Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990 TAG: 9005170125
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Kemp appeared at the sixth and final hearing of a select subcommittee investigating the causes of the HUD scandal that saw millions of federal housing dollars spent on projects awarded on the basis of political and personal friendships.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., chairman of the subcommittee and Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., the ranking minority member, heard his testimony. A final report, including recommendations for legislative changes and oversight is expected this summer.
Kemp said he would oppose any move to consolidate various federal housing programs into block grants for state and local governments to use at their discretion.
While not mentioning former President Reagan and former HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce by name, Kemp, who is also a Republican, said the agency's abuses were largely caused by political appointees operating in an atmosphere of political patronage and favoritism.
Kemp said he was "absolutely alarmed at the depth of my discovery," of mismanagement "throughout the length and breadth of the political appointees." Since the Bush administration took over last year, he said, that atmosphere has disappeared at HUD.
"We have a president who has zero tolerance for unethical behavior, the type political behavior that would have turned HUD in the future into what it was in the past, an arm of a political party."
Under pressure from Congress, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh has appointed a special counsel to investigate Pierce's activities relative to the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation housing program.
Kemp, a former pro-football quarterback, said he felt like using locker-room language to describe his outrage at comments made to a House panel two weeks ago by DuBois Gilliam. Gilliam warned that HUD would be used for political purposes during this election year. Gilliam, a former top-ranking HUD official under Pierce, is serving a prison sentence for accepting gratuities while in office.
`This is not a political agency," Kemp said. "The election year will make absolutely no difference. In fact, we'll be even more careful. In fact, we're being accused of being too cautious.
"You have my pledge . . . calls to Kemp mean absolutely nothing unless they are based on merit, need, criteria, objectivity, competition and the reforms" enacted at HUD, he said. "We are not an arm of the Republican National Committee."
Kemp said he had received some criticism from fellow Republicans for not trying to shift the blame for HUD's problems to policies implemented during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, in the late 1970s.
"I think that would be unseemly. It would be dishonest," he said.
He noted the housing agency had experienced corruption for decades.
Mack expressed concern for what would happen to HUD after Kemp left office.
"We could end up with a person like Mr. Pierce and end up with a replay," Mack said.
Kemp said his institutional changes should lessen the chance of scandal, but he warned that selecting the proper management team - with more diligent oversight from Congress - was essential.
Among the changes implemented at HUD, Kemp said, was the hiring of a career chief financial officer - rather than a political appointee - and the creation of career comptroller positions for the various housing programs.
by CNB