If you thought Mitt Romney wasted his money on advertising, you won't believe how much of yours he spent on furniture and BlackBerrys. Romney's White House transition team spent $8.9 million in taxpayer money — including $2.5 million on office space, $740,000 on furniture, and $5.6 million on computer equipment and cellphones, Time's Katy Steinmetz reports.

The costs of the team — which prepares a candidate for the presidency in case he wins — are covered by the General Services Administration thanks to a 2010 law designed to make sure candidates didn't scrimp on transition costs for fear of looking presumptuous. Romney did not scrimp. Some of the stuff can be used by the federal government, like the Dell Latitude Laptops bought for the team. The GSA did not pay staff salaries and only paid for utilities during business hours.

Update: This post originally said Romney spend $740 million on furniture.

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Elspeth Reeve