When the Obama administration picked Adolfo Carrión to serve as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Regional Director for New York and New Jersey, the candidate recommended by U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg was rejected. Lautenberg had urged HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to give the job to John Clarke, the longtime Executive Director of the New Brunswick Housing Authority. Carrión is a former Bronx Borough President who has been working on the White House staff since last year. In recent years, a New Jerseyan had occupied the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional post, while a New Yorker had the HUD job. Now New York, and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, has both.
