HUD E-Mails Refer to Retaliation

[cal04]

Source: Washington Post

High-Level Officials Wrote of Punishing Philadelphia Housing Director

After Philadelphia's housing director refused a demand by President Bush's housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director.

"Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?" Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene.

"Take away all of his Federal dollars?" responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, ":-D," at the end of her January 2007 note.

Cabrera wrote back a few minutes later: "Let me look into that possibility."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102800.html?hpid=topnews

[Newsjock]

1. Just wow

It will take decades to root out the filth that's infested every nook and cranny of our government.

[xchrom]

2. recommend -- business as usual for bushco -- and by the way -- where does the buck stop again?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Why is this not illegal?

[PDJane]

4. A better question:

Since it is illegal, is there no-one who can bring themselves to bring these people to account? Do they have that much power?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. Since the guys who hold the throne haven't been held accountable

for murder, I guess nobody else will be either...unless there's sex involved.

[depakid]

19. "is there no-one who can bring themselves to bring these people to account?"

Like Harry & the DINO's?

Don't hold your breath....

[StClone]

28. Sex is illegal

Everything else is o.k.

[frog92969]

5. Kick for daylight

Ah, sweet daylight.

"Pay no attention to the thugs behind the illusion!"

[Gormy Cuss]

7. Behavior like that is what drove many senior employees out of HUD and other federal agencies.

Political employees who pull crap like that make some hard-working career employees give up.

[AzDar]

8. Goddamn.

:grr:

[NM Independent]

9. What? pugnicans screwing over the poor? Nah, I don't believe it...

:sarcasm:

[defendandprotect]

10. Notice how openly they discussed this; no fear of being caught or prosecuted . ..!!

Seems to be little difference between working for the GOP/Bushco or the Mafia ---

as we've all guessed . . . !!!

[lostnfound]

11. Not just "80,00 low-income Philadelphians deserve answers" but ALL OF US

They are stealing from all of us taxpayers with this type of outrageous profiteering -- especially Philadepelphia taxpayers who own that property, but also all US taxpayers who pay to fund HUD. And warping the government in the process. We NEED good government.

[dhill926]

12. they're just fucking thugs....n/t

[happygoluckytoyou]

13. 2009 EVERY bush appointee should be job searching

[drm604]

40. No.

They should be employed... making license plates.

[diane in sf]

14. These are the worst sort of criminals, I hope everyone involved with Bushco

will be investigated, indicted, and imprisoned for the rest of their days. If we have to wait till they're out of office so they can't grant pardons to each other, I could live with that.

[rudy23]

15. God, I wish we could read those Katrina emails that Brownie referred to on his way out

Thanks to Lieberman, they'll never see the light of day...

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. ALL of them belong in jail. SOBs

[Zorra]

31. Yes. They are a genuine personal threat to every one of us, and they

need to be locked away to keep them from harming us.

[99th_Monkey]

17. This is pretty bald-faced -- even for the tyrants & thugs in the WH.

Takes my breath away, as I live in public housing myself. :scared:

fortunately, not in Philadelphia.

Hats off to the housing authority, but pity the low-income tenants?

there must be a better way, like impeaching Bush/Cheney NOW!!
Enough already!!

[SpiralHawk]

18. Freaking corrupt 'family-values' republicon crony thugs

Ptoooey...

[Lint Head]

20. Criminal assholes. The Bush crime family commits crimes then sings

about them. This administration is laughing at the people. They are laughing at us. :dem:

[nradisic]

21. We should bring back the firing squad...

The Bushies will stop at nothing....they have no scruples at all. Total scum...

[kestrel91316]

44. The firing squad is far too kind, and the guillotine too swift and painless.

The only appropriate punishment is drawing and quartering and hanging in public.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[zanne]

23. Can you imagine how much of this has been going on...

At the highest levels for seven years? I mean, we know that it has, but to see it in print is so shocking.

[butterfly77]

46. I have read so much about these criminals for years now...

that I am not shocked in the least. I have imagined all kinds of scenarios with different situations. I have been looking at some of the stories that are now being reported that were talked about on DU years ago. The story about the military being fed contaminated water was posted on Du a year or two ago. The media knows a lot of this stuff and pretend to be surprised and outraged.

I have watched and listened and never thought the Bushco would be elected in 2004 (which he wasn't really) I just knew that the people had known about a lot of these crimes and would be outraged and the vote would be so large that they couldn't steal another election,but from some of the posts I have seen on DU lately I see that a lot of people have a lot of catching up to do...

[zanne]

54. We've all known about the corruption, but...

To see a sample of it in black and white is shocking. I've also imagined various scenarios and I've heard and read of some outright corruption. But it's different when you see it in print in the MSM. For most people, it isn't real until the mainstream media reports on it.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. I wonder what's on the "lost" e-mails.

:think:

[tanyev]

25. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, 2006:

The consummate team player, Jackson may have taken his zeal for cronyism a little too far when he told an audience in Dallas that Bush Administration critics are less likely to get government contracts. In an April 2006 speech, Jackson told an anecdote about a prospective African American HUD contractor who had made a "heck of a proposal" and was selected upon the basis of that proposal, but upon thanking Secretary Jackson for being selected the bidder, mentioned that he did not like President Bush. As a result, Jackson said, the bidder who had criticized Bush did not receive the contract. Jackson asked the crowd, "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."

http://www.democrats.org/a/2007/03/gops_sixteen_le.php

[Elspeth]

26. KICK

:kick:

[tripitaka]

27. damn good reason to support edwards

aw hell

[DirtyDawg]

29. The Sooner We Get These Bastards...

...the Hell outathere, the sooner we can begin the fumigation process. Admittedly, it'll take a while and certainly there's gonna be a huge temptation to exact a price from the little pissants before we simply shew 'em out the door, and hopefully out of our lives, forever. But since we've 'taken impeachment off the table', we'll have to rely on November. 'Just Say No To Republicans'...ABAR - Anybody But A Republican...'This Ain't No Country For That Old Man'...pick your catch-phrase, but just see to it that no Republican gets back into office. Of course that's impossible here in Georgia - 'The Dumbass State' - don't believe it? Just look at our Congressmen - Kingston, Westmoreland, Gingrey...and don't forget that we started all this shit with Newt.

[Occulus]

30. The reader comments are telling.

Only one Bush supporter commented.

People, I have to say that I think this November is going to be a nearly clean sweep, but further, "republican", by that time, will equate in people's minds to "criminal".

And that's the way it should be.

[Zambero]

32. It must be all that political capital Bush earned

that he said he intended to use, now delegated to corrupt subordinates. Given the president's approval rating these days, these reprisal-prone Bushites might be dismayed at how little this capital purchases, especially when their misdeeds are made public.

[Baby Snooks]

33. Was just the same under Clinton

The problem is HUD itself. Not who appoints who to what. HUD is literally an ATM for anyone and everyone. Congress refuses to address the problem for some reason. At best, if HUD catches someone having "misappropriated" funds, HUD merely asks for the funds back from the local governmental agency that received the funds.

And the person who "misappropriated" the funds? They usually walk away with a big bulge in their back pocket. HUD rarely if ever forwards a criminal matter to the Justice Department and the local governmental agencies rarely if ever do either. Mainly because it would be a matter of the pots calling the kettle black. And of the pots going to prison along with the kettle.

[Pappy]

34. Agreed, HUD has been a disaster from the start

Well if Obama becomes President I am sure he will clean up HUD.

[yellerpup]

35. Has anyone been forced to resign?

Has anyone been fired? Have impeachment proceedings started yet? What the hell is wrong with these people!

[msanthrope]

36. Well some more Freeper heads should explode

on this one....

Kenny Gamble is known as Brother Luqman Abdul Haqq here in Philly----

He wasn't given the property because of his public calls for a Muslim-only enclave.....Google him

So this is the guy that got this much support?

[Joanne98]

37. throw them in prison.

[barbtries]

38. they are really pretty

in your face motherfuckers, eh?
my jaw dropped for approximately the 18,256th time since the travesty of the 2000 election when i read this . i am so sick of it. will heads roll? will apologies be issued? will anyone be held accountable? wish i thought the answer would be yes to those questions. at the same time i can just almost hear the PR response. which will probably completely drown out the actual issue, which is that bush's housing secretary HAS NO FUCKING BUSINESS GIVING PROPERTY TO HER FRIENDS


geez. i'm pissed

edited for syntax

[cap]

39. there are federal laws against this sort of thing.

federal contracts are supposed to be apolitical

[krkaufman]

41. When are some of these criminals going behinds bars? n/t

[xxqqqzme]

42. 'The Smartest Guys in the Room'

If they worked @ enron, they found a home w/ BFEE.

The exchange reminds me of the enron guys talking about taking granny's savings during the California energy fix.

[donkeyotay]

43. It sounds like another privatization scheme that has perhaps ended badly

Kenny Gamble formed a non-profit, Universal Community Homes, but it was working with a for-profit contractor, Dormus, Inc,, which isn't even based in Philly. It appears to be in Greece. Maybe Carl Greene isn't satisfied with what the free market-government delivered?

:shrug:

[UpInArms]

45. our entire government will need to be purged of these inept and criminal

pieces of shit.

I'm not certain there is enough disinfectant to go around.

:grr:

[Thothmes]

55. Hopefully that will start in Janurary 2009

[truthisfreedom]

47. Wow! Washington Post! Good going, guys!

Woohoo!

[crikkett]

48. It's a scandal-a-day for these folks dammit!

I give up! I'm going to the conspiracy theory sites to hide in some fantasy for a while. The real conspiracies are just too much for me to handle.

[tom_paine]

50. What a lucky thing for Loyal Bushies there is no Rule of Law for them

What a lucky thing for them the Bush Department of Justice is itself a criminal organization.

They'll be fine, these Bushies. You'll see. Fine as pie.

[sofa king]

51. As an appendix, here's something I saw from the other end.

I don't doubt the veracity of this story because I saw it done to my clients:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x519803

I suspect that a good proportion of the Bush Administration's doings since 2001 were motivated in part or in whole by revenge. In fact, that and theft seem to be the two major reasons for them doing just about anything; I never really saw them do their duty without external pressure of some sort.

[Grinchie]

52. They'll soon be "Born Again" and be welcomed as Talking Heads for their Extensive Experience N/T

[Peace Teacher]

53. Disgusting!