Are the renovations at the attorney general's office too rich?

Was it a lavish example of Extreme Government Office Makeovers Gone Wild or the simple cost of doing business in an often-threadbare 100-year-old building?

In these penny-pinching times, did Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson install $15,000 doors in her office out of vanity or in a need for greater security in an insecure world?

What about the new $6,000 carpet? Just a need for change or to address a hazard from leaky toilets above?

Since 2006, the attorney general's office has spent more than $400,000 on repairs, alterations and maintenance in its offices. More than three-quarters of that has gone to improving software and security on the 10 floors the department occupies in the Bremer Tower in downtown St. Paul.

But it is the two doors and the carpet in Swanson's office at the Capitol that are gathering attention.

The doors were installed after Swanson began her term in 2007 and did a security assessment that indicated the old doors, with large frosted windows, did not provide enough security. The carpet was installed, she said, after rotting wood, mold, mildew and even sewage leaked onto the floor over the years from faulty restrooms above.

Swanson defends the expenses, pointing out that $2,500 per door, or $5,000 of the $15,000 tab on the two doors, was for labor required by the state's Department of Administration and that the replacement for the stained carpet was ordered under her predecessor, Mike Hatch. Jim Schwartz, an administration department spokesman, said that the attorney general's office requested two doors and that the carpet was replaced as part of what he called a standard lease agreement.

At least one legislator, though, questions the expenditures and said she will be asking all state agencies to cancel any remodeling they have planned unless it is for public health or safety, calling the costs a "blatant and, frankly, inexcusable waste of taxpayer dollars."

"Before we start raising taxes on Minnesota families, we have to make sure there isn't any more expensive office remodels," said Rep. Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, the lead Republican on the House State Government Finance Division, which oversees funding for the attorney general's office.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, the chairwoman of the State Government Finance Division, disagrees, saying the costs were reasonable for everything that was done and accomplished at the discretion of Plant Management in the Department of Administration.

The white oak doors were requested in June 2007 and the project was completed in August of that year. The carpeting was installed in December of 2006, right before Swanson took office. The attorney general's office picked up the additional $1,110 cost of installing the carpet on the weekend. The state seal from the old carpet, installed in 2001, was removed and placed on the new carpet because there was no damage to the seal.

Swanson said the carpeting was torn, worn and suffered water damage over the years from leaks in the men's and women's bathrooms immediately above her office. There has been flooding since she took office, she said. The doors, which include an entrance through a main hallway and a side door, were beefed up after the security assessment.