Banking Law

When we last looked in on former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, he had resigned under a cloud of suspicion following the launching of an FBI investigation into allegations that he revoked a HUD contract to a contractor who said that he didn't like Alphonso's leader "Dubya." As we noted at the time, Jackson's defense to that allegation was unique:

"I'm not a crook, I'm merely a liar." And his lie was that he publicly admitted that he broke the law!

We assumed that the federales would blow through such a flimsy smoke screen and get to the rotten core of the matter. Silly us.

Four years after a report by the Dallas Business Journal sparked a federal investigation of former U.S. Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson, the Justice Department has closed the case without bringing charges, according to statement released by his attorneys.

[...]

"My belief in the justice system remains whole and complete," Jackson said in a statement. "Though the last three years have been very trying for me and my family, I appreciate the thorough and conscientious manner in which the attorneys within the Department of Justice handled this matter."

Spoken like a man who just discovered what a wonderful burden on a public prosecutor "beyond a reasonable doubt" can be when your personal freedom is at stake.

Over the long haul, you have to believe that "the system" works rough justice, notwithstanding the fact that an occasional likely target moves out of range. Otherwise, you'd have to do what Texans used to do in the days prior to arrival of law and order up on the Llano Estacado:engage in a little "self-help."