ILL-inois: Over $300K for Capitol chandeliers. Are its expensive doors battering ram proof?

Last week it was revealed that over $50 million was pissed away on a renovation of the Illinois state Capitol.

From the Chicago Sun-Times, here are some details:

How about nearly $160,000 for a couple of replica sculptures of robed maidens and another $323,000 for a quartet of lavish chandeliers?

Those are the latest expensive showpieces drawing ridicule and embarrassment in the nearly completed $50 million taxpayer-funded renovation of the state Capitol.

The figures confirmed Friday by Capitol Architect J. Richard Alsop III for the historically accurate pieces created a new public-relations backlash for the renovation project.

Some key state lawmakers told the Chicago Sun-Times they were in the dark about decisions to outfit the Capitol with fixtures designed to look like they came out of the late 1800s but with price tags equivalent to a 2013 luxury home.

ILL-inois has over $7 billion in unpaid bills and it has the nation's worst-funded pension system.

The exterior doors of the Capitol cost taxpayers $670,000. At this time it is unclear if the doors can withstand battering rams wielded by justifiably angered citizens seeking legislators to punish.

As for the posh rehab, temples to government misrule are works created by third world despots.

Related post:

ILL-inois: $50 million thrown away to renovate state Capitol

Technorati tags: politics Democrats Illinois Politics chicago chicago politics