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This page is located on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homes
and Communities Web site at http://www.hud.gov/about/secretary/jacksonbio.cfm.
From January 1989 until July 1996, Secretary Jackson was President and
CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Dallas, Texas, which consistently
ranked as one of the best-managed large-city housing agencies in the
country during his tenure. Prior to that, Secretary Jackson was Director of the
Department of Public and Assisted Housing in Washington, D.C., and also
served as Chairperson for the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land
Agency Board.
In 1977, Jackson became the Director of Public Safety for the City of St.
Louis. Jackson also served as executive director for the St. Louis Housing
Authority, a director of consultant services for the certified public accounting
firm of Laventhol and Horwath-St. Louis, and special assistant to the
chancellor and assistant professor at the University of Missouri.
An expert on public housing and urban issues, Jackson has been asked to
serve on a number of national and state commissions, most notably the
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Printer-friendly page from www.hud.gov http://www.hud.gov/utilities/print/print2.cfm?page=80$^@http%3A%...
Secretary Jackson and his wife Marcia are the parents of two grown
daughters.
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EXHIBIT 2
Jackson Resigns as HUD Secretary http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR...
Jackson has been accused of favoritism involving HUD contractors for two years, and the FBI and the Justice
Department are investigating whether he steered business to friends.
Several Democratic lawmakers demanded Jackson's resignation last month after he refused to answer
questions about the accusations including a lawsuit filed by the Philadelphia Housing Authority against HUD
that alleged Jackson and his aides used the department to punish the authority for refusing to transfer
valuable property to one of Jackson's friends.
"There are times when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters," Jackson said in a
statement that he read at a news conference yesterday morning. "Now is such a time for me."
Jackson, 62, said his resignation will be effective April 18. He took no questions and made no mention of the
criminal probes or controversies. Bush, who departed yesterday on a trip to Eastern Europe for his final
NATO summit, issued a written statement calling Jackson "a good man" and "a great American success
story." Bush said he accepted the resignation "with regret."
HUD is a $35 billion agency that funds public housing and rental assistance for low-income families. It also
runs the Federal Housing Administration, which helps struggling and first-time buyers with
low-down-payment home purchases and with refinancings.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) endorsed Jackson's departure, saying
Jackson could not provide leadership on crucial housing issues "while under the cloud of various
investigations into alleged impropriety."
Dodd and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote to Bush last month that Jackson's refusal to answer lawmakers'
questions about the Philadelphia lawsuit made him unable to lead the agency. A White House spokesman
said then that Bush had confidence in Jackson.
But two government sources who work on housing issues said Jackson was called March 24 to the White
House, where top aides discussed his ability to lead the agency. The sources spoke on the condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Jackson met with Bush on Saturday to discuss his plans
to resign, according to White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
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Jackson Resigns as HUD Secretary http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR...
Jackson, who previously worked as head of the Dallas housing authority and at an Austin power company, is
one of the few remaining senior administration officials who followed Bush to Washington from Texas in
2001. Other close Texas friends who have left in Bush's second term include former senior advisers Dan
Bartlett, Karen Hughes and Karl Rove and former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales.
Jackson, who also headed housing authorities in the District and St. Louis, was a key defender of the
administration's relatively cautious approach to the housing crisis, including a program called Hope Now, a
government and industry initiative to ease terms on subprime mortgages.
"We have helped families keep their homes," Jackson said yesterday. "We have reduced chronic
homelessness. And we have preserved affordable housing and increased minority homeownership."
But Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said HUD "has
fallen far short" under Jackson's leadership and said Bush must appoint a replacement "who will have the full
authority to work with us in making the decisions we need to deal with the housing finance crisis."
The department's inspector general has been looking at whether Jackson improperly sought to punish the
Philadelphia Housing Authority for refusing to turn over a $2 million property to a Jackson friend. A federal
judge ruled yesterday that the city agency had not clearly shown HUD overstepped its authority by allowing
an agreement on the spending of federal funds to lapse.
Jackson is also the target of investigations by a federal grand jury, the FBI and the Justice Department. Those
investigations began after a speech in Dallas in April 2006, in which Jackson said he had arranged the firing
of a contractor who told him, "I don't like President Bush."
Jackson later said he concocted the anecdote, and HUD's inspector general concluded that Jackson had not
exercised improper influence over contracts. But the continuing probes are looking at whether Jackson was
truthful when he told the Senate Banking Committee last May, "I don't touch contracts."
HUD sources have told the inspector general that Jackson intervened in the business of the New Orleans and
Virgin Islands housing authorities to steer work to friends. Two government sources briefed on the probe said
investigators have been working to get a key former aide to cooperate.
The inspector general has also been looking at whether an occasional golfing buddy of Jackson's had
performed work on Jackson's property on Hilton Head Island, S.C. It is unclear whether that remains a part of
the investigators' work. James Martin, a St. Louis defense lawyer representing Jackson, did not respond to
e-mail or telephone messages left yesterday.
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Jackson Resigns as HUD Secretary http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR...
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