official, Abramoff associate arrested

[zimv20]

link (http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/092005/brief1.html)


David Hossein Safavian, the Bush administration’s top federal procurement officer in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was arrested yesterday based on a three-count criminal complaint filed in federal court, according to a Justice Department statement.

The government alleges that Safavian, as chief of staff at the General Services Administration (GSA), helped an unnamed lobbyist acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C.

Sources say the lobbyist is likely Jack Abramoff, who has been indicted by a grand jury in Florida. Safavian and Abramoff worked together at Preston, Gates and the two traveled with Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and others on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002.

Safavian allegedly told a GSA ethics officer and GSA’s inspector general that the lobbyist had no business with GSA before the August 2002 golf trip, the Justice Department statement said.

A spokesperson for Abramoff declined to comment.

Government Executive magazine reported that Safavian resigned last Friday as the head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at OMB.

[Xtremehkr]

What concerns people anymore? How apathetic have people become? Is this the level of government people are happy with, or do they feel that they cannot make a difference?

[mactastic]

I heard that Peter Pan look-alike Ralph Reed is involved in this investigation too. Just another example of corruption in the GOP now that they have their fingers in all the pies...

[zimv20]

link (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=IN7A1S0UQVI9)


Abramoff Probe May Threaten Leading Republicans as It Expands

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The widening investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff is moving beyond the confines of tawdry influence-peddling to threaten leading figures in the Republican hierarchy that dominates Washington.

This week's arrest of David Safavian, the former head of procurement at the Office of Management and Budget, in connection with a land deal involving Abramoff brings the probe to the White House for the first time.

Safavian once worked with Abramoff at one lobbying firm and was a partner of Grover Norquist, a national Republican strategist with close ties to the White House, at another. Safavian traveled to Scotland in 2002 with Abramoff, Representative Robert Ney of Ohio and another top Republican organizer, Ralph Reed, southeast regional head of President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who once called Abramoff ``one of my closest and dearest friends,'' already figures prominently in the investigation of the lobbyist's links to Republicans. The probe may singe other lawmakers with ties to Abramoff, such as Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, as well as Ney.

``These people all shared transactions together,'' said former House Democratic counsel Stan Brand, now a partner in the Washington-based Brand Law Group. ``That's always something that worries defense lawyers.''

(much more)

[Sayhey]

May I add this to the growing scandal?

Tyco Exec: Abramoff Claimed Ties to Administration
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 23, 2005; Page A06

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by President Bush's nominee to be deputy attorney general.

Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Abramoff's lobbying firm initially boasted that Abramoff could help Tyco fend off a special liability tax because he "had good relationships with members of Congress," including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

Abramoff later said "he had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" about the issue, according to the statement by Flanigan, who oversaw Tyco's dealings with Abramoff and his firm and received reports from Abramoff about progress in the lobbying campaign. Flanigan's statement is the latest indication that Abramoff promoted himself as having ready access to senior officials in the Bush administration.

A White House spokeswoman, Erin Healy, said Rove "has no recollection" of being contacted by Abramoff about Tyco's concerns....
Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html)

[zimv20]

link (http://nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Lobbyist-Probe.html?hp&ex=1128571200&en=18e1cf3c3019b78d&ei=5094&partner=homepage)


White House's Former Purchasing Chief Is Indicted

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration's former chief procurement official was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of making false statements and obstructing investigations into high-powered Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The five felony counts in the indictment charge David H. Safavian with obstructing Senate and executive branch investigations into whether he aided Abramoff in efforts to acquire property controlled by the General Services Administration around the nation's capital.

Both probes looked into an August 2002 golf outing that Safavian took to Scotland with Abramoff, former Christian Coalition executive Ralph Reed, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and others.

Safavian, a former lobbying associate of Abramoff, is the first person beyond Abramoff himself to face charges arising out of the probe of the lobbyist, who is a major Republican fundraiser with close ties to GOP leaders in Congress.

The indictment covers May 16, 2002, until January 2004, when Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, the government housekeeping agency. From November 2004 until late last month when he resigned three days before his arrest, he headed the government's top procurement officer in the Office of Management and Budget.

The indictment said Safavian falsely told a GSA ethics officer, a GSA inspector general's agent and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that Abramoff had no business with GSA at the time the Scotland trip was being planned. It said Safavian concealed that Abramoff did have business with GSA before the trip and that Safavian was aiding him in dealing with GSA.

Barbara Van Gelder, Safavian's lawyer, has said that Safavian accurately reported Abramoff was not doing business with GSA at the time of the trip, and she said Safavian would fight the charges.

Each count carries a potential top penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

[IJ Reilly]

Remember when Clinton fired the White House Travel Office staff, and it was a big, huge scandal? Nobody knew quite why, but it was anyhow.

I long for the good old days.