Yup, more quality time with the family it is. From the AP:

The Bush administration's top housing official, under criminal investigation and intense pressure from Democratic critics, announced Monday he is quitting.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said his resignation will take effect on April 18....

The HUD chief made no direct mention of [the criminal investigation] in his resignation statement. Explaining his move, he said: "There comes a time when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters. Now is such a time for me."

He did not take questions or elaborate on the family reasons he cited for the decision. The group assembled to hear Jackson's statement applauded and he left the room.

His resignation letter to the president was similarly brief.

Update: Here's Jackson's statement this morning in full:

On April 18th, I will step down as Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

There comes a time when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters.

Now is such a time for me.

I have devoted more than 30 years of my life to improving housing opportunities for all Americans regardless of income, skin color or spoken accent. My life’s work has been to build better communities that families are proud to call home.

Seven years ago, President Bush gave me an extraordinary opportunity to serve HUD and the nation. As the son of a lead smelter and nurse-midwife, and as the last of 12 children, never did I imagine I’d serve America in such a way.

I am truly grateful for the opportunity.

During my time here, I have sought to make America a better place to live, work and raise a family. We have helped families keep their homes. We have transformed public housing. We have reduced chronic homelessness. And, we have preserved affordable housing and increased minority homeownership.

We have done this together. I take great pride in working alongside some of the most dedicated civil servants in America. The hardworking people at HUD make a difference in the lives of thousands of Americans daily.

Marcia and I want to thank you for the many acts of kindness we have received over the last seven years.

May God bless you and may God continue to bless America.

So it looks like HUD chief Alphonso "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president" Jackson is looking to bow out early, with his announcement expected within minutes.

As both The Wall Street Journal and AP report, it's unclear why Jackson is resigning. Or, rather, it's unclear what reason he'll give for resigning. We hotly anticipate his statement this morning, but chances are you won't hear any mention of the grand jury investigation that's probing the depths of his cronyism. Both pieces make mention of the fact that with the country facing a mortgage crisis, Jackson might not be the best man for the job. He's certainly not the best man to be working with Congress, since he's stonewalled Congress' questions about the investigation and allegations that he retaliated against Philadelphia's public housing director when he didn't agree to dish a property to one of Jackson's buddies. Oh, and the senators who chair the two oversight committees think Bush ought to fire him.

So has he been struck by a sudden desire for more QT with the family? We'll see.

Something about HUD chief Alphonso Jackson's reputation as the most cronyfied Bush administration official of all makes Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Patty Murray (D-WA) think he might not be the best man for the job.

In a letter to President Bush today (which you can read in full below), the two, who chair on the two key oversight committees for HUD, say it's time for Bush to pull the rug out from under his most loyal cabinet member.

Federal investigators are currently probing the limits of Jackson's cronyism and whether he lied to congressional and HUD investigators when he proclaimed that he doesn't touch contracts. Besides that, a suit by Philadelphia's public housing director has exposed some of the embarrassing goings-on under Jackson. In testimony before Congress, Jackson has refused to comment on any of this, saying that he won't comment on an ongoing investigation. The senators write that Jackson has "effectively reject[ed] our oversight role."

The letter:

Read more »

You might be impressed with Stonewall Johnson's performance over at the EPA. Or you might think that no department in the government could hope to transcend the politicization of the Justice Department, with its "loyal Bushies" and "good Americans." But please give the Department of Housing and Urban Development its due. Because if there's a department that's shown the clearest evidence of cronyism and hard-nosed politicization, it's HUD.

That's thanks in part to its chief, Alphonso Jackson, who's currently the focus of a federal investigation for slipping housing contracts to his buddies. All the trouble started when Jackson publicly questioned, "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president?" Indeed, "Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."

But Jackson apparently had quite a team over there with similar beliefs. From The Washington Post:

After Philadelphia's housing director refused a demand by President Bush's housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director.

"Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?" Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene.

"Take away all of his Federal dollars?" responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, ":-D," at the end of her January 2007 note.

Cabrera wrote back a few minutes later: "Let me look into that possibility."

Greene is suing Jackson for retaliating against Philadelphia because he'd denied Jackson's buddy, conservative soul songwriter Kenny Gamble, a city property. "On the date these e-mails were sent," the Post reports, "HUD notified the [Philadelphia] housing authority that it had been found in violation of rules requiring that 5 percent of housing be accessible to disabled residents."

But it gets better. Cabrera abruptly resigned from his post last November. It was later reported that Cabrera had spoken to the feds as part of their investigation, and that he was not on "speaking terms" with Jackson. It was no coincidence: "HUD insiders say that the secretary was angry with Cabrera for speaking to investigators and considers him 'a snitch,'" National Journal reported. You can imagine Jackson's chagrin, since Cabrera seems like such a team player.

But it's a rough place, HUD.