Without saying he’s actually accepting President-Elect Donald Trump’s offer to serve in the Cabinet, Dr. Ben Carson pretty much implied Wednesday that’s exactly what he intends to do.
In a post to his social media platforms on Facebook and Twitter, the retired neurosurgeon wrote, “An announcement is forthcoming.” The entire statement reads:
Winning the presidential election was only the first step for those who love traditional America and do not wish to fundamentally change it. Now the hard work begins of restoring the values that made us great. We must bring back the compassion and the unity that empowers us and banish the divisiveness that weakens us. After serious discussions with the Trump transition team, I feel that I can make a significant contribution, particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone. We have much work to do in strengthening every aspect of our nation and ensuring that both our physical infrastructure and our spiritual infrastructure is solid. An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.
Carson was reportedly going to take the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend to decide whether or not to accept the offer but appears to have already made up his mind. And although he said he’s been offered several Cabinet positions, his new comments suggest he’s going to accept the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
The Presidential Transition Team has not yet responded to requests for comment.
HUD is in disastrous shape. According to a report Wednesday morning by The Daily Caller’s Kathryn Watson, department officials refuse to explain to Congress why they haven’t fixed poor accounting practices and “useless financial books” their inspector general has been exposing for four years. She wrote:
It’s not clear whether HUD officials understand what they’re doing is wrong because, their spokesman, Brian Sullivan, told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group that “HUD does apply generally accepted accounting standards.”
Not so, said the IG, whose most recent audit found 11 “material weaknesses,” seven “significant deficiencies” in internal controls and five instances of “noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations.”
The laundry list of accounting failures was “due to an inability to establish a compliant control environment, implement adequate financial accounting systems, retain key financial management staff and identify appropriate accounting principles and policies,” the IG said.
If Carson does, in fact, accept the HUD Secretary job, he’s inheriting a huge mess. {eoa}
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