HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05132008 - C.5H HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA
TO: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
FROM: Joseph Villarreal, Executive Director
DATE: May 13, 2008
SUBJECT: HOUSING SECRETARY ALPHONSO R. JACKSON AND HIS RESIGNATION
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
I. RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ACCEPT attached newspaper articles regarding Housing Secretary Alphonso R. Jackson and his
recent resignation.
II. FINANCIAL IMPACT:
This is for informational purposes only and has no fiscal impact.
III. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION/BACKGROUND
For the Boards information only.
IV. CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
None.
CONTINUED ON ATTACI-IMENT: YES SIGNATURE -
Joseph Villarreal,Executive Director
RECOMMENDATION OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S):
ACTION OF BOARD ON �� I S /p K. APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF COMMISSIONERS
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UNANIMOUS (ABSENT _til TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN
AYES: NOES: ACTION"TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: _ MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
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ATTESTED 6 51 13 a O
JOS Eft VICLARREAL,CLERK OF
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
BY EPUTY
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Official's J6urney,Ends in a Swirl of Accusations -New York Times Page i of 3
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April 1,20o8
Off'icial's Journey Ends in a Swirl of Accusations
By RACHEL L.SWARNS
WASHINGTON—To the end, Housing Secretary Alphonso R.Jackson seemed determined to hang on.
He dismissed calls from Democratic senators for his resignation. He declared he would be cleared of wrongdoing.
And as federal authorities investigated whether he had given lucrative housing contracts to friends, Mr. Jackson,
62, stood proudly in the spotlight.
He shuttled from San Francisco to Jacksonville, savored standing ovations to his speeches and stood alongside
Treasury Secretary Henry At Paulson Jr., enjoying newfound prominence as the public face of President Bush's
plan to ease the nation's housing crisis.
But on Saturday, Mr. Jackson went to the White House for a meeting with Mr. Bush, his long-time friend, according
to an official with knowledge of the events. By Sunday, it was clear that his government career was over.
His resignation on Monday was a blow to the Bush administration,which is increasingly turning to the Federal
Housing Administration, a unit of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to help stanch the
widening flood of foreclosures.
And it was a striking reversal of fortune for Mr. Jackson,the son of an impoverished lead smelter with a fifth-grade
education, and a prominent black conservative who is a close friend of Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme
Court and Larry D.Thompson, the former deputy attorney general.
Mr. Jackson,who has often stirred controversy since his appointment in 2004, did not address the accusations
when he stood somberly before the television cameras and his senior staff at department headquarters here on
Monday. Instead, he announced that he would be leaving on April 18 and focused on what he hoped would be his
legacy.
"There comes a time when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters,"said Mr.Jackson,who
declined to take questions from reporters. "Now is such a time for me."
Mr. Jackson said he had worked hard to keep vulnerable families in their homes,to revitalize public housing and to
preserve affordable housing. But he seemed more likely to be remembered for his intemperate tongue and the
contracts issue.
In 2004, less than two months after his confirmation as housing secretary, Mr. Jackson told a House panel that he
believed poverty"is a state of mind, not a condition,"provoking strong criticism.Two years later,he said in a
speech that he had canceled a contract for a company after its president told him that he did not like Mr. Bush. Mr.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/O1/washington/01 jackson.html?pagewanted=print 4/8/2008
Official's Journey.Ends in a Swirl of Accusations - New York Times Page 2 of 3
Jackson later said he had made the story up.
This month, Mr.Jackson took a pounding from senators who demanded explanations for accusations that he had
steered hundreds of thousands of dollars to friends for work at the Virgin Islands housing authority and
reconstruction in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
The Justice Department and the inspector general at the Housing Department are investigating those accusations,
which were first reported by The National Journal.A government official briefed on the inquiry said investigators
were particularly focused on Mr.Jackson's role in New Orleans,where he is accused of helping a friend get
construction work.
Lawmakers also raised concerns about accusations, first reported by The Washington Post,that Mr. Jackson had
threatened to withdraw federal aid from the Philadelphia Housing Authority after its president refused to turn over
a $2 million property to a politically connected developer. Pennsylvania's senators,Arlen Specter, a Republican,
and Bob Casey, a Democrat, said "it is difficult to conclude that HUD's actions are anything but retaliatory."
And in a letter to Mr. Bush this month, two Democratic senators, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Patty
Murray of Washington, called on Mr. Jackson to resign, saying that the accusations of wrongdoing had undermined
his leadership.
Mr. Bush said he accepted Mr.Jackson's departure with regret,calling him"a strong leader and a good man."
White House officials declined to discuss the circumstances of Mr. Jackson's resignation,but said Mr. Bush
planned to nominate a successor soon.
Congressional officials and others familiar with the housing department suggested that candidates might include
Brian Montgomery,the Federal Housing Administration commissioner, and Roy A. Bernardi, Mr. Jackson's deputy.
Mr. Jackson's rocky relationships with Democrats in Congress had threatened the administration's effort to expand
the F.H.A.'s role.
The Bush administration began a program called F.H.A. Secure last summer,which has helped more than 130,000
vulnerable homeowners refinance high-cost subprime mortgages. But critics say the eligibility rules are too narrow
to make a dent in foreclosures, and officials are looking at ways to expand the program.
"Hopefully,with new leadership at HUD," Ms. Murray said, "we can negotiate a bipartisan plan with the Bush
administration to spare the maximum number of families the devastating consequences of losing their home."
Mr. Specter agreed, saying: "It's probably a good thing for the agency.There have been lots of problems, and they're
obviously a distraction."
The resignation caps an unlikely personal journey. Mr. Jackson, the youngest of 12 children in a poor family, said he
never dreamed that he would someday run a $37 billion agency.
He is the first housing secretary with experience running public housing authorities, having led them in
Washington, St. Louis and Dallas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/washington/01 jackson.html?pagewanted=print 4/8/2008
Offlk.ial's:!rournev Ends in a Swirl of Accusations -New York Times Page 3 of 3
And he is known, even among friends, to carry a bit of a chip on his shoulder.As head of the Dallas Housing
Authority in the 199os, he once punched a city councilman.
"He can be a little brash at times,"said Senator Mel Martinez,the Florida Republican and former housing secretary
who brought Mr. Jackson to the department as his deputy in 2001. But, Mr. Martinez added,he can be relentless
when it comes to wanting to do the right thing for the people who benefit from these programs.
His critics also contend that Mr.Jacksori has not done enough to help the poor in times of crisis,like in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Sheila Crowley, of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, called his tenure "a disaster."Michael Kelly, who
heads the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, described Mr. Jackson's recent budget as part of a
continuing"effort to cripple, dismantle, devalue and defund public housing as we know it."
But even with accusations of cronyism swirling around him, Mr. Jackson gave no indication that he was preparing
to go. Last week, the White House said Mr. Bush continued to have confidence in him.
On Thursday, as Mr. Jackson addressed an applauding crowd of real-estate agents, he seemed as if he were on top
of the world. When the agents lined up to shake his hand and snap his photograph, he beamed.
"This has been a challenging year,"Mr. Jackson said in his remarks. "But there is hope.There are solutions."
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Put the Housing Back in HUD - New York Times Page 1 of 2
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April 1,2008
Put the Housing Back in HUD
As relieved as we were to see Alphonso Jackson resign on Monday as the secretary of housing and urban
development, it was a sad comment on the Bush administration's low regard for HUD's mission that Mr. Jackson
was permitted to remain in office so long.
Mr. Jackson offered the usual excuse for resigning; his family, apparently, needs to see more of him. It's evident,
though, that his resignation has something to do with the ongoing investigation of Mr. Jackson for allegedly using
his position for partisan politics and to reward friends. Even this administration,with its high tolerance for that sort
of behavior, no doubt considered it untenable —finally—to have such a dubious housing chief when home
mortgages are in crisis.
Mr. Jackson made little impression in either housing or urban development. He did make headlines in April 20o6,
however, when he boasted that he had taken a contract away because the contractor had been critical of 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?"The Dallas Business Journal quoted him as saying in a speech.
Mr. Jackson later said that he was lying when he talked about awarding contracts for political reasons,but an
inspector general's report later that year found that Mr. Jackson had urged his staff members to favor Mr. Bush's
supporters when it awarded contracts.
More recently,the Philadelphia Housing Authority sued Mr. Jackson, charging that,he had threatened to take away
$5o million because its president would not turn over valuable property to a developer with ties to Mr. Jackson. He
has refused to answer the Senate's questions about the matter.
Federal authorities are also reportedly investigating whether he steered housing contracts in New Orleans and the
Virgin Islands to friends.
HUD has a long history of mismanagement and corruption,which has been particularly pronounced in Republican
administrations.That is most likely because with rare exceptions,like former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp,
Republicans do not seem to believe in the agency's mission. Samuel Pierce,the HUD secretary for all eight years of
Ronald Reagan's presidency, defended Mr. Reagan's sharp cuts in subsidized housing. He presided over a
department mired in scandals, including ones that led to criminal convictions of several of his aides.
President Bush consistently backed Mr. Jackson, as recently as last month after Senators Patty Murray, Democrat
of Washington, and Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, called for his dismissal. But questions kept
mounting about Mr. Jackson's integrity at a time when his department's Federal Housing Administration has an
important role to play in trying to stave off foreclosures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/opinion/01 tue l.html?_r=l&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print 4/8/2008
Put t le Housing Back in HUD -New York Times Page 2 of 2
Mr. Jackson's resignation clears the way for Mr. Bush to name a top-caliber successor, given the seriousness of the
mortgage crisis. It should also be an occasion to reflect on the cost of appointing HUD secretaries whose priorities
are politics and patronage rather than housing and urban development.
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