washington. We should have sent along the coffee cans that those who work on the boats use to piss in when it's inconvenient to get to shore or when the water's too rough to leak over the side safely.

The Dept. of Interior building I work in was built in 1953 and the johns pretty much look it. It was only two years ago that they finally installed adequate ventilation. A couple are also pretty chilly during winter. They're provided with annoying industrial type toilet paper dispensers with thin ribbons of of single-ply TP that's just wide enough for a hamster's ass. The toilets are a special low water use design because the septic system can barely handle the sewage volume, so shit doesn't necessarily get rinsed off and the bowls are usually bedaubed with crap. Warms my heart to know that the big honcho doesn't have to put up with that sort of thing.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Cfrost, my question is what they're going to do with that oil painting of the erstwhile POTUS after January 20th. Maybe you could chop it up and use it to spruce up the facilities. Custom urinal cakes, anyone? Maybe the tampax vending machine in the ladies' washroom needs some decoration.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

In fairness to Kempthorne, maybe the plush washroom was a matter of self-defense. If you're going to entertain energy lobbyists, you'd better give them a nice place to piss and hope for the best. Otherwise, you end up with drippy file cabinets and a smelly photocopier that won't collate anymore.

[cfrost]

I might have mentioned in this venue before that when Bush/Cheney were coronated in 2001 our office got official framed photographs of not only the POTUS, which is standard for new presidents, but of the VP, which is unprecedented. (That's when I knew we were in trouble.) The pictures were removed from the front entrance where they hung over the building's only drinking fountain after complaints about gagging when trying to slake one's thirst. Hanging them in the can over the urinal -or better yet, in the urinal- was suggested many times but we figured we'd probably catch hell for it. Official regs say they're supposed to be displayed somewhere in the facility. Last I saw them, they were propped on a windowsill in a room that isn't used much.

[Cass]

Remember that scene in House of Cards when Ian Richardson plots treachery in the bathroom with a loutish, reactionary press baron? Even with a bunch of loyalists around, I think it might have been handy for the Secretary to have a nice, comfortable and very private retreat available close at hand to hold conversations that would stink too much in the open air.