Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Dr. Ben Carson could remain working for the Trump Administration should the president be re-elected in November, according to notes which were seen by reporters during a speech he delivered in Atlanta this week. The presence of the notes was originally reported by Bloomberg.
Carson inadvertently allowed reporters to see the notes from his podium during the speech, which indicated that he wished to remain in the government if President Trump is given a second term in the White House by voters. The notes also revealed that Carson is unhappy with the office in the White House which places political appointees into federal agencies.
“I am very loyal to you and after you win I hope to stay in your administration,” the notes read. “I am not happy with the way PPO is handling my agency.”
The acronym “PPO” is in reference to the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, and oversees the approval process for political hires across the federal government. The content of Carson’s notes were not uttered by the Secretary when he made his remarks. While Carson appears to be committed to remaining in the Trump Administration, his notes do not specify whether or not he would wish to remain in his current role or find another one.
Carson’s desire to stay in the Trump Administration into a possible second term is an apparent change in stance from the HUD Secretary, who last year told a conservative news outlet that he had hoped to return to the private sector after finishing out the president’s current term which expires on January 20, 2021.
“I will certainly finish out this term,” Carson said to Newsmax TV in March of 2019. “I would be interested in returning to the private sector because I think you have just as much influence, maybe more, there.”
In his position as HUD Secretary, Carson has publicly stated his support for the reverse mortgage program as a necessary tool to provide seniors with more options to age in place. In late 2019, Carson appeared confident about the financial standing of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, telling a reporter at the time that a period of financial turmoil for the program inside the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (MMIF) had appeared to stabilize.
“The hemorrhaging [in the HECM portfolio] appears to have stopped,” Carson told HousingWire in November 2019. “But we’re still keeping a close eye on it.”
Read the article at Bloomberg.
