Federal investigators are still sorting through HUD contract awards to friends of Secretary Alphonso Jackson

HUD Repeatedly Dismissed Staff Concerns About Contracts | By Carol D. Leonnig | Washington Post Staff Writer | Sunday, May 18, 2008; Page A10

The small Texas property-management company had no experience overseeing hundreds of defaulted homes across the country. It did have two former Reagan administration officials at the helm and warm relations with senior Republican appointees at the federal housing agency.

During a few weeks in 2004, the three-employee company, Harrington, Moran and Barksdale Inc. (HMBI), went from no government work to landing $71 million in contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to oversee the upkeep and sale of defaulted homes. It had previously managed a handful of apartment buildings and development projects.
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Federal investigators are still sorting through HUD contract awards to friends of Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who resigned last month amid a criminal probe. But some career staff members and agency observers say problems in the agency's contracting process run much deeper than Jackson and involve officials who promoted certain companies while rebuffing concerns about their performance and qualifications. ...

McCain economic policy shaped by lobbyist - representing Swiss bank UBS in mortgage crisis

McCain economic policy shaped by lobbyist - Countdown with Keith Olbermann- msnbc.comBy Jonathan Larsen, producer,
with Keith Olbermann | MSNBC | May. 27, 2008

Swiss bank paid McCain co-chair to push agenda on U.S. mortgage crisis

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s national campaign general co-chair was being paid by a Swiss bank to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time he was advising McCain about his economic policy, federal records show. [See sidebar.]

“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” reported Tuesday night that lobbying disclosure forms, filed by the giant Swiss bank UBS, list McCain’s campaign co-chair, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, as a lobbyist dealing specifically with legislation regarding the mortgage crisis as recently as Dec. 31, 2007.

Gramm joined the bank in 2002 and had registered as a lobbyist by 2004. UBS filed paperwork deregistering Gramm on April 18 of this year. Gramm continues to serve as a UBS vice chairman. ,,,