Alphonso Jackson resigned as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under a cloud of ethics allegations and investigations. Despite his disastrous record, TPMmuckraker reports that Jackson received a royal farewell party, including a program with four images of Jackson on the cover:
The event, which was held in the main auditorium at HUD, included an overflow crowd of about 1,000 HUD employees, said HUD spokesman Jerry Brown. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was the special guest speaker at the event, Brown said.
Despite the regal appearance of the program, Brown said that the event mainly involved “a slide show and a person who sang the national anthem.”

This may have been Jackson’s last homage to himself at HUD. The giant photo exhibitions of Jackson are being removed from HUD’s lobbies, and the oil portrait Jackson commissioned of himself is still in the agency’s basement.

Right-wingers love to celebrate incompetence.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:52 pmAs yes…give the man his due…the perfect example of egotism masquerading as competence. Honorable my ass. Nothing short of waterboarding is good enough for this man.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:57 pmOnly under the Bush Administration would a corrupt Secretary of Housing and Urban Development receive (on the taxpayers money)a lavish farewell party.
It’s not like he found a better job or got a promotion. He created a scandal. Who decided to give him a big party anyways? They should have to foot the bill not us.
(That money could have gone to the VA Hospitals for some of the men they keep turning away.) Will the waste never end….
April 21st, 2008 at 3:58 pmI have no doubt those 1,000 HUD employees were mostly told to be there, and those who didn’t giove a damn about Jackson welcomed the break from their routines.
I’ve known similar situations when I worked in the Fortune 100 corporate world–any opportunity to get to celebrate getting out from under the yoke of the clueless boss mid afternoon at the company’s expense was always appreciated, whilst the minority sychophants genuinely imagined the turnout at such events to be a mark of respect.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:59 pmHOW DOES THAT GUY GET THROUGH A STANDARD SIZED DOORWAY?
April 21st, 2008 at 4:03 pmInflated Ego…let’s hope he can find a job, like the one Gonzo found…oh wait, he didn’t find a job. Oh well, guess having Bush on your resume doesn’t work out so well.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:07 pmIF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME
April 21st, 2008 at 4:13 pmIt really ticks me off when they use tax payer money for crap like this.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:14 pmToo bad the celebration wasn’t a full SWAT team hogtying this idiot and tossing him in a paddy wagon, then having a parade of cop cars escorting him to the closest prison.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:16 pmI wonder if I google ‘full of himself’ if Mr. Jackson’s photo, posters, banners and full wall mural will come up.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:18 pmWayne,
April 21st, 2008 at 4:18 pmSay what you really mean, man! :P
Jackson reminds me of Kirby Puckett in looks.
But he reminds me of Condi Rice in self-admiration…
April 21st, 2008 at 4:20 pmAnd will the “Honorable” Mr. Jackson be reimbursing the taxpayers for all the money of ours he wasted on honoring himself? (Hint, Mr. Jackson, that’s not what “honorable” means.)
April 21st, 2008 at 4:27 pmWeird. Posers.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pmThis guy would make an excellent ‘President’ of a small republic.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:33 pmBreaking News people.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:44 pm#10 RUCerious Says:
I wonder if I google ‘full of himself’ if Mr. Jackson’s photo, posters, banners and full wall mural will come up.
If not, they are all being sent to the new Bush Library. They needed more “larger than life” photos to match George’s to put up on the walls.
April 21st, 2008 at 5:20 pmWas Rachel Paulouse there?
April 21st, 2008 at 5:28 pmI wonder if he’ll be allowed to retain his security detail?
April 21st, 2008 at 5:29 pmJackson has one butt-ugly grill.
April 21st, 2008 at 5:30 pmOh, for the love of God. What a moron.
April 21st, 2008 at 6:09 pmWhile they spread the koolaid love for Alfonso, vets are homeless, and the VA employees treated the gov’t credit card like an ATM!
April 21st, 2008 at 6:37 pmThe Last King of Scotland!
April 21st, 2008 at 10:53 pmYou know why I never take a picture of myself standing in front of the flag?
Because I don’t need to.
F.U., I love my country and I don’t have to swadfdle myself in symbolism to prove it to anyone. The dillholes, both in this Administration AND on Faux News, can’t surround themselves in enough flags. John Oliver had it sadly right.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 am