Word: scandalous
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...cornerstone of Ronald Reagan's campaign for the White House was an attack on Government waste, fraud and abuse. Singled out for special scorn were "giveaway" programs for the poor. Now, as Congress delves into a spreading scandal at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the hypocrisy of Reagan's rhetoric has been brought into sharp relief. During his Administration, a massive giveaway did take place, but to the greedy, not the needy. HUD, whose prime mission is to provide shelter for low-income citizens, instead became a gold mine for Republican insiders, ambitious developers and powerful Washington consultants...
...heart of the scandal is Samuel Pierce, Reagan's HUD Secretary. Though Pierce was the only black to serve in Reagan's Cabinet -- and its only member to remain in office throughout both Reagan terms -- the former President once greeted him as "Mr. Mayor" at a conference of mayors. Under Pierce's feckless leadership, HUD's budget was pared 70% (it stands at $14.9 billion for 1989). Little was done to halt a decline in the nation's inventory of low- income housing, from which 4.5 million units have disappeared since 1973. Critics charge that programs were dismantled, talented staffers...
...committees into charges of influence peddling. The Justice Department has launched a nationwide probe into the possible theft of as much as $100 million in HUD funds. Says Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos of California, chairman of a House panel that has held hearings on the agency's problems: "The scandal at HUD seems to have no end. It is the most mismanaged department in memory...
...could such a scandal remain uncovered for so long? The answer lies partly in the fact that no one was looking. During the Reagan years, Congress was more interested in blocking budget cutbacks than in examining how Pierce ran his department. Since housing was an unglamorous beat, few journalists paused to investigate what was going on under Silent...
Breaking with Ronald Reagan's inaction, President Bush proposes an attack on acid rain, smog and toxic chemicals. -- A spreading scandal in federal housing programs shows how the greedy, instead of the needy, profited under former HUD secretary "Silent Sam" Pierce...