<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1555" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#c0c0c0>
<DIV>Dear Visionaries,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here's a comment from the Washington Post
that Idahoans around the country found interesting
today...</FONT><BR><BR><A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401504.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401504.html</A><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here's the bit if you don't want to play digital
tag:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><I>
<P>A Lavish Bathroom at Interior</P>
<P>If Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) is confirmed this month as interior secretary,
he'll have a snappy, scarcely used bathroom in his fifth-floor office, thanks to
Dirk Kempthorne, the outgoing secretary. </P>
<P>Seems Kempthorne spent about $235,000 in taxpayer funds renovating the
bathroom a few months ago, which included installing a new shower, a
refrigerator and a freezer and buying monogrammed towels, department officials
told our colleague </I>Derek Kravitz<I>. </P>
<P>The General Services Administration approved and partially funded the
project, an Interior Department official said. The GSA paid about half the cost
to refurbish aging plumbing, which needed to be replaced within four years. </P>
<P>But department officials say much of the money was spent on lavish wood
paneling and tile. Among the choice items found in the new bathroom: wainscot
wood panels extending from floor to ceiling and cabinet doors revealing a
working refrigerator and freezer. </P>
<P>"If </I>Gale Norton<I> needed to shower, at least she was conservative enough
to go to the gym in the basement of the building," one career employee quipped,
referring to Kempthorne's predecessor. </P>
<P>An initial investigation by the department's inspector general, </I>Earl<I>
</I>B. Devaney<I>, found no wrongdoing on the secretary's part because the GSA
had approved the project. </P>
<P>Copyright 2009 The Washington Post</P></I></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>