Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Don't Like Bush-- No Contract!

Housing Sec. Canceled Contract Because Contractor Criticized Bush, Apparently Violating Law

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson publicly admitted that he canceled a government contract with a business because the CEO was critical of President Bush. From the Dallas Business Journal:

“He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years,” Jackson said of the prospective contractor. “He made a heck of a proposal and was on the (General Services Administration) list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something … he said, ‘I have a problem with your president.’

“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘I don’t like President Bush.’ I thought to myself, ‘Brother, you have a disconnect — the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn’t be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don’t tell the secretary.’

“He didn’t get the contract,” Jackson continued. “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.”

Jackson’s conduct appears to be in violation of federal law. From the Federal Acquisition Regulations, 48 CFR 3.101-1.

1 comment:

Bob Harrison said...

I've been trying for 12 hours to access Blogger's editor to fix this post so I guess I'll just have resort to commenting a fix.

The post from "Housing" to the last word should have quotes around it. The post came from thinkprogress.org. Sorry.

This continual battle with Blogger is wearing me out. Thus far, I've found no answer anywhere; see here for more on my battle. I've gotten a new router and a new computer and still can't solve the problem. Google, of course, has not responded other than automated "do this you idiot" sort of things. The biggest help has actually been Verizon, where I talked to knoweledgable, polite people who spoke a type of English I could understand.

But still. No solution.