TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/072489/07248900.038

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 6KB | 104 lines

NATION, Page 20

Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick

For Kemp, the mess at HUD is both a hurdle and an opportunity


    Whether as a pro quarterback or a political pro, Jack Kemp has
always been nimble and quick. Those qualities came in handy last
week, as he dealt with the scandal at the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, which has billowed from a candlestick into an
inferno. Before celebrating his 54th birthday with 54 cakes from
admiring employees, the beleaguered HUD chief wryly conceded, "When
I first took the nomination from President Bush, I wanted to make
HUD a high-profile agency. I don't think this is what I had in
mind."

    In his trial by fire, the personal stakes are high for the
feisty former nine-term New York Congressman who vainly sought the
Republican presidential nomination last year. The self-styled
"progressive conservative" has long turned the neat trick of
attracting right-wing support with his antitax, free-enterprise
economic policies while urging his party to reach out to blacks by
conceiving compassionate programs. He had hoped to turn HUD into
a shining example of how his party could put capitalist tools to
work easing the problems of the poor, spurring new development in
the inner cities and providing housing for the homeless. But Kemp
has found that before he can house anyone, he must first clean
house at HUD.

    Last week, as in all recent weeks, housecleaning swamped the
rest of his agenda. The Secretary did win a brief respite from his
headaches by traveling to Detroit, where he achieved a rare feat
for a Republican leader: he received three standing ovations from
the N.A.A.C.P.'s annual convention. Kemp admitted candidly that the
G.O.P. was "nowhere to be found" in the great civil rights
struggles of the 1960s and vowed that his party will change. He
called on South Africa to "let our people go." But such
pleasantries inevitably faded as he addressed the mess at HUD,
earnestly vowing that he would "work for the people in need, not
those motivated by greed" and would not allow HUD's troubles to
become "an excuse to close down programs for poor folks."

    Kemp spent much of the rest of the week back among his former
colleagues on Capitol Hill, fielding tough questions from two House
subcommittees probing the scandal. For the first time, he put a
price tag on the loss to taxpayers from the fraud and mismanagement
under former HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce: $2 billion. At least half
of that appears to have been siphoned from a six-year-old program
in which the Federal Housing Administration, an arm of HUD, shares
the insurance of housing projects with private companies.

    Kemp tried to avoid direct criticism of his predecessor, whom
he called a decent and honorable man, but nonetheless noted that
HUD is still dealing with more than 1,900 recommendations from the
department's inspector general for tightening lax procedures,
suggestions that had sat on Pierce's desk without action.

    Pierce's fraying reputation suffered a more serious blow last
week, when one of his former top aides implicated him directly in
the scandal. Though Pierce had told a House subcommittee last May
that he had never been personally involved in HUD program grants,
Shirley McVay Wiseman told the panel that her boss had directly
ordered her to approve $16 million in federal subsidies for a
housing project in Durham, N.C., proposed by Pierce's former law
partner. She refused, she said, so Pierce signed the papers.

    While Kemp treated Pierce gently, he scoffed at the claims of
some prominent Republicans that the huge fees they received from
developers for their influence in obtaining HUD contracts had not
hurt taxpayers. The department, he testified, had given developers
"a reason to hire a consultant" and then provided "the money to pay
the consultant's fees." Moreover, he said, private brokers who
handled house sales for HUD and then failed to turn the money over
to the Government were not "Robin Hood-type heroes . . . robbing
the rich. They are stealing from the taxpayer and depriving low-
and moderate-income people of the opportunity to realize the
American dream of home ownership." He noted that HUD had even let
some developers turn housing projects for retirees into havens for
the wealthy. He cited a Florida project in which two-bedroom
apartments rented for $2,100 a month.

    After releasing a summary of steps he has taken to straighten
out HUD, Kemp announced he would not permit his department to deal
with 54 former senior officials whom Pierce had exempted from the
Ethics in Government Act. The waivers permitted the officials to
take private jobs in which they could promptly profit from their
HUD experience. One had made $1.3 million in two years as a
consultant to developers seeking HUD contracts.

    A top Kemp aide insists that the energetic Secretary is
"holding up great" under the double strain of the cleanup while
seeking to fulfill his own vision of what his department should
accomplish. But with a third congressional inquiry of HUD about to
begin, Kemp's visions are likely to remain on hold. More Republican
political embarrassment also seems inevitable. One of the House
subcommittees said it intends to question Carla Hills, now the U.S.
Trade Representative and a former Secretary of HUD, about her
efforts to help a mortgage company and a developer get HUD
contracts.

    For an ambitious politician, a crisis can also be an
opportunity. Cast in the sympathetic role of a reformer, Kemp could
ride the current wave of unsolicited attention into a bright
political future. Though he has appointed a deputy to ride herd on
the reform effort, it is Kemp who will be judged by the results.
And an image of Mr. Clean -- or even better, Mr. Cleanup -- would
look fine in 1996, if nimble Jack can pull it off.