Last Sunday, the Washington Post took a look at how recently departed Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson ignored the mortgage crisis. Today the New York Times’ Rachel Swarns examines the other key component of Jackson’s dubious legacy—millions in housing contracts to his friends.

The twist is that instead of lying low during a federal probe of Jackson, the enriched friends are publicly making no apologies for their HUD connections. Indeed, the African-American contractors interviewed by Swarns said that they were doing their part to help minority-owned businesses and rebuild black communities.

And South Carolina’s James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, defends Jackson’s work as aggressive affirmative action. It’s an interesting defense, one that resonates in a town where “favors” are done all the time, and where some favors may still be more equal than others.  Investigators are largely focused on payments made to Jackson during his term at HUD for work done that was done before his tenure.  Read Swarns here.  MB

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