SALEM — Republican U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith is making a campaign issue of a move by his Democratic opponent, Jeff Merkley, and others in the Oregon Legislature to purchase $1.25 million worth of new office furniture for state lawmakers, including solid walnut and oak desks and leather sofas for individual lawmakers’ offices.

Merkley, currently the Oregon House speaker, and other legislative leaders approved the furniture purchases in 2007 as part of a $34 million renovation of the House and Senate wings at the State Capitol.

Smith, who is locked in a tough re-election fight with Merkley, said Oregon voters should be dismayed that the project includes the purchase of $15,499 worth of new office furniture for each of the 30 senators, and $13,047 in new furniture for each of the 60 House members.

“Under Merkley’s leadership, furniture in one member’s office will cost more than two years’ tuition at the University of Oregon,” Smith said today.

Merkley’s campaign spokesman, Matt Canter, dismissed the criticism as an attempt by the Republican incumbent to distract attention from his own “reckless spending habits” in Congress.

“Sen. Smith has driven up the national debt to more than $9 trillion” by supporting the Bush administration’s spending policies over the years, Canter said.

A spokesman for the Oregon House Democrats, meanwhile, said it was unfair to single out Merkley because Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate approved the renovation project, which includes the new office furniture.

Plus, spokesman Geoff Sugerman said, “these are furnishings that will last for 75 years. It’s not the property of the individual lawmakers — it’s for the state of Oregon.”

Still, Smith said he thinks taxpayers will take a dim view of the move to spend $1.25 million to provide what he considers “lavishly expensive” furniture for state legislators.

“Mr. Merkley needs to explain to taxpayers who are having a tough time paying their own bills why they should be required to pay for these extraordinary lavishments on legislators,” the Republican senator said.

According to the Legislative Administration Committee, each senator will receive a solid walnut desk costing $4,400; a credenza costing $3,474; a hutch and book shelf costing $1,503; a wardrobe costing $1,691; a leather sofa costing $2,764 and a new desk chair costing $1,667.

House members, when they move into their newly renovated offices, will receive an oak desk costing $3,200; a credenza costing $3,140; a hutch and book shelf costing $1,102; a wardrobe costing $1,417; a leather sofa costing $2,518 and a new desk chair costing $1,667.

Smith, who served as president of the Oregon Senate in 1995, said he never would have approved such top-of-the-line furniture for Senate members when he was a state legislative leader.

“In that year we cut the legislative budget, because we wanted to prioritize things like education spending,” Smith said. “Taxpayers don’t mind paying for essentials, but not for extravagances.”

Sugerman, the House Democratic spokesman, said lawmakers believe they got good value for the money in purchasing the inmate-built furniture from the state’s Corrections Enterprises program.

He said the excellent quality of the furniture is warranted for legislative offices at the building that serves as the seat of government in Oregon. It will be used by lawmakers for years to come, long after the current senators and House members are gone, he said.

Sugerman also accused Smith of being in cahoots with three Republican state House members — Reps. Scott Bruun of West Linn, Bill Garrard of Klamath Falls and Wayne Scott of Canby — who sent a letter to Merkley’s office complaining that the cost of furnishing legislators’ office had “spun out of control.”

Sugerman noted that the lawmakers’ letter contained what he called various falsehoods, including one that Merkley’s office at the Capitol had been recarpeted at a cost of at least $31,000. Those plans were canceled months ago, he said.