Remember our old friend, HUD Secretary Alfonso Jackson? And the lovely speech he gave in Dallas in May, 2006, where he flat-out stated that you won't get a HUD contract if you don't support President Bush:
HUD secretary's blunt warning
Alphonso Jackson says deal was scuttled after contractor admits not liking Bush
Dallas Business Journal - May 5, 2006
by Christine Perez
Staff Writer
..
After discussing the huge strides the agency has made in doing business with minority-owned companies, [HUD Secretary Alphonso] Jackson closed with a cautionary tale, relaying a conversation he had with a prospective advertising contractor.
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"He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years," Jackson said of the prospective contractor. "He made a heck of a proposal and was on the (General Services Administration) list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something ... he said, 'I have a problem with your president.'
"I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush.' I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary.'
"He didn't get the contract," Jackson continued. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."
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Blatantly illegal.
There was an outcry from the public and the Democrats in Congress. In particular, Senator Joe Lieberman:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE?May 9, 2006
Contact: Leslie Phillips, 202-224-0384
Lieberman Seeks Probe into HUD Secretary's Cancellation of Contract to Man Who Disliked Bush
WASHINGTON - Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Tuesday asked the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate the Secretary's apparent decision to rescind a HUD contract to a man who said he disliked President Bush.
...
May 9, 2006
The Honorable Kenneth M. Donohue
Inspector General
Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th St. SW
Washington, DC 20410
Dear Inspector General Donohue:
I am concerned about a comment reportedly made by Secretary Jackson which indicated that he had decided to rescind a contract award based on the prospective contractor's disagreement with the Administration's political views. A May 5, 2006, article in the Dallas Business Journal entitled "HUD Secretary's Blunt Warning," quoted the following from an April 28, 2006, speech Secretary Jackson gave to the Real Estate Executive Council, a national minority real estate consortium:
"He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years," Jackson said of the prospective contractor. "He made a heck of a proposal and was on the (General Services Administration) list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something ... he said, 'I have a problem with your president.'
"I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush.' I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary.'
"He didn't get the contract," Jackson continued. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."
The Secretary's words, if they are accurately reported, are very troubling. Our government's procurement laws, over which the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has jurisdiction, are supposed to be executed based on merit, without partiality or political bias. I truly hope that the Secretary was misquoted, but in order to assure the American people that our procurement laws and our government are not being administered in an arbitrary and capricious manner, I ask that you immediately look into this incident. Specifically, I ask you to answer the following questions:
(1) Did Secretary Jackson make the comments quoted above?
(2) If so, were they accurate?
(3) What was the specific contract described by the Secretary and who was the specific contractor?
(4) Had the contractor been awarded the contract initially, and if not, how far in the process had the contractor progressed?
(5) Under what authority was the contract ultimately denied to the contractor?
(6) Did the Secretary's or the Department's actions with respect to this contractor violate any governing rule, regulation or law, or infringe upon the contractor's First Amendment rights?
(7) What role do the political views or affiliations of prospective contractors generally play in HUD's contracting decisions?
(8) What controls does HUD have in place to ensure that it abides by governing rules, regulations and laws regarding impartiality in contracting?
(9) What actions are appropriate to take in response to the findings your office makes?
I thank you for your cooperation and look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Joseph I. Lieberman
Ranking Member
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Well, the HUD inspector General completed his investigation:
Probe Finds Jackson Urged Favoritism in HUD Contracts
No Evidence That Staff Complied
By Elizabeth Williamson?Washington Post Staff Writer?Friday, September 22, 2006; A15
An inspector general's report charges that top U.S. housing official Alphonso Jackson urged staff members to favor friends of President Bush when awarding Department of Housing and Urban Development contracts. But investigators so far have found no direct proof that Jackson's staff obeyed.
His chief of staff told investigators that Jackson, the HUD secretary, "personally intervened with contractors whom he did not like . . . these contractors had Democratic political affiliations," says the report, a copy of which was made available to The Washington Post.
The investigation "did not disclose any pattern or practice of issuing contracts based on political affiliation . . . however, there were some limited instances where political affiliation may have been a factor in contract issues involving Jackson," the report says.
Awarding contracts on the basis of party affiliation violates federal law.
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Given all the scumbaggery of the GOP, this hardly even merited a mention before the elections! Time to get back to business.
Senator Lieberman, you are the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over procurement issues. What are you going to do about this? This cannot stand. This cannot go unpunished. Jackson must be held accountable. JACKSON MUST RESIGN OR BE FIRED. Are you going to do anything at all about this gross abuse of power, documented in the report you requested? How much longer are you going to sit on this and do nothing?