Questions About Julian Castro and HUD
Now that the Trump Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency are investigating waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, it may be a suitable time to reinvestigate the actions of Julian Castro, San Antonio’s former mayor, when he was mayor and HUD secretary under Obama. Since 2014, there have been significant questions about Julian’s management as mayor and HUD Secretary.
Julian and his twin brother, Democrat Congressman Joaquin Castro, are political powerhouses in San Antonio and are considered by many as “untouchable.”
However, On May 19, 2014, Politico reported that HUD’s inspector general had found that then-Mayor Julian Castro had failed to properly spend an $8.6 million HUD grant. It was found that the funds were misused between 2009 and 2011 when San Antonio officials awarded $2.5 million in repair contracts without competitive bidding.
The report also found that the city misused $1.1 million when acquiring and fixing properties because some were not used to house lower-income families as required by HUD.
However, because San Antonio undertook measures to correct the deficiencies, no follow-up action by the HUD IG was warranted. Julian was unscathed by the finding and confirmed as HUD Secretary under President Obama.
https://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/julian-castro-san-antonio-hud-money-106848
https://www.newsmax.com/US/julian-castro-hud-san-antonio/2014/05/20/id/572262/
Two years later, in July 2016, a U.S. Office of Special Counsel report found that HUD Secretary Julián Castro violated the Hatch Act, which restricts the political activity of some federal employees, during an April interview with Yahoo News. According to the report, Castro’s statements during the interview mixed his “personal political views with the agency’s business despite his efforts to clarify that some answers were being given in his capacity.”
A federal ethics watchdog agency has found that while speaking as HUD Secretary, Castro violated a federal law against politicking on the job earlier this year when he fielded a journalist’s questions during an interview on April 14, 2016, about the presidential race and his chances of being chosen as Hillary Clinton’s running mate.
Questions were raised about what kind of Ivy League-educated attorney did not understand, or perhaps ignored, the Hatch Act.
In January 2017, Castro and HUD were named defendants in a class action suit alleging “abysmal conduct in disposing of the collateral for a loan originated by plaintiff Associated Mortgage Bankers, Inc.” According to the complaint, HUD allegedly improperly sold a property valued at $550,000 for a little more than $360,000 as part of a bulk sale of defaulted notes.
Calling Castro and HUD’s conduct “outrageous,” the plaintiff said because of the undersell, HUD (the taxpayers) had to pay losses totaling almost $175,000. Castro’s mistake cost the taxpayers money.
https://www.classaction.org/news/us-housing-and-urban-dev-secretary-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit
Later that year, in April 2017, Ben Carson, HUD Secretary under Trump, found a mind-numbing number of bookkeeping “errors” totaling just under $520 billion under Julian’s watch. The 125-page report described the mismanagement within HUD during the Julian/Obama administration.
The total errors in the department’s bookkeeping were $516.4 billion, and errors in HUD’s consolidated financial statements were $3.4 billion. Carson ordered a top-to-bottom department audit because the agency’s budget swelled under Castro and Obama, while the HUD budget was larger under Biden.
The Castro twins and their mother, Rosa, are considered Democrat political royalty in San Antonio. Rosa Castro was a radical Chicano activist who was schooled in Saul Alinsky community organizing and continues to be involved in local and state politics. The Castros influence Democrat Party politics heavily in San Antonio.
DOGE has discovered waste, fraud, and abuse in programs and projects that benefited Democrats. HUD has been a favorite agency for San Antonio Democrats since Democrat Congressman Henry Gonzales chaired the House committee through Henry Cisneros’s headship of HUD in the Clinton Administration and Julian Castro’s reign.
The City of San Antonio has created many nonprofit groups that use public funds without public accountability. These nonprofits hire community organizers who help get voters to the polls for Castro family political allies. Are HUD funds or any public funds involved in these political activities?
DOGE should investigate the Castro-HUD-public fund connection.