Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), responded to allegations by the New York Magazine that there isn’t, “anyone home” at the HUD.
In their article the New York Magazine, they claim that the, “long-harbored conservative dream — the ‘dismantling of the administrative state’ — is taking place under Secretary Ben Carson.”
In this interview with Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, on Wednesday, Carson finally responded to the article’s utterly unfounded accusations. In his characteristically understated way, Carson suggested that “you [liberal journalists] should ring the doorbell before you conclude that nobody’s at home.” He then went on to remark, “I don’t think they did a very good job at journalistic investigation there.”
The New York magazine took pains to give the indication that HUD was being mismanaged by Carson, and that key positions laid vacant, as the agency failed to fulfill its mission. Naturally, the hit piece relied on unnamed and unverified “sources” from within HUD to slam Caron’s leadership. This alledged source claimed that, “people feel disrespected. They see Carson and think, I’ve been in housing policy for 20 or 30 years, and if I walked away, I would never expect to get hired as a nurse.”
Carson was quick to point out the “politically motivated” nature of the hit piece from New York Magazine. “A lot of it is politically motivated. Be that as it may, we have a deep bench, a lot of people who are willing to step up to the plate and to help to fashion things and keep things moving in a positive direction,” Carson said. “Do recognize with some of the reorganization that we’ve done already, we’ve realize some tremendous savings.” He went on to argue that “a concept that is foreign to a lot of people in Washington [is] the whole concept of efficiency and saving.”
Carson confessed that he is facing challenges in bringing needed reform to the bloated and ineffectual agency. “It’s a bureaucracy and I’m not a big fan of bureaucracy,” Carson said. “Bureaucrats are people who think their rules are more important than the goals.”
However, Carson has a clear vision for what the agency can and should be. He hopes to, “recreate the way communities are done. … They need to be nurturing places. They need to be places that will help children to be able to maximize their potential. And not have a goal of just staying where their mother or grandmother was.”
“So we are actually reimagining the way that HUD works right now from the bottom up, including the vision of the people who have been there 10, 20, 30, 40 years” Carson added.
