HUD Secretary:"Get On 'The List" We'll Just Keep Giving You Tax Dollars

[kpete]

Jackson to Potential Contractors: Get On ‘The List,’ Then We’ll ‘Just Keep Giving You Tax Dollars’

Alphonso Jackson’s story about canceling a government contract because the contractor criticized President Bush was part of a larger effort to “educate” influential minority business leaders about how things “work” in Washington. A new Dallas Business Journal story has more from his controversial April 28 speech:

Before joining the federal government, Jackson said, he was “naïve about how things worked in Washington.”

“After about six months on the job, I had a person come in and say, ‘I don’t think you understand how government works. We don’t bid out anything in government.’ I said, ‘What do you mean? That’s illegal.’ He went on about the lists people get on.

“A lot of blacks and Hispanics don’t know about the lists,” Jackson said. “I didn’t know about this. So we started this process where every time a businessperson of color came in to see me, I’d tell them, ‘Go down to the (minority small business) office and get registered — then I can work with you.

It’s not about providing a valuable service at a fair price. It’s about getting on the list, getting the money flowing and making sure you don’t criticize the President. Whether the details of Jackson’s speech were fact or fiction, it’s a grossly irresponsible message and a violation of the public trust.

more at:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/11/jacksons-advice/
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2006/05/08/daily36.html

[Rose Siding]

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