The farewell gaffe of HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson

The latest demonstration of Michael Kinsley's Law -- a gaffe is when you accidentally tell the truth -- comes to us courtesy of the Dallas Business Journal, which reported in its May 5-11 edition that the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development bragged of calling off a government contract with a company after one of the executives told him he didn't like President Bush.

Here's the Associated Press account of HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson's comments:

Jackson, speaking at an April 28 forum sponsored by the Real Estate Executive Council, told about a minority contractor who had finally landed an advertising contract with HUD after trying for 10 years, according to an article in the Dallas Business Journal.

"He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something ... he said, 'I have a problem with your president,'" Jackson told the group, according to the newspaper.

"I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush.'" Jackson told the group, which promotes business opportunities for minorities in the real estate industry.

"He didn't get the contract," Jackson said. "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."

HUD spokeswoman Dustee Tucker said Tuesday that the story told by the secretary isn't true. "The secretary's story was anecdotal. He is not part of the contracting process," she said. "He was trying to explain to this group how politics works in D.C."

File that under "Don't help me."

On Wednesday, Secretary Jackson expressed deep regret for the "anecdotal remarks" he made, and Dustee Tucker was on leave from the department.

Meanwhile, a report surfaced on Wednesday that HUD gave a $142,000 contract to Shirlington Limousine, the company recently accused of providing prostitutes to congressmen at the expense of defense contractors.

And while this is going on, President Bush and a good-sized group of other Republicans are quietly giving up some contributions they received from Neil Volz, the former House aide and lobbyist who just pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe his former boss, Ohio Republican congressman Bob Ney.

Then there's Jack Abramoff.

A grimy picture is emerging of, in Dustee Tucker's words, "how politics works in D.C." A president who seeks to keep more and more of the public's records secret from the public really can't afford to look so untrustworthy.

It's lucky for President Bush that his approval rating has been torpedoed by immigration and Iraq or this kind of thing might really hurt him.


Copyright 2006

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