Spoils, Spoils, Spoils

Four Congressional committees and the Justice Department are investigating theft, mismanagement, favoritism and influence-peddling at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Reagan Administration.

The opportunity for boodle has rarely been so readily acknowledged. “I don’t make any bones about it,” said a former Reagan housing official as he explained how the hiring of prominent Republicans as lobbyists and consultants greased the skids for the delivery of public money into private hands.

HUD’s own auditors detected sloppy accounting and missing funds two years ago. The inspector general warned that millions of dollars could not be accounted for. The audit should have prompted closer scrutiny, greater accountability and new procedures, but on the whole did not.

Marilyn Harrell, a private escrow agent in the Washington office, has admitted stealing $5.5 million from the sale of foreclosed property. There has been additional evidence of criminal activity. And new charges may result from investigations ordered by U.S. Attorney Dick Thornburgh. He has directed all 94 U.S. attorneys to investigate local HUD offices.

Former Reagan Administration officials have made lots of money in consulting fees in exchange for steering lucrative federal rehabilitation funds and rent subsidies to developers. Former Interior Secretary James G. Watt has testified before Congress that he made more than $400,000 in fees on housing deals. He had no housing expertise. He never looked at the projects he promoted. He only made a few phone calls and set up a brief meeting with a colleague from his Cabinet days, former Housing Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr.

Pierce delegated great authority to appointees picked by the Reagan White House. According to the Wall Street Journasl, his powerful executive assistant, Deborah Gore Dean, has described the federal rehabilitation and rent subsidy program as “ . . . a political program . . . (run) in a political manner.”

As the questions multiply, Congress must demand answers, and it must strengthen the federal ethics laws governing lobbying by former insiders.

Jack Kemp, Pierce’s successor, can stop the influence-peddling if he picks knowledgeable housing professionals to run HUD’s programs.

Kemp must insist on stronger supervision, a tighter monitoring system and accountability at every level. The process can preserve more dollars for the millions of Americans who need help to rent a decent apartment or buy a home.