Written by Our friends over at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion got kind of worked up over the extravagance of Governor Jan Brewer’s swearing in ceremony. Apparently it was a bit too ostentatious for Ted’s tastes and led to more than one post on his blog.
Republican apologist and noted right-winger Daniel Scarpinato has set the record straight about the true cost of the ceremony.
Brewer’s staff says she saw the value of being thrifty — even if, well, the whole event was completely ceremonial.
But if you compare the price tag to Napolitano’s 2006 inauguration — which cost the Department of Administration $53,339 (not including additional costs paid for by the governor’s office) — we’d say, yeah, the new guv was pretty thrifty.
Despite being given ample funds by ex-Governor Napolitano, Brewer spent only $2,644.19 on the event. I think that is quite a frugal amount, especially compared with the excesses of the Napolitano era.
(Of course we are kidding about Scarpinato being a right-wing Republican. Just trying to help Ted explain why he was so off about the price of the inauguration.)
Heh .. as Tedski pointed out, you omit two little, seemingly relevant, points:
1. The $2,644.19 figure apparently (I haven’t seen the itemization) includes a number of line-items which were not charged, but which normally would be.
2. Any amount is more than has been spent on similar ceremonies in the past, when a simple swearing in was deemed sufficient.