 Carson received criticism for spending up to $31,000 on a dining set in his office in late 2017.This expenditure was discovered after Helen Foster, a career HUD official, filed a complaint alleging that she had been demoted from her position because she refused to spend more than the legal $5,000 limit for office redecorations.Carson and his spokesman said that he had little or no involvement in the purchase of the dining set; later, email communications revealed that Carson and his wife selected the dining set.