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Ben Carson’s HUD: Political loyalty required, no experience necessary

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Meanwhile, at HUD:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded promotions and pay increases to five political operatives with no housing policy experience within their first months on the job, demonstrating what government watchdogs and career staff describe as a premium put on loyalty over expertise.

The raises, documented in a Washington Post analysis of HUD political hires, resulted in annual salaries between $98,000 and $155,000 for the five appointees, all of whom had worked on Donald Trump’s or Ben Carson’s presidential campaigns. Three of them did not list bachelor’s degrees on their résumés.

The political hires were among at least 24 people without evident housing policy experience who were appointed to the best-paying political positions at HUD, an agency charged with serving the poorest Americans. They account for a third of the 70 HUD appointees at the upper ranks of the federal government, with salaries above $94,000, according to the Post review of agency records.

The limited experience at the upper reaches of the agency — HUD Secretary Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, has no prior housing, executive or government background — injected confusion into the rollout of policy initiatives and brought delays to even routine functions, according to interviews with 16 current and former career staff members.

“This administration is different, because the people coming in really don’t know housing at all,” said Ron Ashford, who retired as director of HUD’s public-housing supportive-service programs in January after 22 years at the agency. “As a result, they’re pursuing initiatives that aren’t grounded in reality.”

The Post conducted its analysis of HUD appointees using government information on their salaries and positions through mid-March, obtained through a public-records request from the Office of Personnel Management. The Post also examined HUD documents — including official résumés, internal emails, appointee salaries and job titles, and documentation of promotions and other position changes — obtained as of mid-July by American Oversight, a watchdog group formed last year to investigate the Trump administration, through separate, multiple records requests as well as other publicly available information such as LinkedIn profiles.

Under the Obama administration, senior political appointees to HUD were widely recognized housing experts who were tapped to stabilize the agency after the housing market crash. Of the 66 most highly paid appointees, at least seven — 11 percent — appear to have lacked housing-related experience, according to a Post review of the professional backgrounds of those named in the 2012 Plum Book, a compilation of political appointees published every four years.

Of the 24 Trump administration HUD appointees without housing policy experience on their résumés or LinkedIn profiles, 16 listed work on either Carson’s or Trump’s presidential campaigns — or had personal connections to their families.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...c897f17e185_story.html?utm_term=.50760c793002
 
"widely recognized housing experts who were tapped to stabilize the agency after the housing market crash. " What kind of an expert do you need to be to understand people with little income cannot afford huge mortgages? And exactly what did HUD do to help housing markets all over the country? Sure, Obama brought in a whole bunch book smart elitists to be condescending to folks, but I certainly don't recall what HUD ever did for people. Help raise the use of food stamps maybe?
 
On a positive note, Carson is generally ineffective, and marginalized. I thought he'd be one of the worst cabinet members, but he has been unable to find a staff able to carry out much, and Trump just doesn't care about where black people live. He's made that clear throughout his life.
DeVos has proven to be odorous, and effective in destroying effective branches of the federal government.
 
"widely recognized housing experts who were tapped to stabilize the agency after the housing market crash. " What kind of an expert do you need to be to understand people with little income cannot afford huge mortgages? And exactly what did HUD do to help housing markets all over the country? Sure, Obama brought in a whole bunch book smart elitists to be condescending to folks, but I certainly don't recall what HUD ever did for people. Help raise the use of food stamps maybe?
Would you define a “book smart elitist”?
 
This is what government is, folks...on both sides. The question is, why do you still request more government? The definition of insanity is on display here.
 
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