If there’s one thing American readers enjoy, it’s being shocked by the profligate ways of politicians. And there’s no shortage of news on this topic as one government official after another gets called on the carpet about their office furniture expenses. The latest person in the hot seat is Brad Hudson from Sacramento County. He reportedly outfitted his office with $21,000 worth of new furniture.

On one hand, that does seem like a lot to spend on just one room. On the other hand, he plans to use the office as a collaborative space rather than a place where he shuts the door and creates his own private sanctuary. So, there are several tables and plenty of chairs in there to host meetings and the like. Of course during a time of budget cuts, any appearance of less than frugal spending gets put under the microscope. The writer who published the exposé over at the Fair Oaks Patch wants readers to weigh in with their opinion on whether this was too much money to spend on the executive’s office.

Without seeing a more in depth break down of exactly what was included in the purchase, we can’t say. However, we do have some advice for other government officials: Buy refurbished office furniture! You get to impress people with furnishings that look new. But you aren’t as likely to get in hot water for lavish spending.

We’ve looked at a lot of office furniture scandals involving government customers over the last couple of years. But sometimes, it’s the dealer and not the consumer who strays from the straight and narrow path. The CEO of the Office Furniture Depot in Lakeland, Florida just busted an employee in charge of Accounting for allegedly stealing more than 100 grand from the company since 2005.

According to an investigator assigned to look into the case, the company’s controller, Timothy Butler, had been cooking the books and pilfering money for years. This activity included siphoning off money from cash sales and forging time sheets to pay commissions and bonuses to himself. As of Wednesday, the employee was still in jail. What did the investigator say when he found the culprit? “Looks like the Butler did it!”