New York Post-August 27, 2000
HUD PLAYS FAVORITES WITH HANDOUTS
By ROD DREHER
AL GORE promises to fight for the little people against "powerful
interests."
But for some little people who happen to be desperately poor, the
"powerful interest" crushing their hopes is the politicized U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Blighted communities in key political battleground states stood a
much greater chance of getting a redevelopment grant this year
from the HUD under its Hope VI program, which is aimed at helping
the nation's most troubled neighborhoods.
Of the $513 million in grants recently announced by HUD under the
program, $341 million in revitalization money went to states
where Al Gore has a shot at beating George W. Bush this fall.
Close to home, swing-state New Jersey got a cool $35 million from
the agency.
An additional $50 million in grants targeted at removing run-down
buildings was heavily distributed to swing states where Gore
could benefit by a boost.
If you are among the urban poor whose congressional
representative happens to be a Democrat - well, gosh, HUD
Secretary Andrew Cuomo is a regular Regis Philbin.
Over 80 percent of the grants, some $420 million worth, went to
impoverished areas represented by members of Gore's party.
But if you're poor, urban and living in a non-swing state, or,
God forbid, represented in Washington by a Republican - well,
better luck next year, bub.
So what, that's politics in an election year, eh? Easy to say if
you're not Joe Johnson.
Johnson, who heads the Baton Rouge, La., public-housing agency,
has been working day and night for months to win a Hope VI grant.
The federal money would have been used to revitalize a severely
depressed minority neighborhood between downtown and Louisiana
State University.
It's the second time Johnson's agency has applied for a Hope VI
grant. After failing the first time, Johnson huddled with civic,
corporate and community leaders to improve the application for
2000.
For every HUD dollar requested, Johnson had lined up four dollars
in matching pledges from local and state government, and private
enterprise.
The grant proposal was turned down.
"We felt it was a sure thing. I guess that's what makes it so
difficult at the end," sighs Johnson.
Lori Burgess, who represents the area on the city council, said
the Hope VI grant was the ailing neighborhood's best hope to get
flat off its back.
"Unfortunately, we got caught in an election year," she says with
a dejected, "what do you expect?" air in her voice.
Rep. Richard Baker, Baton Rouge's man in Congress, is not as
sanguine about HUD's decision. Baker, a safe-seat Republican from
a state firmly in the Bush column, finds the distribution of Hope
VI money cause for alarm.
In an Aug. 18 letter to HUD's congressional liaison, Baker
requested a "thorough explanation" of the grant-selection
process, and suggested that the process was partisan, at the
expense of his impoverished constituents.
Yet Baker stopped short of demanding an investigation, pending a
response from the agency. A HUD spokeswoman did not return The
Post's call Friday seeking comment.
Republican Party chairman Jim Nicholson wasn't as cautious as
Baker, alleging that Gore "has turned HUD into his de facto
campaign headquarters.
"This is a gross misuse of precious taxpayer dollars at the
expense of people who truly need it," Nicholson says.
The apparent HUD fiasco is another piece of mounting evidence
that the Clinton-Gore administration is baldly manipulating the
levers of government to help the vice president's campaign.
For his part, Joe Johnson doesn't have time to speculate about
the administration's election-year shenanigans that appear to
have cost dearly the poor black people his agency serves.
Says Johnson, "I'd rather have the money than an explanation."
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