Had enough?

Chief Bush suck up in the department of Housing and Urban Development told staffers to favor friends of the president when awarding contracts, according to an inspector general's report.

An inspector general's report charges that top U.S. housing official Alphonso Jackson urged staff members to favor friends of 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.


Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson last month in New Orleans. HUD's inspector general found that he directed staff members to favor Bush supporters -- but found no evidence they followed through.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson last month in New Orleans. HUD's inspector general found that he directed staff members to favor Bush supporters -- but found no evidence they followed through. (By Bill Haber -- Associated Press)
Politics Trivia
Under which president was the U.S. debt-free?

Andrew Jackson
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
Thomas Jefferson

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The investigation "did not disclose any pattern or practice of issuing contracts based on political affiliation . . . however, there were some limited instances where political affiliation may have been a factor in contract issues involving Jackson," the report says.

Awarding contracts on the basis of party affiliation violates federal law.

The 340-page report by the Criminal Investigations Division of HUD's Office of Inspector General has been released to Jackson for a response and given to members of Congress who requested it. A spokesman for the office declined to say whether the report would be released publicly.

Calls for an inquiry came after Jackson, Bush's onetime neighbor in Dallas and former housing authority chief in that city, told attendees at a public forum in Dallas on April 28 that he had killed a contract award to a firm after its chief told Jackson he disliked Bush. Jackson later took back his remarks and told investigators from the inspector general's office that he had "lied, and I regret having done that."

How much more of this crap can we take before we rise up and throw the whole lot of them in jail where they belong?