Heavens! Alphonso Jackson really has a knack, doesn’t he? (from the Dallas Business Journal):
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.”
In all honesty, I have to say that the contractor in Jackson’s story was just as foolish with his choice of audience and topic as the Housing Secretary (who recently amazed me with how he apparently views all New Orleans public housing residents).
I have to wonder, though, whether Jackson ever craves something other than shoe leather for his palate?
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Update: Alphonso Jackson apologizes, and a spokesperson says it was merely an anecdote to show “how some people in Washington ‘will unfairly characterize the president and then turn around and ask you for money.'” (NYTimes)
Unsurprisingly, the HUD Inspector General is reportedly planning to investigate the situation, and Jackson’s conduct.