Frequently, Captains Quarters blog is a bit more conservative than I am. So it was with some surprise that I saw commentary there
relating to this story:
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.”
I’m sorry, but that isn’t right. Contracts to support the national bureaucracy should be blind to the persuasion of the persons
seeking the contract for the most part. Even Captain’s
Quarters finds it over the line:
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.
Sadly, I fear that in the current political climate, working for the federal bureaucracy is now seen to be equivalent to working on
the election campaign of whichever party is in control of the government.