(Newser)
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Pot, meet kettle? Texas Gov. Rick Perry spends his days requesting that state agencies slash 5% from the budgets, and he spends his nights in a sprawling rented mansion that has cost taxpayers $600,000 over the last two years. Fat-cat highlights, compliments of records obtained by the AP:
- The 6,386-square-foot home boasts five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and three (three?) dining rooms
- It costs $10,000-plus a month in rent, utilities, and maintenance
- It's unclear if that monthly sum included the $1,000 forked over for an "emergency repair" of his filtered ice machine
- Maintaining the heated pool has cost $8,400 to date
- Other state-bought items: $1,000 window coverings from Neiman Marcus and a $700 clothes rack
- He's living there while the Texas governor's mansion undergoes repairs, which will take two more years: Then he'll be forced to move back into the 9,900-square-foot space...of which only 2,750 square feet is dedicated to the governor's residence
