Posted on 03/19/2007 10:01:39 AM PDT by jazusamo
Internal Smithsonian documents offer a glimpse into what one senator called the "Dom Perignon" lifestyle of the taxpayer-supported institution's chief official, who turned in a $15,000 receipt for the replacement of French doors at his home and spent $48,000 for two chairs, a conference table and upholstery for his office suite.
Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small's spending has been the subject of intense public scrutiny after The Washington Post published details last month from a confidential inspector general's report delving into his $2 million in housing and office expenses over the past six years.
Spreadsheets and invoices obtained by The Post include previously unreleased details on expenses deemed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to be authorized and "reasonable" under the terms of Small's employment agreement.
Small spent nearly $160,000 on the redecoration of his offices in the institution's main building on the Mall shortly after he took the helm of the world's largest museum system in 2000. The expenses include $4,000 for two chairs from the English furniture-maker George Smith, $13,000 for a custom-built conference table and $31,000 for Berkeley stripe upholstery.
Small has also received $1.15 million in housing allowances over a six-year period in return for agreeing to use his 6,500-square-foot home in Woodley Park for Smithsonian functions. To justify those expenses, Small has submitted receipts for $152,000 in utility bills, $273,000 in housekeeping services and $203,000 in maintenance charges, including $2,535 to clean a chandelier. The home-repair invoices show $12,000 for upkeep and service on his backyard swimming pool, including $4,000 to replace the lap pool's natural gas heater and pump.
The office expenses were permitted under Smithsonian policies and procedures, and the housing allowance was part of Small's employment agreement. The $160,000 in office renovations are part....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Apparent Clinton appointment...
Mr. Small previously had been President and Chief Operating Officer of Fannie Mae, a shareholder-owned, New York Stock Exchange listed company and the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, from 1991 to 2000.
Mr. Small also serves on the boards of Marriott International, Inc., New York City's Spanish Repertory Theatre, the National Gallery of Art, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=940163
National Briefing | Washington: Donor Withdraws Smithsonian Gift
Published: February 5, 2002
A promised $38 million donation to the Smithsonian Institution was withdrawn, forcing the cancellation of a planned exhibit that critics said would damaged the institution's integrity. The announcement came less than three weeks after 170 scholars and other critics complained that Lawrence M. Small, the institution's chief executive, had commercialized the museums. No specific reason was given for the decision to withdraw the donation, one of the largest in the 156-year history of the Smithsonian.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE5DA113DF936A35751C0A9649C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fS%2fSmall%2c%20Lawrence%20M%2e
On Jan. 24, 2000, Lawrence M. Small became the 11th secretary of the Smithsonian Institution after having served for nearly a decade as president and chief operating officer of Fannie Mae, the world’s largest housing finance company....
A Clinton "gift".... on the way out of office...
And always has:
May 23, 2006
Fannie Mae to pay $400 million in settlement
In the 1998 incident questioned in the report, Fannie reported paying bonuses to the following executives: chairman and chief executive James A. Johnson, who received $1.932 million; Raines, who then was chairman-designate, received $1.110 million; Chief Operating Officer Lawrence M. Small received $1.108 million; Vice Chairman Jamie Gorelick received $779,625; Howard received $493,750; and Robert J. Levin, who was executive vice president for housing and community development, also received $493,750. The executives either could not be reached or declined comment last night.
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:MYRfTx8EEGsJ:www.halfsigma.com/2006/05/fannie_mae_to_p.html+%22Lawrence+M+Small%22+fannie+may&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
He has shelled out a lot of political donations, BTW.
I wouldn't take the bet. It could go either way.
From the link....
This was awkward in part because the owner, Lawrence Small, was head of the Smithsonian, one of the nation's premiere cultural institutions. And then there was the problem of his shifting stories. In December 2000, Small told Architectural Digest that he had legally purchased many of the artifacts while traveling through South America in the 1980s. But, when wildlife officials questioned him less than a year later, he claimed he had bought the bulk of his collection from an anthropologist in North Carolina in 1998 for about $400,000. After months of sifting through over 1,000 Amazonian artifacts, ornithologists and mammologists from the agency discovered that over 200 of the objets d'art contained feathers from protected birds, including the crested caracara and the roseate spoonbill. On January 5, 2004, a U.S. attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina, filed charges against Small for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Small pleaded out to a class B misdemeanor; a federal judge ordered that he serve two years probation and 100 hours community service.
Well his Clinton appointment to Fannie May (1991-2000) followed by a second Clinton appointment to this gravy-train is probably a good indication that he is a big-time liberal dem..?
Lawrence M. Small was at the center of the storm from the get-go. He became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in January 2000, after a high-profile banking career at Citicorp/Citibank and Fannie Mae. Unlike previous secretaries, Small had zero credentials as a scholar and no experience with nonprofit research or educational institutions.
Unlike previous secretaries, Small had zero credentials as a scholar and no experience with nonprofit research or educational institutions..
Jeez louise...
Jeez louise is right. This guy is a real piece of work. I wouldn't be surprised if he winds up doing time, there's a lot of questionable things in his past.
I don't know if it's me or the site but it's awfully slow.
The Smithsonian, the National Archives...The Toons sure could pick 'em, eh?
I don't know if it's me or the site but it's awfully slow.
It's not just you :(
Thanks for the link.
Wow! This turkey has rubbed elbows with quite a crowd.
Well...I didn't lose any money on the bet...
Ping to 37. FWIW
That makes me wanna puke.
Why would the Washington Post want to do such a thing? I think it's because he had the audacity to allow a presentation on Intelligent Design into the Smithsonian, contrary to the delusions of those who believe the earth and its benefits are a product of impersonal forces. Not to mention he happens to be a Republican.
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