A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson was back home in Dallas on April 28 giving a speech to minority real estate folks and offering a most interesting take on how business is done in Washington.

Jackson, former head of the Dallas Housing Authority, recounted a conversation he had in the nation's capital with a minority publisher.

"He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years," Jackson said of the bidder, according to an account of the speech in the Dallas Business Journal. "He made a heck of a proposal and was on the GSA [General Services Administration] list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him.

"Then he said something. . . . He said, 'I have a problem with your president.' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush. ' I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary.' "He didn't get the contract," Jackson continued. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."

Dallas Business Journal reporter Christine Perez asked HUD spokeswoman Dustee Tucker , who attended the speech, about the value of the yanked advertising contract. Perez was told that could not be provided.

"Because it was not awarded per what the secretary said, we don't have any record of it," Tucker said. "It was probably all verbal at that point." Tucker didn't return calls yesterday. But Democrats, led by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), called for Jackson's head.

Aside from violating the Constitution's prohibitions on government retaliation for speech, we're told Jackson's peculiar view may violate federal procurement law, which requires "complete impartiality and . . . preferential treatment for none."

Politics ain't beanbag, of course. Friends get rewarded by those in power. Enemies get punished. But we don't expect our procurement process to turn into a giant dumping ground for political patronage and favors.

It is time for a resignation. And if a resignation is not in the offing, a firing should be.

UPDATE: Um . . . what? Talking big and making it appear as if you have violated the laws concerning procurement doesn't exactly strike me as a smart career move.