Dumb cronyism has never before seen the likes of this: Donald Trump has appointed the woman who planned son Eric’s wedding to run the HUD office that oversees federal housing programs in New York and New Jersey — and she’ll be in charge of billions of taxpayer dollars:
She’s arranged tournaments at Trump golf courses, served as the liaison to the Trump family during his presidential campaign, and even arranged Eric Trump’s wedding.
Now President Trump has appointed longtime loyalist Lynne Patton — who has zero housing experience and claims a law degree the school says she never earned — to run the office that oversees federal housing programs in New York.
Patton was appointed Wednesday to head up the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region II, which includes New York and New Jersey, where she’ll oversee distribution of billions of taxpayer dollars.
Isn’t this simply incredible? But like everything in TrumpWorld, it only gets worse. This from Vanity Fair:
But this story goes even further into macabre farce, because every story does these days. The Daily News notes that Patton’s LinkedIn profile lists Quinnipiac University Law School under education, though next to “J.D.” it says “(N/A).” What could that mean? The Daily News was curious, so they called up Quinnipiac, and then reported the following: “school registrar Jim Benson said Patton attended for two semesters but did not graduate.”
Which is all rather perfect. We should all start putting “N/A” next to things we haven’t done but sort of want people to think we have done. Maybe the bank could put “$10,000,000 (N/A)” on my bank statement when I’m applying for an apartment. Should I put “Dated Andrew Garfield (N/A)” in my Tinder bio or something? This little trick opens up such a world of possibilities! Thank you, Lynne “Successfully Oversaw Public Housing for New York City (N/A)” Patton!
A wedding planner is in charge of Public Housing for New York City. Ben Carson, who informed us just last month that poverty is only a state of mind, is in charge of HUD, and this rocket scientist, with the interesting resume nomenclature (it’s original, I’ll give her that) is in charge of Region II, of HUD. And local politicians are not taking this lying down:
“Look, like many things in the Trump universe, we’re dealing with things we’ve never seen here before,” [New York Mayor Bill] de Blasio, a Democrat who held the regional director’s job during Bill Clinton’s presidency, told [radio] host Brian Lehrer. “Folks in that role historically have had, you know, substantial background in government or in housing, et cetera.”
In a letter dated Friday and posted to her Facebook page, Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) demanded that Trump remove Patton “immediately.”
“This is not ‘The Apprentice’; the federal government is not your personal patronage system,” Meng wrote.
People are indignant, and righteously so. This is beyond the pale even for Donald Trump.