|
 Alphonso
Jackson
ALPHONSO JACKSON News:
20080518
-
Alphonso
Jackson
-
 Criminal
-  Corporate
-  Government
-  Housing
-  Politics
-  Texas
-  Florida
- "HUD
Repeatedly Dismissed Staff Concerns About Contracts."
... "The small Texas property-management company had no experience overseeing
hundreds of defaulted homes across the country. It did have two former
[Republican President] Reagan administration officials at the helm and
warm relations with senior Republican appointees at the federal housing
agency." ... "During a few weeks in 2004, the three-employee company, Harrington,
Moran and Barksdale Inc. [Incorporated] (HMBI), went from no government
work to landing $71 million in contracts with the U.S. [United States]
Department of Housing and Urban Development to oversee the upkeep and sale
of defaulted homes. It had previously managed a handful of apartment buildings
and development projects." ... "The company's meteoric rise -- and HUD's
willingness to bend the rules to accommodate it -- surprised veteran agency
contracting specialist Gloria Freeman." ... ""After you've been in the
business awhile, you get to know the signs -- 'This is a friend; let's
help him out,' " she said in an interview. Not long after Freeman complained
to her supervisors, she was asked to return to her previous policy job."
... "Federal investigators are still sorting through HUD contract awards
to friends of [Republican President Bush's Housing & Urban Development]
Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who resigned last month amid a criminal probe.
But some career staff members and agency observers say problems in the
agency's contracting process run much deeper than Jackson and involve officials
who promoted certain companies while rebuffing concerns about their performance
and qualifications." ... "A Washington Post examination of HUD's contracts
shows that HMBI and two other companies won hundreds of millions of dollars
in contracts under Jackson while career contracting staff repeatedly raised
questions." ... "A Miami [Florida] property-management company, National
Housing Group, which contributed to President Bush's reelection and other
Republican campaigns, won $50 million in contracts from 2003 to 2007. Now,
its second in command [Wynee Joyner] has been indicted for allegedly falsifying
reimbursement requests to HUD. Regional staff members at the agency had
expressed concern about the company's small size and inexperience." ...
"Jackson faced criticism in 2006 after acknowledging that he took note
of political loyalties. He bragged in a Dallas [Texas] speech that he had
canceled a contract with a business owner who said he didn't like [Republican
President] Bush. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president,
so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president?" Jackson
said. "Logic says they don't get the contract."" ... "Federal procurement
laws forbid basing decisions on political views." (1, 2,
3)
-By Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by Alice Crites
and Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
20080413
-
Alphonso
Jackson
- Money
- Politics
- Government
-
 Law
- Enforcement
-  New
Orleans -  Louisiana
-  Virgin
Islands - "Housing
chief ignored looming crisis." ... "In late 2006,
as economists warned of an imminent housing-market collapse, [Republican
President Bush's] housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson repeatedly insisted
that the mounting wave of mortgage failures was a short-term "correction.""
... "He pushed for legislation that would make it easier for federally
backed lenders to make loans to risky borrowers. He issued a rule that
was criticized by law enforcement because it could increase the difficulty
of detecting and proving mortgage fraud." ... "As Jackson leaves office
this week, much of the attention on his tenure has been focused on investigations
into whether his agency directed housing contracts to friends and political
allies. But critics say an equally significant legacy of his four years
as the top housing officer was gross inattention to the looming housing
crisis." ... "They contend that Jackson ignored warnings from within his
agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose inspector
general told Congress that some of the secretary's efforts were "ill-advised
policy" and likely to put more families at risk." ... "During Jackson's
tenure, foreclosures for loans insured by HUD's Federal Housing Administration
(FHA) have risen and default rates have hit a record high." ... "A federal
grand jury is investigating whether he lied to Congress about his involvement
in contracts and whether he steered millions of dollars in government work
at the Virgin Islands and New Orleans [Louisiana] housing authorities to
friends." -By Carol D. Leonnig contributed to by Julie
Tate -WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes
20080401
-
Alphonso
Jackson
- Criminal
- Federal
- Housing
- Construction
- Money
- Politics
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
- Hurricane
Katrina -
 Pennsylvania
- "HUD
Secretary Alphonso Jackson steps down: The [Republican
President] Bush appointee's decision comes amid an investigation for cronyism
in awarding federal housing contracts. His resignation takes effect April
18." ... "Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned
today amid a criminal investigation into favoritism in awarding HUD [Housing
and Urban Development] contracts that critics said was blunting the agency's
effectiveness in dealing with the subprime mortgage mess." ... "The investigation
into Jackson began in 2006, after he publicly disclosed that he had revoked
a contract because the vendor told him he did not like President Bush.
Amid an inspector general inquiry, Jackson told investigators that he had
misspoken." ... "The FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] is looking into
ties between Jackson and a friend who was paid $392,000 by HUD for work
as a construction manager in New Orleans [Louisiana] after Hurricane Katrina.
In addition, Jackson is also being sued for allegedly trying to punish
the Philadelphia [Pennsylvania] Housing Agency for nixing a deal with his
friend, music producer and developer Kenny Gamble." -By
Johanna Neuman -LAtimes
20071115
-
Alphonso
Jackson
- Criminal
- Corporate
- Federal
- Housing
- Politics
- Law
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
-
 Georgia
- Virgin
Islands -  SC
- "A
Helping Hand." ... "By all accounts, Housing Secretary
Alphonso
Jackson is a tough, hands-on manager who gets what he wants. "He's
not flying at the 50,000-feet level," says a former senior official in
the Housing and Urban Development Department. "He is definitely into the
weeds." Yet when it comes to dealing with contracts at HUD, Jackson insists
he never gets involved -- "I don't mess" with contracts, he said in a sworn
interview with federal investigators last year. But his record as secretary,
and as deputy secretary before that, suggests otherwise." ... "Behind the
scenes, Jackson has helped to arrange lucrative contract work running into
the hundreds of thousands of dollars for friends and associates who went
to work at HUD-controlled housing authorities in New Orleans [Louisiana]
and the Virgin Islands, according to people familiar with his actions.
Indeed, one of Jackson's good friends, Atlanta [Georgia] lawyer Michael
Hollis, appears to have been paid approximately $1 million for managing
the troubled Virgin Islands Housing Authority. Before landing at the authority,
some sources said, Hollis had no experience in running a public housing
agency." ... "Jackson's past efforts to aid his friends are causing him
no end of headaches. For several months, a federal grand jury, Justice
Department prosecutors, the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation], and
the HUD inspector general's office have been exploring Jackson's role in
contracting decisions at the housing department. According to people familiar
with the investigation, federal agents are focusing on Jackson's relationship
with one friend in particular, William Hairston, a stucco contractor
from Hilton Head Island, S.C. [South Carolina.]" ... "In interviews several
weeks ago with National Journal, Hairston acknowledged that Jackson
had helped him land a lucrative job around January 2006 at the Housing
Authority of New Orleans, or HANO. HUD and a former HANO official have
said that Hairston was paid about $485,000 for working as a construction
manager at HANO during an 18-month period. As it turns out, new information
uncovered by National Journal suggests that Hairston was paid even
more than that. HSD, a Georgia company that was affiliated with Hairston,
was paid $186,280 under a direct contract with HUD, federal procurement
records show. A HUD document identified Hairston as a representative of
HSD." ... "Federal investigators are digging deep into Jackson's relationship
with Hairston, a sometime golfing buddy of the secretary's. According to
the people familiar with the inquiry, federal investigators are also reviewing
allegations that Hairston did work on Jackson's vacation home in Hilton
Head." ... "Simply put, investigators are exploring whether Jackson lied
when he said he did not get involved in HUD contracting. Federal criminal
investigators would not comment on their inquiry." ... "At least four associates
of Jackson have benefited from contracts awarded at the New Orleans and
Virgin Islands housing authorities." -By Edward T.
Pound -NationalJournal
20071004
-
Alphonso
Jackson
- Government
- Money
- Politics
- Hurricane
Katrina - Housing
- Construction
- Texas
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
- SC
- "Questionable
Contracts." ... "In April last year, Housing Secretary
Alphonso
Jackson traveled to Dallas to deliver a speech to a group of minority
real estate executives. The event should have been pretty routine stuff.
But Jackson -- and these are his words -- shot off his mouth by describing
how he believed contracts should be awarded by the Department of Housing
and Urban Developmen [HUD]t. The secretary recalled, for instance, how
he once had killed a contract award because the contractor had disparaged
his friend [Republican] President Bush." ... "Not too long after
his speech, when he was back in Washington, Jackson realized he had blundered.
Democratic lawmakers, citing concerns about political favoritism in HUD
contract awards, called for an investigation by the department's inspector
general. One powerful senator demanded Jackson's resignation. Jackson,
meanwhile, issued an apology: HUD contracts, he said, were never "awarded,
rejected, or rescinded" because of political influence or bias." ... "The
matter, however, didn't end there. HUD Inspector General Kenneth Donohue
launched an investigation. In September 2006, Donohue rendered his verdict
in a lengthy report: Although Jackson had, in fact, urged senior aides
to consider the political views of contractors in doling out department
business, "no direct evidence" linked political favoritism to such awards.
Jackson, it seemed, had dodged a bullet." ... "But perhaps not, because
federal investigators are once again on Jackson's trail. And this time,
the investigation seems more serious. Donohue's investigators are now working
with the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigationv], a federal grand jury in
Washington, and prosecutors from the Justice Department's Public Integrity
Section. The investigation appears to focus, in part, on whether Jackson
misled Congress when he testified earlier this year that he had never intervened
in awarding HUD contracts. "I don't touch contracts," the HUD boss told
a Senate panel on May 3." ... "Investigators are exploring whether Jackson,
despite that testimony, had actually lined up a contract at the HUD-controlled
Housing Authority of New Orleans [Louisiana], or HANO, for a golfing buddy
and social friend from Hilton Head Island, S.C. [South Carolina] The friend,
William
Hairston, was paid more than $485,000 for working at HANO during an
18-month period, according to figures provided by HUD and a former HANO
official. The work was not competitively bid." ... "In an interview, Hairston,
a stucco contractor, said that Jackson had indeed helped him land the job
at HANO. He said that the New Orleans housing agency, which HUD manages
under receivership, was struggling to repair and rehab its housing units
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and needed a construction manager. "The
secretary asked me if I would go to New Orleans and help them out," Hairston
told National Journal." -By Edward T. Pound
-NationalJournal
20060922
-
Government
- Housing
- Money
- Politics
-
 Alphonso
Jackson - "Probe
Finds Jackson Urged Favoritism in HUD Contracts."
... "An inspector general's report charges that top U.S. housing official
Alphonso Jackson urged staff members to favor friends of [Republican] 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." ...
"Awarding contracts on the basis of party affiliation violates federal
law." ... "According to two senior HUD officials, at a staff meeting this
year "Jackson had advised . . . that when considering discretionary contracts,
they should be considering supporters of the president," the report says."
... ""I don't recall doing that. They might have misconstrued it," the
report quoted Jackson as saying." -By Elizabeth Williamson
-WashingtonPost
20060921
-
Government
- Housing
- Money
- Law
- Alphonso
Jackson -
 Calif
- "HUD
Secretary urged favoritism in awarding of contracts."
... "Top aides to Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson testified that they
and other senior staff members were advised to take political leanings
into consideration when awarding discretionary contracts, according to
an internal report issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's
inspector general." ... "Despite Jackson's edict, there is no evidence
that "information regarding political affiliation was routinely or generally
received, maintained or applied to the contracting process; however, there
were some limited instances where political affiliation may have been a
factor in contract issues involving Jackson," the report found." ... "The
findings led Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., to call Thursday for Jackson's
resignation." ... ""If this report is accurate, Secretary Jackson should
resign immediately," Waxman said. "We must not allow taxpayer-funded contracts
to be handed out to political allies as rewards for loyalty."" -By
Christine Perez -BizJournals
-
Government
- Housing
- Money
- Law
- Texas
- "HUD
staff told to favor allies." ... "[Republican appointed]
Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson urged top aides to take contractors'
politics into account when handing out grants and deals, an internal department
review has found, though there is no "direct evidence" that favoritism
actually occurred." ... "The department's inspector general began investigating
Mr. Jackson after he boasted in a Dallas [Texas] speech that he'd once
scuttled a deal because the would-be contractor disparaged President Bush."
... "Several top HUD officials themselves political appointees
testified that Mr. Jackson told senior staff at a meeting a few months
before the April 28 speech in Dallas that they should consider contractors'
political leanings. He urged them to give contracts to Bush supporters
and voiced concerns about any going to active Democratic donors, the aides
said." ... "Mr. Jackson, a longtime Bush friend, spent three years in HUD's
No. 2 job before being sworn in to lead the $32 billion agency in April
2004." ... "It is a violation of federal procurement law to reward or punish
a contractor based on political views." -By Todd J.
Gillman with contributions by Sudeep Reddy
-DallasNews.com
20060510
-
Government
- Housing
- Money
- Free
Speech - Law
-
 NJ
- Calif.
-  Mass.
- "DBJ
article prompts calls for resignation of HUD secretary, investigation."
... "U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-NJ, has called for the resignation
of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson following
a report in the Dallas Business Journal that Jackson scuttled a government
contract after an applicant said he didn't like President Bush." ... "Separately,
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., citing
the same story, called for an investigation of all HUD contracting decisions
during Jackson's tenure." ... "In a story in the May
5-11 issue of the Dallas Business Journal, Jackson told an April 28
Dallas real estate forum about a meeting with a prospective contractor
who'd been selected for a HUD deal. During the meeting, Jackson said, the
contractor told Jackson that he had a "problem with your president."" ...
""He didn't get the contract," Jackson told the Dallas forum. "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."" -By Jaime S.
Jordan -BizJournals
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