2/27/2018

BEN CARSON/ETHICS/HUD/TREASURY: “A high-ranking civil servant at the Department of Housing and Urban Development claims she was demoted after raising concerns about agency spending and Secretary Ben Carson’s redecorating plans.
In a sworn complaint to the Office of Special Counsel, HUD official Helen Foster said she was targeted for reprisals in part because incoming Trump administration officials believed her to be a Democrat.
In December 2016, after six months at the agency, Foster was promoted to chief administrative officer, a high-level job that includes oversight of spending and office space. By July 2017, she was demoted without warning or explanation, her lawyer says… The Guardian newspaper reported the story earlier on Tuesday [2-27-18].
Foster also raised questions about more than $10 million in 2016 budget shortfalls that occurred under the watch of her predecessor, a lifelong civil servant. Those concerns were ignored, she said. She also objected to the agency’s handling of a DNC request for public documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
At her own request, Foster has been detailed temporarily to the Treasury Department while her complaint is investigated, said her lawyer, Joseph Kaplan of Passman & Kaplan in Washington.”

-Lorraine Woellert, “HUD civil servant claims retaliation after red-flagging Carson’s decorating,” Politico, Feb. 27, 2018 06:32pm