Sunday, March 15th 2009, 8:04 PM
Monaster/News As Bronx Boro President, Adolfo Carrión spent lavishly on staff retreats and his State of the Borough address.
As Bronx borough president, Adolfo Carrión made a production of his annual State of the Borough address, spending thousands on photography, a TelePrompTer, spotlights and sound equipment.
In the past two fiscal years, Carrión - now White House urban policy director - spent about $19,000 on his State of the Borough tours, records show.
Anne Fenton, a spokeswoman for the Bronx borough president's office, said it was justified because many of the venues "had very old auditoriums that were not equipped for large events and did not have an adequate lighting or sound system."
om Carrión also had taxpayers fund his $140-a-year satellite radio subscription because he spends "a great deal of time traveling throughout the Bronx and the city. It was important for him to have a 'mobile' source for news and information," Fenton said.
The former borough president also charged taxpayers more than $13,000 a year for his membership in the County Executives of America organization. No other borough president did so.
"[He] was invited to serve on this board and found it to be a tremendous resource for sharing information and resources with other elected officials, as well as exchanging practices and ideas that were extremely beneficial to the Bronx," Fenton said.
When asked, Fenton did not provide a specific example of how the membership benefited residents of the Bronx.
The Bronx borough president office spent $24,000 on overnight travel for conferences and other meetings in fiscal years 2007 and 2008. The other four borough president offices spent a combined total of $2,750.
Among the trips was a November 2006 trek to Puerto Rico for a conference sponsored by Somos El Futuro, an organization of Hispanic legislators. A group of five borough president staffers, including Carrión, spent $5,295 on hotel rooms at the four-star International San Juan Resort and Casino.
Fenton said the trip was worthwhile because Carrión held a well-attended, three-hour-long discussion about economic development and trade.
Other Carrión expenditures included:
- $87,212 for three Toyota Priuses for the borough president office staff. In an e-mail, Carrión defended the purchase: "I am proud ... that we upgraded our vehicles with new green, environmentally friendly vehicles."
- $8,121 for picture frames and mats.
- $1,700 to buy and install "blue fabric" to cover a podium.
- $690 on gold-sealed business cards.
Carrión also set aside $250,000 for a new "mobile BP office" from the millions in capital funds allocated each year to the borough president offices.
The mobile office was going to have a TV, computer ports and a bathroom but was canceled because of "budget constraints," officials said.
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