Bloch defends spending taxpayer money on custom-made hand towels.
Bloch defends spending taxpayer money on custom-made hand towels.
In addition to charges of intimidating whistleblowers, deleting incriminating files, and pursuing investigations for political purposes, embattled Special Counsel Scott Bloch has also been accused of wasting taxpayer money on unnecessary items, including $400 on custom-made hand towels for his bathroom. The Blotter reports:
Yes, the towels are quite real, and a legitimate expense, Bloch said through a spokesman Wednesday. Bloch has served since 2003 as the head of the Office of Special Counsel, charged with protecting the rights of government whistleblowers and investigating charges of improper political activity by government workers.
“Scott, as a presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed member of the administration gets an allowance for things,” spokesman Jim Mitchell explained. “He paid about $300 for some towels that had the OSC seal on it. He took a couple home, which he paid for himself.”
Yesterday, FBI agents raided Bloch’s home and office.
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Hand towels… Republican lackey…
ew
May 7th, 2008 at 3:43 pmI can see why he’d want really nice hand towels.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:44 pmWhen you work for the Bush Administration, ya gotta wash them hands a lot.
Just another day in Rome. Can I just scream?
May 7th, 2008 at 3:44 pmWonder what sweat shop in China they were custom mad in.
Friggin nuts, I tell you.
take care
tony and guidedog Lido
made=made
May 7th, 2008 at 3:46 pmHere is addtional information that they took during yesterday’s raid.
OSC employees said the grand jury subpoenas seek a wide range of information that goes beyond Bloch’s deletion of computer files or treatment of agency employees. Investigators have demanded all files on OSC’s investigation last year into allegations of improper political activity by Lurita Doan, the former head of the General Services Administration, who was forced to resign last week by the White House.
In addition, investigators demanded documents related to OSC’s investigation into allegations that Secretary of State Rice used federal resources to travel to campaign appearances supporting President Bush’s re-election in 2004. Bloch’s office closed the case, finding no violation by Rice.
He has much bigger problems than $300 towels. But I’m sure it will be the towels that will bring him down and not the true nature of the things he did to protect the WH.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:51 pmDid he insist on getting the OSC logo on the towels because he was afraid they might be stolen? The Hilton Hotels chain (and many others) could have told him that doesn’t work.
What other knick-knacks carry the OSC logo?
May 7th, 2008 at 3:55 pmI wonder what he paid for the custom chin towels.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pmmisshusseinmolly Says:
What other knick-knacks carry the OSC logo?
May 7th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Chimpy’s signing statements…………….
May 7th, 2008 at 4:01 pmI’m still not sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy.
He was a Bushie, so that points to a bad guy. But he was investigating some parts of the administration, right? And the DoJ went after him. That tells me that they wanted to short-circuit an investigation or compromise his reputation.
Of course, if this weren’t BushCo, I’d consider the possibility that the DoJ was doing the right thing, but we all know THAT ain’t what’s happening.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pmIn 2006, the poverty rate for minors in the United States was 21.9% – the highest child poverty rate in the developed world.
And some un-elected, self-perceived elite, Washington political hack has the effing nerve to justify $400 custom-made hand towels as “a legitimate expense?” That statement alone ought to qualify this asshat for an eternal sentence in the pit of hell being slow-roasted on a spit.
Just saying . . .
May 7th, 2008 at 4:05 pmOh man. Unbelievable.
Hey, can someone fix my Outrage-O-Meter? It seems to be broken. There’s smoke coming out of it…
May 7th, 2008 at 4:08 pmI got two for 99 cents at Target.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:13 pmCorruption from the top down….just another day in the office.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:18 pmKeith Says:
——————————————————————————–
I got two for 99 cents at Target.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Yeah
But the “OSC” on your towels stands for “O Shit , no Cash”……..
May 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pmI’m sorry but the thought of the slimeball wiping his hands on my money makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:22 pmThey’ll go perfectly with disgraced Duke Cunningham’s Louis Phillipe period commode, c. 1850…
May 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pmIf Bloch wants custom-made towels for his bathroom, that’s fine with me…but make him pay for them himself!!!! Having custom-made towels are not even remotely relevant to the performance of his job. If towels are being provided for Bloch on the public dime, it seems to me that Wamsutta or something similar ought to be more than adequate.
Oh, wait…I forgot! What was I thinking? Silly me — these are Republicans we’re talking about. Wamsutta is far too bourgeois for the likes of them…
How is it possible that so many people like Bloch have forgotten one important fact — that working for the government means you are a public servant (with emphasis on the word servant)?!? Today’s US government is one of the only places I can think of where the servants are making the rules and enjoying a better quality of life than their masters are. Going to work for the government is (or at least ought to be) like going to work for the public schools — not something you should be doing if you want to get rich.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:26 pmUh, until we figure out where $3 trillion went in the DOD, I don’t really care about some hand towels.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:51 pmHow cute! Towels with little pictures of harbor seals eating all our salmon!
May 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm#11 ~ L.Annie, I would love to fix your Outrage-O-Meter, just let me order a frammle from Oakland, it’ll be a couple of weeks, and only about $700 to fix it.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:20 pmI’d sure like to see the receipt for the ones he took home! In fact if he can produce one, I’ll kiss your ass on main street!
May 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm