Pawlenty nixes big TVs for sex offenders

ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he ordered two dozen 50-inch flat-screen televisions removed from a sex offender facility in Moose Lake.

The Republican governor, touted by some as presidential timber, called the decision to buy the $1,500 TVs "boneheaded," the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

"We don't micromanage our agencies at the level of every little item that they purchase or use, but in this case we are going to micromanage it. I think it was a boneheaded decision," Pawlenty said following a legislative meeting in St. Paul.

The televisions were purchased for use in the common areas of the state-run facility, which houses 365 civilly detained sex offenders deemed too dangerous to set free.

Pawlenty said the televisions would be sold and replaced with smaller and less expensive models.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, which purchased the TV sets for $1,500 a piece, confirmed to the Pioneer Press the televisions were in the process of being removed.