Everyone Can Stay At Alphonso's Place

Homeless? Alphonso Jackson will let you crash on his couch. Disgruntled regulator? Hey, it's all good. Have a free portrait of Jackson to put on your wall. Left holding the bill? Too bad, sucker. You should have left town when Alphonso left town. After all, this happened on his watch:

In 2004, as regulators warned that subprime lenders were saddling borrowers with mortgages they could not afford, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helped fuel more of that risky lending.

Eager to put more low-income and minority families into their own homes, the agency required that two government-chartered mortgage finance firms purchase far more "affordable" loans made to these borrowers. HUD stuck with an outdated policy that allowed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to count billions of dollars they invested in subprime loans as a public good that would foster affordable housing.

Housing experts and some congressional leaders now view those decisions as mistakes that contributed to an escalation of subprime lending that is roiling the U.S. economy.

The agency neglected to examine whether borrowers could make the payments on the loans that Freddie and Fannie classified as affordable. From 2004 to 2006, the two purchased $434 billion in securities backed by subprime loans, creating a market for more such lending. Subprime loans are targeted toward borrowers with poor credit, and they generally carry higher interest rates than conventional loans.

Today, 3 million to 4 million families are expected to lose their homes to foreclosure because they cannot afford their high-interest subprime loans. Lower-income and minority home buyers -- those who were supposed to benefit from HUD's actions -- are falling into default at a rate at least three times that of other borrowers.

As these people lose their homes, the ripple effect through the economy will carry well into the next administration--and we need to remember that. Jackson is gone, but his "service" to this country will live on.

--WS

Dodd and Murray Call on HUD Secretary To Quit

I would file this under the category of 'doesn't have the decency to do the right thing and quit.'

WASHINGTON -- Two Democratic senators said Friday that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, buffeted by allegations of cronyism and favoritism, should resign.

Sens. Patty Murray of Washington state and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut said that Jackson's problems represented a "worsening distraction" at HUD at a time when the nation needs a credible housing secretary who is beyond suspicion.

"It is time for Secretary Jackson to go," Murray said.

Murray chairs a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on housing, while Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. The pair sent a letter to President Bush urging him to request Jackson's resignation.

Jackson has refused to answer questions about his role in a Philadelphia redevelopment deal. The city's housing authority has filed a lawsuit charging that Jackson tried to punish the agency for nixing a deal involving music-producer-turned-developer Kenny Gamble, a friend of Jackson.

At a subcommittee hearing last week, Murray repeatedly asked Jackson about the Philadelphia deal and other allegations of wrongdoing, including an investigation by HUD's inspector general that was triggered by Jackson's boast that he once revoked a contract because an applicant said he did not like Bush.

The inspector general, after a four-month inquiry, turned up no evidence of a canceled contract. But the report found what it called "some problematic instances" involving HUD contracts and grants, including Jackson's opposition to money for a contractor whose executives donated exclusively to Democratic candidates.

Murray said she offered Jackson a chance to "debunk any misunderstandings and clear his name." Instead, "Jackson stubbornly refused to provide the answers the American public deserves," she said.

Imagine that. Jackson decided to not respond to questions from lawmakers and, well, basically decided that he didn't need to comply with oversight.

I'd sure like to be around when a Democrat tries that in front of a Republican-controlled committee one day. Sadly, the way things are going, it might be 2075 before the Republicans ever control Congress again.

The Alphonso Jackson Saga Continues

It's a downward spiral for America's worst HUD Secretary, ever:

After Philadelphia's housing director refused a demand by President Bush's housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director.

"Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?" Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene.

"Take away all of his Federal dollars?" responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, ":-D," at the end of her January 2007 note.

Cabrera wrote back a few minutes later: "Let me look into that possibility."

The e-mails, obtained by The Washington Post, came to light as a result of a lawsuit provoked by HUD's decision last September to strip the Philadelphia Housing Authority of as much as $50 million in federal funds. In December, it declared the agency in violation of rules that underpin its ability to decide precisely how it will spend federal housing funds. Kendrick was the official who formally notified the authority that she had found it in violation.

HUD has argued publicly that this decision was not related to the demands by HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson that Greene turn over a $2 million vacant city lot to Kenny Gamble, a friend of Jackson's. HUD officials have said that Greene was not punished for his defiance.

Uh huh. In the real world, we call that bullshit.

On the date these e-mails were sent, HUD notified the housing authority that it had been found in violation of rules requiring that 5 percent of housing be accessible to disabled residents. The department later argued that because the authority refused to acknowledge it was in violation and to agree to a specific remedy, it was in violation of a broader agreement that put $50 million in federal funding in jeopardy.

This week, Greene sent copies of the e-mails to Sens. Arlen Specter (R) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (D) of Pennsylvania. Greene called the e-mails evidence of HUD's retribution for his refusal to give public property to Gamble. He urged the senators to demand that Jackson and his deputies explain their motives. Jackson is set to testify about HUD matters today before the Senate Banking Committee.

Casey said that he has "serious questions" about the e-mails and that "80,00 low-income Philadelphians deserve answers."

"This is the kind of stuff you read about in novels, not what you expect from government officials," Greene said in an interview. "It would appear they would carry out a vendetta against me even if it means damage to an entire city."

You can't make this stuff up. 80,000 poor people in a large American city are victims of one greedy, slimy, oily crony--and his name is Alphonso Jackson. He should never, ever be allowed to serve in a position of public trust again. He should never, ever get another chance to strip clean the dignity of his office and run a Federal agency like it's the back room of a precinct house in a corrupt, podunk town. Run him out of town on a rail, and and put him down as another example of why you ask serious, detailed questions in a confirmation hearing. As in, what are your qualifications and if you don't have any, please have the decency to withdraw your nomination.

I could sit here, sunup to sundown, and I could write thirty posts a day and, of course, my big sister Blue Girl would lap me and do 61 herself, and we couldn't even scratch the surface when it comes to accurately and thoroughly detailing the lawlessness and the petty, small-minded greed that we see from this Administration.

h/t to Shortstop. THIS story deserved its own post.