The former governor of Illinois has yet one more black mark on his record after the latest news about state funds allegedly being used in inappropriate ways during his tenure. But this time, the office furniture scandal is not about a civil servant blowing a hundred grand on an executive desk. Instead, the problem appears to be with the work assignments handed out via a state funded program for at-risk youth. The state road funds were supposed to be used to put youth to work on actual road projects (with the goal of both keeping them occupied and giving them valuable work experience).

Instead, some of the program’s money was used to have youth participate in a variety of activities that had nothing to do with the road system. Some of the activities can’t really be described as work including resume writing, conflict resolution and teen health awareness. Rearranging office furniture was apparently on the list of tasks that youth were assigned to complete by non-profit organizations under Blogojevich’s reign. There’s certainly nothing wrong with moving furniture around for a living – we do that every day for our clients. We just don’t expect to get state funding for it!