WASHINGTON -- U.S. Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced on March 31 that he would resign his post effective April 18, citing family matters for his resignation.
While at HUD, Jackson led the Bush administration's efforts on Capitol Hill to modernize the FHA and helped assemble the HOPE NOW Alliance that is helping struggling homeowners to refinance troubled subprime loans.
Jackson has been the subject of several ethics investigations in the past two years. As the former president/CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, the Dallas Business Journal covered a speech Jackson made before a private group of minority real estate executives, telling them he had canceled a contract with HUD after the contractor said he had a problem with President Bush. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use the funds to try to campaign against the president?" Jackson said. "Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe." The Business Journal report sparked an investigation by the Inspector General at HUD, the Justice Department and a federal grand jury.
Jackson later said he lied about the politization of granting HUD contracts.
--cburger@cutimes.com
