Frustrated with Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson's refusal to respond to allegations of ethical misconduct, two powerful Democratic senators Friday called for Jackson to resign.

	"The American people do not need a HUD Secretary that is distracted by the clouds of Justice Department investigations and reports of an empanelled grand jury." —Sens. Christopher Dodd and Patty Murray

In a letter to President Bush, Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., said that "Jackson is no longer able to effectively carry out his responsibilities and is unfit to serve as Secretary of HUD." They asked Bush "to immediately request" Jackson's resignation.

At separate hearings last week chaired by Dodd and Murray, Jackson refused to answer questions about his purported ethical missteps as HUD chief.

Dodd, chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, later fired off a letter to Jackson demanding answers to allegations that Jackson had misused his office to help award HUD contracts to friends. Jackson did not respond personally, but an aide wrote Dodd that the agency would answer the questions "at a later date." Murray is chairman of Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, which funds HUD programs.

President Bush, a longtime friend of Jackson's, rejected the senators' request. In a statement, deputy White House press secretary Scott M. Stanzel said that the president "continues to have confidence in Secretary Jackson." The statement went on, "Our focus should be on helping responsible homeowners stay in their homes," and called on Congress to pass legislation to reform the Federal Housing Administration.

Jerry Brown, a spokesman for Jackson, declined to respond to the resignation request. However, in a statement, he struck a similar theme on the housing crisis. He said that Jackson has "worked tirelessly" to get Congress to pass legislation that would help stabilize the housing market. "Yet the Hill has still not acted," the statement said, "and the crisis gets worse."

Jackson is under criminal investigation in an inquiry directed by William Welch, the chief of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section. Agents from the FBI and the HUD Inspector General's Office, using subpoenas from a federal grand jury in Washington, have been amassing evidence about Jackson's role in contracting at HUD. Jackson has been secretary since 2004 after serving as deputy secretary beginning in 2001.

National Journal has reported that the investigation centers on whether Jackson aided friends in winning no-bid work at the Housing Authority of New Orleans, or HANO, and at the Virgin Islands Housing Authority. Investigators also are exploring whether Jackson played a role in awarding a $127 million project to redevelop the St. Bernard public housing project in New Orleans to a contracting team that included an Atlanta company, Columbia Residential. Jackson formerly was associated with Columbia Residential, which owes him at least $250,000 for services he provided to the company before he joined HUD, according to his financial disclosure reports.

Jackson testified before Murray's panel in May 2007 that he did not get involved in contracting. "I don't touch contracts," he told the Senate panel. In an earlier interview with the office of HUD Inspector General Kenneth Donohue, Jackson denied under oath intervening in contract awards.

In their letter to President Bush, Dodd and Murray were sharply critical of Jackson for refusing to answer their questions, including whether he and other HUD officials had retaliated against the Philadelphia Housing Authority after that agency allegedly refused to help a Jackson friend.

"The nation is in the midst of a housing crisis and it is imperative that the Department of Housing and Urban Development be headed by a leader who can work tirelessly to find solutions to the problems plaguing the housing and mortgage markets," they wrote. "Unfortunately, the allegations surrounding Secretary Jackson, as well as his rejection of appropriate Congressional oversight of his department, undermine his ability to effectively address the current housing crisis."

The senators went on to say that "the American people do not need a HUD Secretary that is distracted by the clouds of Justice Department investigations and reports of an empanelled grand jury."

In a separate statement, Murray bluntly said: "It is time for Secretary Jackson to go." She said that at her subcommittee hearing last week, she repeatedly asked Jackson about allegations of wrongdoing, giving him the opportunity "to debunk any misunderstandings and clear his name." Instead, she said, Jackson refused "to provide the answers the American public deserves." She added that Jackson should resign and "seek to clear his name as a private citizen -- if he can."

Jackson, who has retained a criminal defense attorney, told Murray's panel last week: "I think it is best, with all the misinformation being put out there right now, to simply let the investigators do their job quickly and expeditiously as possible ... Therefore, I'm going to let the investigators complete their work before I make any public comment."