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Today's National Sell-out Award goes to...

Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 9, 2006 - 12:51pm.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson

Once the color barrier has been broken, minority contractors seeking government work may need to overcome the Bush barrier.

That's the message U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson seemed to send during an April 28 talk in Dallas.

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."

"So they can use the funds to campaign against the president."

Talk about paranoia. Talk about projection.

Talk about honesty.

You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here.

White Republicans wouldn't even consider yo black ass...and Jackson won't either unless you toe the line.

I want to see every Black Republican that talks that plantation bullshit to take the boy to task for that line. I want every one of 'em that bitched about Harry Belefonte to step up. 

Here's your chance.

Mind you, you have to be careful...ol' Alphonso done toldja what happens if'n you gits too uppity.

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Under Jackson's leadership,
Submitted by DarkStar on May 9, 2006 - 9:06pm.

Under Jackson's leadership, HUD has gone from close to the bottom to first among the larger agencies doing business with minority-owned companies.

In 2005, 16% of HUD contracts, or about $167 million worth of work, went to black-owned businesses. Hispanic-owned businesses received 7%, or $71 million. That combined 23% is up from 6% in 2000, the year before Jackson was named deputy secretary of the agency.

Despite getting just 8% and 11% of the African-American vote nationally in his two presidential wins, Jackson said President Bush is committed to creating prosperity for minority business owners.

 

That contractor was dumb as
Submitted by DarkStar on May 9, 2006 - 9:06pm.
That contractor was dumb as ****.
Under Jackson's leadership,
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 9, 2006 - 9:33pm.
Under Jackson's leadership, HUD has gone from close to the bottom to first among the larger agencies doing business with minority-owned companies.

Is that because the other agencies fell off in doing business with minority-owned businesses?

You know better than to expect me to go for some isolated datum.

That contractor was dumb as ****.

Are you saying Alphonso was right? What happened to the meritocracy?

Alphonso himself said the brother had the business end correct. He got cut for expressing an opinion? Why does Alphonso assume the money to fund the brother's business will be diverted to attack Bush?

Come on, Darkstar. There IS such a thing as being so open minded your brain falls out. This was straight wrong, and he told the story to a collection of Black businessmen to shut their mouths before they even considered getting political.

You are NOT defending this. I'm sure of it. 

Don't Wanna Call Him A House Negro
Submitted by qusan on May 9, 2006 - 9:35pm.
Nukka done lost his mind! These black Bushies just look for ways to take a fall. Armstrong Williams, Claude Allen ... THIS FOOL! What kind of power does he think he is wielding where he can brag about his illegal behavior. Talk about one clueless clown!
I believe Mr. Jackson was speaking in code
Submitted by James R MacLean on May 10, 2006 - 12:14am.

ORIGINAL POST: "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."

"So they can use the funds to campaign against the president."

Talk about paranoia. Talk about projection.

Darkstar: That contractor was dumb as ****.

I believe Alphonso Jackson was speaking in code.  Suppose P6 were President and I am vetting contracts.  A contractor says, "I have issues with what P6 said about my main man, Alan Keyes, back in the day.

Let the record show that I am a barely functional paranoid psychotic, a depressive nutjob.  Do I tell Mr. Keesbich that I wish he would shove off and die?  Do I sack him because I don't like his politics?

F*** no.

By all means, tell Undersecretary MacLean that you think his president is wrong, tell him you wish he (MacLean) were at the bottom of the Marianas Trench benchpressing the USS Missouri... He would love to know.  He's in politics, not running a chapter of the D.A.R.  He expects you to have SOME issues with him.  And while we're on the subject, he appointed you to solve a problem that arrived on his desk.  This is COMMON KNOWLEDGE.  You know, I know, you know I know you know, ad infinitum.  Personally, it makes my job easier with that common knowledge in the background.  We know the score, Matey.  Now don't f*** up a good thing, kapeesh?

BTW, we shall assume I am an unscrupulous bastard to whom 150 years of civil service reforms means NUHHHHHHHH--THING (Q.E.D.)

Yet, I tell an audience of contractors to NOT tell me.  WTF?

 I think Mr. Jackson assumed his audience would figure it out.  You see, this isn't 1868 at the Freedmen's Bureau.  Jackson doesn't need you to tell him what your politics are!  This Admin is ruled by Frank Zappa's CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER,* preoccupied with enforcing the antithesis of laws--unlaws, laws that are not passed because they are not logically coherent enough to be actual laws.  The word that Jackson is laying down is--we're watching you, and if you don't pass muster you are locked out of the economy entirely.

___________________________________________

*CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER: Sorry, Dear Readers, I HAD to tell you about the CS.  Observe, sil vous plais, that the acronym is CS.  A big fat kiss to any student who can tell me what else CS stands for.  The CS is a character on the album, Joe's Garage (see link).  The CS describes his raison d'etre thus:

This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER...it is my responsibility to enforce all the laws that haven't been passed yet. It is also my responsibility to alert each and every one of you to the potential consequences of various ordinary everyday activities you might be performing which could eventually lead to *The Death Penalty* (or affect your parents' credit rating).

For the which line Zappa was posthumously awarded the 1985 James R MacLean Memorial Prize for Extreme Aptness in Literary Perspicacity.  Sorry to bother, carry on, Love.

  Is that because the
Submitted by DarkStar on May 10, 2006 - 9:53pm.

 

Is that because the other agencies fell off in doing business with minority-owned businesses?

That ain't what was interesting, this was: 

In 2005, 16% of HUD contracts, or about $167 million worth of work, went to black-owned businesses. Hispanic-owned businesses received 7%, or $71 million. That combined 23% is up from 6% in 2000, the year before Jackson was named deputy secretary of the agency.

Now to this one:

Are you saying Alphonso was right? What happened to the meritocracy?

Of course not. I'm saying the person begging for something shouldn't insult someone who is about to give him something.

 You are NOT defending this. I'm sure of it.

 No I'm not defending him. I thought I had included that I thought it was probably illegal.

 

Is that because the other
Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 10, 2006 - 10:16pm.

Is that because the other agencies fell off in doing business with minority-owned businesses?

That ain't what was interesting

I can't look at things in isolation like that.

I see a lot of references to those percentages. I can't find a dollar amount to go with the 2000 percentages.