Bush to appoint ‘loyalist’ as HUD Secretary.
Bush to appoint ‘loyalist’ as HUD Secretary.
The AP reports that President Bush plans to name Steven Preston as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, replacing the disgraced Alphonso Jackson. Preston comes to HUD from chief of the Small Business Administration (SBA). When he was appointed to SBA, Preston had no “experience running a small business,” previously serving as a senior vice president of ServiceMaster, a “multibillion-dollar corporation.” BusinessWeek reported in April 2006:
As executive vice-president, strategic services of Illinois-based ServiceMaster, which operates popular home service brands such as Merry Maids, Terminix, and TruGreen ChemLawn, Preston oversees the company’s long-term planning and technology systems, among other areas.
The nominee has also likely strengthened his ties to the Bush Administration during his time there. A self-described “committed Republican,” Preston worked at ServiceMaster while Claire Buchan, currently the chief of staff for Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, was a vice-president for communications at the company. […]
[H]is resume shows he has no experience as an entrepreneur and comes from a company with a reputation as a bully among some small-business owners.
Preston is known as a “Bush loyalist,” BusinessWeek added.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
27 Responses to “Bush to appoint ‘loyalist’ as HUD Secretary.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
“Bush Loyalist” = Dependable Criminal
April 18th, 2008 at 10:43 amWho would have thought Shrub would have so many blow-jobs to pay back.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:46 amI wonder if he’s ordered his mural and personal artist yet.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:50 amYOU’LL DO A HECKUVA JOB PRESTY
April 18th, 2008 at 10:51 amnot qualified, rejected.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:54 amYawwnnnn…no surprises here. It’s hardly a secret by now that as far as the Bush administration is concerned, it’s loyalty and not competence or knowledge that’s the most important thing. In fact, my guess is that the Bush administration might very well consider competency and knowledge to be undesirable qualities for an employee — since competency and knowledge might prompt such a person to question or challenge the intentions and directives of the administration, when Bush has made it clear since Day One that he has no tolerance for people who question or disagree with him.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:55 amBush/co=
Chronyism over qualifications,
symbolism over substance,
loyalty over competence.
I just can’t wait until this nightmare is OVER!
April 18th, 2008 at 10:55 amAnother dud for HUD.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:59 amHe’ll be great, with his connections with the ‘illegal immigrant community,’ whose members constitute the core of his Corp’s labor force…
April 18th, 2008 at 11:07 amGosh, I’m so very, very surprised that something like this would happen!
(rolls eyes)
April 18th, 2008 at 11:08 amWell… Snarky snark snark…
Did I say SNARK!?!?
April 18th, 2008 at 11:10 amno “experience running a small business,”
He has no experience living in a small home and probably lacks compassion for those who lose theirs.
I can already smell the ink drying on those contracts to be steered to multi-billion dollar corporations.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:13 amHEY TRoS —
Yeah, you! Don’t sing it, SNARK IT.
I’m at the end of my rope with your Snark regulation. One minute you’re snarking your pants, the other you’re telling others to cut the snark.
AND I’M SICK IT!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:15 amWhoops..
AND I’M SICK OF IT!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:16 amSteven Preston is known for bullying small companies. He has no experience as an entrepreneur. I thought you had to have certain job requirements for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
“He’s someone with a reputation for improving customer service and working on employee satisfaction and efficiency,” says White House spokeswoman Erin Healy.
How is improving customer service, employee satisfaction and bullying small companies going to help solve the Housing Crises? There are 1.4 million homeowners that are facing or are in foreclosure. Steven Preston doesn’t sound like he is qualified to help combat this major issue. I thought his appointment was to accomplish this task?
April 18th, 2008 at 11:23 amI have to say this, I agree with a lot of Republican’s housing issues. But why is it that time and time again the Neocons can only hire people who have delusions of gradeur?
April 18th, 2008 at 11:24 amSeriously, every black person who signs up for this Neocon gig is a thief or a mental case.
JOB INTERVIEW
So Mr Preston, you’re seeking the postion of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Waht makes you think YOU have the qualifications for the job?
Preston: I have a big house…
Great! Your’e halfway there! What else?
Preston: George Bush is the greatest!
Congratulations! You’ve got the job! We’ll arrange an inaugral Ball/Caribbean cruise right away!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:25 amMeanhwile you’ll need a security card with you picture on it, so…oil or tempura?
Oh and do you want to be portayed riding a white stallion, or would you rather have a more bucolic scene, you know, a faithful hunting dog and a brace of pheasant at your feet? It’s entirely up to you.
Republican’s housing issues….?????
________________
Ya mean, like, the servants should always use the back entrance?
April 18th, 2008 at 11:32 am“I have to say this, I agree with a lot of Republican’s housing issues.”
hmmm, Republican housing issues…are those different from Democrat housing issues? Are Republicans having a harder time finding affordable housing or paying their mortgages? I guess they MUST be, because Republican de-regulation has created the housing an credit crisis, so Republicans would know ALL ABOUT IT.
Democrat housing issues are completely different, on account of the welfare the Republicans are forced to give them, because they are so lazy.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:34 amIt amazes me that in eight years bushbaby hasn’t named one qualified individual for any job.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:35 amEven for bushbaby to keep telling the public they don’t matter time after time is just appalling.
take care
tony and guidedog Lido
oops, I should have attributed the quote in my above comment to GLOBGYN
April 18th, 2008 at 11:35 amHmmm, has Pres Bush ever appointed anyone who wasn’t a loyalist?
I mean, you couldn’t expect him to burst his own bubble.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:45 amNo he hasn’t, but you would think he would name at least one before his term of infamy is up. Just one!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pmWHAT?????
Chimpy appointed a loyalist crony to a job he’s not qualified to fill…????
*thud*
April 18th, 2008 at 12:20 pmI abhor cronyism, corruption, and the Bush administration as much as the next guy, but many of you are misinformed. I’ve worked on the liberal side of the SBA’s affirmative action programs for the better part of the Bush administration, and Steve Preston is an honest, smart, effective, and reasonable man.
His predecessor - Hector Barretto - was a textbook crony. His only qualification was his family name. No wonder the SBA grossly failed to provide disaster loans after Katrina. Sens. Snowe and Kerry rightly brow-beat the ever-loving shit out of Hector.
Preston has done quick, effective, heavy lifting to turn disaster lending around. He has been in word and in deed a pragmatist, not an ideologue. Preston is surprisingly fair about listening - and compromising - with liberals, rather than taking marching orders from the President and right-wing think tanks. He has actually expanded minority lending and affirmative action set-aside programs, the bane of the military-industrial, banking, and construction industries.
I say this based on personal knowledge, as well as the knowledge and opinion of _Democrats_ who work for him in the senior executive service of the SBA.
The allegation he has no entrepreneurial credentials is preposterous. True, the White House appoints unqualified cronies every day; but Lehman Brothers sure as hell does not. Given his finance background and government experience reforming the Bush administration’s (now second-) most conspicuous finance failure, no honest, reasonable, and informed person can say he is unqualified on his own merits; and certainly not that he is head and shoulders above Alphonso Jackson.
If he’s not qualified to lead HUD, then please, tell us what credentials _would_ make a person qualified? What qualified person should the President nominate instead?
You’re free to dissent from Preston’s party and his boss, but I encourage you not to embarrass yourself with uninformed hyperbole.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pmWasn’t Alphonso Jackson also a Bush loyalist?
April 18th, 2008 at 2:36 pmSeems to be a pattern there - incompetence vs. qualifications in all departments of this most corrupt administration.
Bush to appoint Scottish Terrier as HUD Secretary.»
The AP reports that President Bush plans to name Barney, the family dog, as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Barney has announced his plans to replace all public housing with dog houses.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:22 pm