ANOTHER BUSH REGIME CROOK FORCED TO RESIGN ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE LAW

The Seminal gets the picture

We once speculated that it would take an entire prison-- including a woman's wing-- to house all the criminals being produced by the Bush Regime and the Republican congressional culture of corruption. I just don't know if anyone is keeping a careful record of all these Bush cronies who keep resigning to spend more time with their families-- and one step ahead of the law. Another one bit the dust today, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, the last of Bush's original band of Texas banditos still hanging around. And, believe me, this was no April Fool's prank.

It's the first actual cabinet member stepping down before indictment on criminal charges. Jackson funneled nearly $400,000 in taxpayer money to one of us close pals and his ethical problems are legion. Yesterday's Dallas Business Journal, who knows him well as the past crooked president of the Dallas Housing Authority, reminds us that "Jackson has fought off charges of cronyism and the politicization of HUD's contracting processes for the last two years."

The controversy was sparked by a May 2006 report in the DBJ, which covered a speech Jackson gave in Dallas to a private group of minority real estate executives.

The secretary told the group he had canceled a contract 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 secretary also told the audience "how government works. Once you get the contract," he said, "they just keep giving you tax dollars. ... The most amazing thing I've ever seen is the amount of contracts we give out every day. One contract can make you wealthy."

Jackson later apologized for the remarks about the contractor and said he had lied. Responding to a flurry of complaints, the HUD Inspector General launched an investigation.

According to an internal copy of the IG's findings, obtained by the DBJ through a Freedom of Information Act request, top aides to Jackson testified that they and other senior staff members were advised to take political leanings into consideration when awarding discretionary contracts.

Jackson is under investigation on a myriad of charges not just by the HUD inspector general, but by a federal grand jury (the probably reason for his abrupt resignation yesterday), the Justice Department, the FBI and the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Several senators and several congressmen have called on Bush to request his resignation.

Ostensibly, Jackson's departure leaves the Regime "without a top housing official in the midst of a vast mortgage crisis that has shaken the global economy." Of course, he brought absolutely nothing whatsoever to the table so his departure can only be interpreted as a positive development and even the White House has anonymously let favored press contacts know that they "concluded he had too many controversies swirling around him to be an effective Cabinet member" and on March 24th told him to resign or be fired. [No doubt Bush will pardon him of any and all crimes he committed.] Perhaps if Bush would have figured that out went it became apparent to the rest of the world, we wouldn't be teetering on the brink of economic catastrophe based on a problem Jackson should have been fixing instead of making worse.

Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray, who had asked Bush to get rid of him last month, applauded the move. "President Bush must now nominate a Housing Secretary with the experience and credibility to attack this crisis rather than hide from it. I hope this resignation is more than a move to simply save face. I hope this signals an end to the neglect of needy tenants and struggling homeowners and the beginning of an administration policy that responds meaningfully to the needs of both."

Fat chance!