Contract News

US: Playing Politics With Federal Contracts

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Alphonso Jackson suggested at a forum in Dallas that federal contracts would not be awarded to those who have political disagreements with President Bush. He described a meeting with a contractor that was about to receive federal money until the contractor expressed his disapproval of the president. Jackson has since told reporters that he made the story up and that federal contracts are not awarded on the basis of political ideology. Regardless of the veracity of the anecdote, however, it highlights the lack of transparency around the connections between politics and government contracts.

Following up with a reporter from the Dallas Business Journal, Jackson's spokesperson, Dustee Tucker, added that the contract Jackson was referring to in Dallas was "an advertising contract with a minority publication," though she could not provide the contract's value. In other reports, Tucker indicated that the contractor had been rude and that had been the main reason for denying the contract. For instance, she told the Dallas Morning News that the contractor had been "trashing, in a very aggressive way," the HUD secretary and the president.

Reactions to Jackson's cautionary tale were swift and severe. House Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-MA) immediately wrote to Jackson, requesting all documents relating to the contract and meeting in question, as well as documents related to any contracts personally overseen or reviewed by Jackson. A follow-up letter has since been sent by the representatives to Jackson, questioning the veracity of his statements and reiterating their request for documents. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has called for Jackson's resignation.

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	Did You Know?
	Contracts May Be Bilateral Or Unilateral A bilateral contract is the more common of the two; it is an agreement in which both parties make a promise to the other party. In a unilateral contract, only one side of the party makes a promise in the contract.