The latest is with the “urban czar”:
President Obama’s new urban czar renovated his Bronx home with help from the architect on a major development that needed his approval, a Daily News investigation has found.
Adolfo Carrión, who last week left his job as Bronx borough president to be director of the White House Office on Urban Policy, hired the architect to design a renovation of his Victorian two-family on City Island.
Weeks after the architect’s work on Carrión’s house was complete, Carrión approved the architect’s project.
Carrión would not say how much he paid the architect, if anything. He also refused to provide copies of checks for the work.
(Via Instapundit.)
Accepting favors in exchange for official action isn’t just a conflict of interest, it’s bribery. The Wall Street Journal said it about Christopher Dodd, but it applies here: Rare is the politician who could clear his name overnight and chooses not to.
Well, at least he pays his taxes (as far as we know).
POSTSCRIPT: Why on earth do we need an urban czar when we already have a Secretary of Housing and Urban Development? Robert Byrd was right when he complained:
“As presidential assistants and advisers, these White House staffers are not accountable for their actions to the Congress, to cabinet officials, and to virtually anyone but the president,” Byrd wrote. “They rarely testify before congressional committees, and often shield the information and decision-making process behind the assertion of executive privilege. In too many instances, White House staff have been allowed to inhibit openness and transparency, and reduce accountability.”
Had this been a cabinet appointment, Carrión would have required Senate confirmation, and would have been questioned on this.
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