HUD’s Pierce Misled Panel, Study Reports
Former Housing Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr. directed federal grants to political friends and later misled Congress about his involvement, congressional investigators said today.
Their report stopped short of concluding that Pierce committed perjury before a House panel or that he and others at the agency violated criminal laws. It said those questions would be left to the special prosecutor now investigating Pierce.
An attorney for Pierce said the report was politically motivated and contained “spurious allegations.”
The report, the result of a House subcommittee’s 16-month investigation of the Reagan Administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development, said Pierce concealed the extent of his involvement in the steering of federal housing grants.
“At best, Secretary Pierce was less than honest and misled the subcommittee about his involvement in abuses and favoritism in HUD funding decisions,” the report said. “At worst, Secretary Pierce knowingly lied and committed perjury during his testimony.”
The report was released by the House Government Operations Committee, whose employment and housing subcommittee investigated the scandals involving favoritism, mismanagement and political abuse at HUD.
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