Don’t Badmouth Bush If You Want A Government Contract (UPDATED)
If you have a contract with the government and you say you don’t like George Bush you can kiss off — and kiss your contract goodbye.
That’s the thinly veiled message U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson apparently tried to send during an April 28 talk in Dallas.
In the past it was always assumed talking out of political school could create some problems. But seldom has it been as bluntly spelled out: if you say you don’t like G-W-B your contract will be G-O-N-E. The Dallas Business Journal:
Jackson, a former president and CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, was among the featured speakers at a forum sponsored by the Real Estate Executive Council, a national minority real estate consortium.After discussing the huge strides the agency has made in doing business with minority-owned companies, Jackson closed with a cautionary tale, relaying a conversation he had with a prospective advertising contractor.
“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.”
Wait a minute: what’s the big deal about this, anyway?
Wasn’t this also the kind of message the GOP has reportedly been giving lobbyists in Washington as well?
At least the government is consistent. But Jackson isn’t receiving hosannas for what seems to be a barely veiled threat:
Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said canceling a government contract due to political views “is not a door you want to open.”“Whether or not it’s legal, it certainly draws your judgment and the judgment of your office into question,” Jillson said. “It’s just not the tone you want to set.”
What was accomplished by it? For one thing, it gave a lot of ammunition to Democrats. The Raw Story:
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) called on President Bush to ask for the immediate resignation of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson if a report about government contracts being awarded based on the contractor’s opinion of President Bush are accurate, RAW STORY has learned.In addition, Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Barney Frank (D-MA) have also called for a full investigation.
And, indeed, it does remove any semblance of subtlety from the whole process.
UPDATE: More Spin Than A Maytage Department. Despite the quotes you read above, Jackson’s spokesman now says it was merely “anecdotal,” merely happenstance, never serious…of course. Oh. (Could calls for an investigation and widespread publicity have anything to do with this new explanation). Read details HERE including the contradiction.
UPDATE II: Read Ed Morrissey’s post IN FULL here. A small part 4 U:
This is, bluntly, appalling. If Jackson wants to work on the GOP election campaign as a contracts administrator, then he has every right to deny contracts to those who do not support the GOP. However, as Secretary of HUD, Jackson has ceased representing George Bush and the Republicans and now should work on behalf of all Americans. The government serves all of us, regardless of political orientation, and it had better do so fairly and in an even-handed manner.
11 Responses to “Don’t Badmouth Bush If You Want A Government Contract (UPDATED)”
PHB: King of the hill at HUD
You think Clinton didn’t do this kind of thing? You’re even more naive than I thought, moonbats.
Leonidas: one of the least attractive things about blogging is the whole idea of you don’t agree with someone so you say “moonbats,” or someone on the left says “wingnuts.” It’s interesting how people can’t state a case or make an argument with name calling. Well, if you have a similar statement said in public in the same terms by a Clinton official you need to do a post on and/or make sure you immedidately it and send it to the news source to which we linked. They will then do a follow up. Just saying “Clinton did it” is getting truly tiresome — particuarly because the GOP ran in 2000 promising a higher standard of government. If all the GOP is giving us is the same as Clinton, then they flunked their own test — but until you can produce a precise news story that shows a Clinton cabinet official saying the same thing in the same kind of setting in public all we have in your comment is lashing out at Clinton and at us for daring to bring this to the attention of our readers. We’re happy you enjoyed this kind of post and we’ll do a lot more of them.
Joe: the problem seems to have been around for awhile – for example this item
Leonidas: I don’t know about you, but I want good and responsible government and this isn’t it. I don’t really care if Clinton, or Bush I, or Reagan did it. The point is that Mr. Bush is still in office and can do something about it so that we are all better off.
I got to say how would anybody think bashing Bush would help get them a federal contract? I would tend to disqualify anyone who was making any off topic conversation about any touchy subject.
I got to say how would anybody think bashing Bush would help get them a federal contract? I would tend to disqualify anyone who was making any off topic conversation about any touchy subject.
Exactly.
I find it hard to believe that this guy who was allegedly about to get the contract would, out of nowhere say, “By the way, I don’t like Bush.”
Something tells me that there was more to it than that.
Captian Ed wins my respect again. I agree that there’s no reason to bring up one’s political views unsolicited, but that doesn’t disqualify the contract.
I wish I could feign shock or even mild surprise. To me, this is just another example of the poisoned, partisan atmosphere in Washington. It is sickening that with the serious problems facing this nation, this administration (Democrats are guilty of this as well) is too petty to overlook even the suggestion of political opposition. Contracting has been a huge source of corruption, cronyism and waste.
Bush won by such a minute margin, but has tried to lead as though he won by a landslide. He ran as a moderate, but has governed as a corporate shill. Party and personal loyalty have trumped competence and reasoned opposition in every case,and the administration’s positive spin has trumped honest discourse, which is why his credibility ratings are abysmal.
I’m with Captain Ed on this one. This kind of behavior is inexcusable in government. It’s a chronic problem in politics, but that doesn’t mean it can be tolerated, ever.
Thanks, Joe, that was what I was going to say. I give no credit at all to people who just name call.
Brian, I agree totally – from either side, it is unacceptable. And Leonidas, regardless of whether Clinton’s people did it, Bush’s people shouldn’t be. That was then, this is now.
PING:
TITLE: which side are you on?
BLOG NAME: Scrutator
Hardball politics — the moonbats can’t take it.
…
PING:
TITLE: Loyalty Oaths At HUD?
BLOG NAME: Captain’s Quarters
Government bureaucracies serve at least one benign purpose in democracies — they should ensure that citizens will get impartial treatment when it comes to services and contracts. Unfortunately that system failed according to one of the men supposedly in charge…
PING:
TITLE: HUD Secretary — Conduct Unbecoming
BLOG NAME: New Harper’s Mews
(Thanks to Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice)
A fresh brouhaha is ‘ginning up in Washington; this time, though, it has nothing to do with Vice President Cheney or Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Rather, Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of Housing and U…