HUD worker: Ben Carson demoted me for refusing to buy him a $5k chair

The Trump administration’s signature air of corrupt entitlement is embodied by a new lawsuit alleging that a career official was effectively demoted for refusing to green-light a luxurious office makeover for Ben Carson.

According to the lawsuit, then-Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) chief administrative officer Helen Foster was ordered to fund the redecoration of HUD secretary Ben Carson’s office by his wife, Candy Carson.

When Foster informed superiors that the statutory limit for such an expenditure was $5,000, she was told that “$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair.”

Foster’s position was subsequently replaced by that of a Trump political appointee, and she was effectively demoted to chief privacy and FOIA officer.

Ben Carson is already the subject of an ethics investigation for improperly giving his family members roles in government work.

But the demand for luxury furnishings is also in keeping with a slew of Trump administration officials who have been disgraced over taxpayer-funded extravagances, like luxury private air travel and, in one case, a $25,000 sound-proof communications booth.

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was forced to resign over his private air travel, but so far none of Trump’s other cabinet secretaries have been held accountable for their wasteful spending of taxpayer funds for luxury perks.

That’s not surprising, given that Trump himself has ordered a military parade in his honor that his own budget director admits could cost the American people $30 million.

Trump’s administration perfectly illustrates Republican contempt for American taxpayers, who are being sold $1.50-a-week pay increases and thousands of layoffs in exchange for a trillion-dollar tax cut that helps rich individuals and companies buy private jets.

In November, those taxpayers will have a chance to redecorate Congress for free.