Pastorek's gold-plated Web site

Amid all the doom-and-gloom talk of recession, cutbacks and budget deficits, State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek is spending $400,000 on a new Web site, according to this article by WAFB-TV's Caroline Moses.

Never mind that the department's old Web site was perfectly serviceable, if a bit clunky. Or that other state departments, like Social Services, manage to get by with $50,000 Web sites. The highest paid superintendent in the South apparently feels that he needs the most expensive Web site in state government.