County Vanity Projects: Butler Spent YOUR Tax Dollars on HER Office Space

Alright, let’s not bury the lede, because this one deserves to be slapped across your face like that dumb tortilla challenge.

This is the follow-up to yesterday’s post about county discretionary spending, and there was one commissioner I intentionally saved for today because - frankly - I took the time to double check the records because I just couldn't wrap my head around what I saw. 

County Commissioner Jackie Butler, Precinct 1.

Eastside / Montana Vista. Unincorporated areas with real, visible needs.

According to county records, each commissioner gets about $10,000 in discretionary funds. That’s money meant for the public good - the kind of flexible funding elected officials can use to address neighborhood issues that don’t always make it into the big budget.

So imagine my curiosity when I saw that Commissioner Butler spent $6,000 of that money.

Sixty percent.

Órale, pues. Let’s play the guessing game. Where did the feria go?

Street improvements on Montana?

Sidewalks where kids are dodging traffic like it’s Frogger?

Park shade so nobody has to grill themselves like carne asada at noon?

Something - anything - for seniors?

Nel, pastél!

She spent over half the discretionary budget on fucking new office furniture.

Office.

Furniture.

Let that marinate.

I used to work at Commissioners Court. Let me tell you something people don’t know: every precinct office is basically the same. Same chairs. Same cubicles. Same beige government-issue sadness. The only office that’s noticeably different is the County Judge’s - because, well, County Judge.

And that uniformity isn’t an accident. It’s intentional. Because when every commissioner starts thinking they deserve a “vibe,” taxpayers start footing the bill for the Pinterest board of millennial elected officials.

What makes this so infuriating is twofold.

First: congratulations, now you’ve set the precedent. Every other commissioner is going to look around and say, “Well damn, if Jackie office gets a new chairs and desks, I want a standing desk and an espresso machine.” And just like that, we’ve turned discretionary funds into an Office Depot free-for-all.

Second—and this is the part that should really piss you off—that wasn’t her money.

That was Precinct 1’s money.

Money meant for communities with real needs. Unincorporated areas that don’t have city services to fall back on. Places where $6,000 could actually make a visible difference.

Instead, it went toward personal comfort and office aesthetics.

That is not constituent-centered governance.

That’s vanity spending with a government credit card - the kind of shit that pisses off constituents and the kind of thing they remember come budget time and they want to start making critical cuts to important shit because one member of the Court saw something on Pinterest that she thought was cute. 

Look, I’m not saying commissioners have to sit on broken chairs or work in a dungeon lit by flickering fluorescent lights - what do I look like, a fucking Republican? But when you’re representing some of the most underserved parts of the county, maybe - just maybe - your first instinct shouldn’t be upgrading your office furniture like you just got promoted at Wells Fargo.

Discretionary funding is about priorities.

And this one tells us exactly where hers are.