When the governor first took office in early 1999, he pooh-poohed the idea of getting new carpeting to replace what had covered the floor for the previous 16 years. Spending thousands of dollars on office decor hardly seemed appropriate at a time when the state was facing the possibility of a budget shortfall.
Nevertheless, "the carpet was in horrible shape," says Pete Dufour, an information officer for the Department of General Services. "It was frayed and coming up in spots. We had glued it down and stretched it to take out wrinkles several times. It was so worn out our people had been on [former Governor Pete] Wilson to replace it."
Davis apparently didn't realize that new carpet had been ordered in the fall of 1998 and was already sitting in the installer's warehouse. Even after learning this, however, he declined to have it brought in and suggested it might be used elsewhere.
But after the secretary fell last year, the $83,000 worth of new tan carpeting was promptly installed. "It was laudable for the governor to come in and say we need to tighten our belts," says Dufour. "But it got to the point where the carpet was unsafe."
