The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved Thomas Perez as U.S. Labor Secretary, despite allegations from Republican lawmakers that the Obama appointee brokered a deal with St. Paul that convinced the city to withdraw a controversial housing case from the U.S. Supreme Court calendar.
There’s more on the Perez confirmation — and the to-and-fro related to the Magner vs. Gallagher landlord dispute — here.
Here’s a tidbit:
At a contentious hearing in May, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., surprised Attorney General Eric Holder with a voice recording that he contended backed up accusations that Perez had strong-armed St. Paul into dropping its lawsuit.
Holder fired back that Issa’s action was “inappropriate and it is too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress. It is unacceptable, and it is shameful.”
Issa and others believe that Perez, acting as a higher-up in the Justice Department, told St. Paul that putting Magner vs. Gallagher before the Supreme Court would jeopardize key tenets of the Federal Fair Housing Act. In exchange for St. Paul pulling Magner vs. Gallagher out from before the Supreme Court, the Justice Department supposedly agreed not to intervene against St. Paul in a handful of additional housing-related lawsuits.
The Perez opponents called the agreement an inappropriate “quid pro quo” exchange of favors, but some inside the Beltway call that business as usual.
Details are chronicled here.
HUD on Friday published a proposed rule that, if adopted, would clarify the Fair Housing Act.