The newest Bushie to leave the administration is HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. He has announced his resignation, to spend time with his family, effective 4/18/2008. Not surprisingly his farewell speech made no mention of his criminal investigation or many allegations of political favortism.
Of course, President Bush, who lived in the same neighborhood as Jackson in the 80′s, called him a “strong leader and a good man.” He has been a leader with HUD for 7 years and in that time has had many, many controversial moments.
The FBI began looking in October 2007 at Jackson’s alleged favoritism. A friend of Jackson received $390,000 as a construction manager in New Orleans after Jackson asked another friend to give his name to the Housing Authority of New Orleans.
In 2006, Jackson bragged to a group of executives that he had revoked a contract because the applicant said he didn’t like President Bush. This was investigated but no action was taken against him. The investigation did uncover very strained relationships between the Secretary and several contractors that had been doing business with HUD for a long time, most of them donors to the Democratic party.
Another situation came to light in which the Secretary himself blocked a contract for several months to one Democratic donor. He tried to blame the tie up on his aides but they were having none of that. One of the aides contradicted his account to the HUD Investigator General. Shockingly, nothing was done about that incident either. *sarcasm*
So we bid you adieu, Mr. Jackson. May you ride the tidal wave of corruption into your next lucratively paying position secured by your many years of political ass kissing and reckless disregard for the laws of this nation.