JONATHAN TURLEY

It is beginning to look like all new hires in the Bush Administration receive with an office, security pass, and list of available criminal defense counsel. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned today in the midst of a criminal investigation into favoritism in government contracts. He is only the latest in an impressive list of Administration officials fleeing on the heels on pursuing constables.

The resignation obviously could not come at a worst time with the worsening housing crisis and the proposed reforms of HUD. Jackson has been fighting demands for his resignation after it became public that he was a target in an investigation into cronyism and favoritism. For the full story, click here.

Jackson joins a lengthening list of a rogue’s gallery. There is of course Scooter Libby, who was the highest ranking aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. Just last week, there was Felipe Sixto, the special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs who resigned under accusations of the misuse of funds from U.S. Agency for International Development , here.

There is also Claude A. Allen who was Bush’s top domestic policy adviser and allegedly a habitual shoplifter, click http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/13/AR2006031301677.html.

This does not count roughly a dozen agency figures, who have been charged criminally or have resigned under clouds of suspicion.