Quote of the Day: Alphonso Jackson edition

Film buffs like me can't think of the acronym that signifies the Department of Housing and Urban Development without flashing on the classic 1963 Paul Newman flick of the same name—Hud.

Don't miss it if you've never seen it. The plot is simple and stately, almost Biblical. Paul Newman's Hud is a charismatic wanderer who returns home to the ranch of his achingly decent, hard-working father (Melvyn Douglas) just as dad's precious heard of cattle—his pride, his passion, and his entire livelihood—has to be put down because it's infected with hoof and mouth disease. Newman, our prodigal son, simply ignores his dad's misery, getting what's his and moving on. "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner," the charismatic son of a bitch says at one point, and you want to hurl a rotten egg at the screen.

HUD and Hud. For as long as Alphonso Jackson has been its cabinet secretary, the coincidence is not merely in the spelling. It's in the grifting.

We've written about Alphonso Jackson on this site before. [1] After Hurricane Katrina, at a Texas small business forum he volunteered a story about denying a HUD contract after the company owner expressed doubts about President Bush. “Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president?” Jackson asked. “So they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? That's the way I believe." (Like I keep on saying, I never cherish conservatives more than when they're accidentally over-candid.)

Meanwhile, tax breaks meant to build housing for Katrina victims under the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 ended up subsidizing developers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama—a city hundreds of miles inland—to build luxury condos next to to the University of Alabama’s football stadium. The condos featured granite countertops, king-size bathtubs, and legendary Crimson Tide coach Bear Bryant-styled wall art.

Now this, from Monday's Washington Post [2]

Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson demanded that the Philadelphia Housing Authority transfer a $2 million public property to a developer at a substantial discount, then retaliated against the housing authority when it refused to do so, a recent court filing alleges.

The authority's director, Carl Greene, contends in a court affidavit that Jackson called Philadelphia's mayor in 2006 to demand the transfer to the developer, Kenny Gamble, a former soul-music songwriter who is a business friend of Jackson's. Jackson's aides followed up with "menacing" threats about the property and other housing programs in at least a dozen letters and phone calls over an 11-month period, Greene said in an interview.

Greene and his colleagues have alleged in the court filing that Philadelphia is now paying a severe price for disobeying a Bush Cabinet official. The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently vowed to strip the city's housing authority of its ability to spend some federal funds, a move that the authority said could raise rents for most of its 84,000 low-income tenants and force the layoffs of 250 people.

The housing authority responded by filing a civil suit in December against HUD and Jackson, in which Greene claimed that the actions by Jackson's department are "retaliatory" and that the Bush administration has exaggerated the troubles it cited as grounds for stripping the funds. Greene said the developer failed to deliver on contracts, leading the housing agency to conclude that the transfer would be improper.

We'll leave aside the abiding sin of doing wrong by the legendary songwriter who gave us the imperishables "Love Train" and "Me and Mrs. Jones." Let's focus on the horror of the cronyism—of a degree and kind that would have made the first Mayor Daley ashamed:

Jackson, a longtime friend of President Bush, is under investigation by HUD's inspector general and the Justice Department for other alleged acts of favoritism and interference. Jackson's office last week said in a written statement that he could not comment on Greene's allegations because they are a subject of litigation.

According to people familiar with the existing probes of Jackson, investigators are scrutinizing whether he interfered in the operations of housing authorities in New Orleans and the Virgin Islands by helping steer no-bid and inflated contracts to friends, and whether he lied when he told authorities he had not.

Investigators are also examining Jackson's alleged role in arranging a New Orleans Housing Authority contract for a contractor and occasional golfing buddy who allegedly did repairs and remodeling on the secretary's South Carolina vacation home, according to two sources familiar with the probe. Details of these probes were previously reported by the National Journal.

Clearly Alphonso Jackson should resign. He's more likely to be cited for a Presidential Medal of Freedom, W's reward for all his favorite screwups [3].

Like we say in our introductory materials [4] for our Big Con project, "Cronyism is not merely incidental to conservative ideology, it’s instrumental to it." Elect another conservative administration, and don't be shocked if Alphonso Jackson isn't part of it still—if he hasn't decided the action's better on the other side of the fence, selling his access in the private sector.

"I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner." That's our Big Con quote of the day.