Pierce Won’t Allow Cameras Into Hearing on HUD Scandal

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Samuel R. Pierce on Friday exercised his right to ban cameras from his forced congressional testimony next week about scandals at the housing agency during his eight-year tenure.

Pierce’s attorney also gave his strongest indication yet that the former secretary might refuse to answer certain questions when he appears before a House subcommittee on Tuesday. But the attorney said no thought was being given to ignoring the subpoena altogether.

“That’s not even in the realm of possibilities,” attorney Paul L. Perito said. “We’ll be there.”

Pierce was subpoenaed to testify after refusing to appear voluntarily last week. House rules allow witnesses who are subpoenaed to ban television cameras, still photographers and microphones from the hearing room.

Pierce’s decision, expressed in a letter from Perito to the subcommittee, is the latest maneuver in what has become an increasingly hostile interaction between the subcommittee and Pierce.

The subcommittee, which is reviewing allegations of fraud, mismanagement and cronyism at the department, wants to question Pierce about a number of controversial decisions and other testimony that contradicts a sworn account Pierce gave in May.

Perito said he believed the fact that the hearings have been televised has contributed “to an atmosphere that totally departed from fairness and objectivity.”