Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Who would have possibly thought that yet another Republican would use a position of power for personal pursuits? Okay, just about anybody who’d picked up a newspaper during the past seven years.

Yes, friends, another Bush administration official, this time Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and lying about it too. After he told officials he would never, oh never, give out favors to buddies, Jackson got caught giving his friend — with no experience in the area — a position as HUD director for the Virgin Islands. His pal got paid a cool million of taxpayer dollars for assuming the position. Another pal got paid well over half a million in stucco contracts, and it appears he ended up doling out improvements to Jackson’s home. What a coincydink!

Someone’s given Secretary Jackson word that time is running short on his stuccoed tenure; he’s resigned in order to … guess what? Yes, spend more time with his family.

(Sources: National Journal November 15 2007; TPM Muckraker November 21 2007)