Leaving To Spend More Time With His Lawyers

It's a good thing that we're not in the midst of a housing crisis that's threatening to swamp the economy, and thus we have no real need for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development:

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned Monday, amid multiple ethics investigations and criticism from top lawmakers.

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson speaks at a news conference in December.

Jackson said he will step down on April 18. He did not mention the allegations in his brief statement Monday, saying only that he wanted to attend to personal and family matters.

The resignation came after criticism from members of Congress that Jackson has refused to respond adequately to allegations of impropriety.

Some Republican tried to tell me a few weeks back that there is no indication of corruption in the Bush White House, just incompetence. Alphonso Jackson, under grand jury investigation for giving contracts to political cronies, is Exhibit A against such a view. In addition, he punished the housing director in Philadelphia when he didn't deliver contracts to Jackson's buddies.

I just can't imagine why we're in such a crisis when we have a HUD director almost singularly concerned with profit-taking for him and his friends.