Word: kemp
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...reach out to blacks by conceiving compassionate programs. He had hoped to turn HUD into a shining example of how his party could put capitalist tools to work easing the problems of the poor, spurring new development in the inner cities and providing housing for the homeless. But Kemp has found that before he can house anyone, he must first clean house...
Last week, as in all recent weeks, housecleaning swamped the rest of his agenda. The Secretary did win a brief respite from his headaches by traveling to Detroit, where he achieved a rare feat for a Republican leader: he received three standing ovations from the N.A.A.C.P.'s annual convention. Kemp admitted candidly that the G.O.P. was "nowhere to be found" in the great civil rights struggles of the 1960s and vowed that his party will change. He called on South Africa to "let our people go." But such pleasantries inevitably faded as he addressed the mess at HUD, earnestly vowing...
...Kemp spent much of the rest of the week back among his former colleagues on Capitol Hill, fielding tough questions from two House subcommittees probing the scandal. For the first time, he put a price tag on the loss to taxpayers from the fraud and mismanagement under former HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce: $2 billion. At least half of that appears to have been siphoned from a six-year- old program in which the Federal Housing Administration, an arm of HUD, shares the insurance of housing projects with private companies...
...Kemp tried to avoid direct criticism of his predecessor, whom he called a decent and honorable man, but nonetheless noted that HUD is still dealing with more than 1,900 recommendations from the department's inspector general for tightening lax procedures, suggestions that had sat on Pierce's desk without action...
...While Kemp treated Pierce gently, he scoffed at the claims of some prominent Republicans that the huge fees they received from developers for their influence in obtaining HUD contracts had not hurt taxpayers. The department, he testified, had given developers "a reason to hire a consultant" and then provided "the money to pay the consultant's fees." Moreover, he said, private brokers who handled house sales for HUD and then failed to turn the money over to the Government were not "Robin Hood-type heroes . . . robbing the rich. They are stealing from the taxpayer and depriving low- and moderate- income...