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00753.html

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Scandal Visits the White House

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/09/20/BL2005092000753.html

or http://heh.pl/&2kW

Scandal Visits the White House

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonopost.com
Tuesday, September 20, 2005; 12:24 PM


The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal reached into the White House yesterday,
picking off President Bush's top procurement official -- who just barely had
time to resign before being arrested.

The federal charges against David Safavian stem from his tenure as chief of
staff of the General Services Administration, predating his arrival at the
White House a year ago. But his arrest nonetheless draws renewed attention
to the ongoing corruption and influence-peddling inquiry swirling around
Abramoff, a lobbyist well known for his connections to conservative
Republicans in the White House and Congress.

And for a White House so desperate to build public confidence in its ability
to respond to the Gulf Coast disaster, it doesn't exactly help that the man
who up until Friday was overseeing contracting policy for the multi-billion
dollar relief effort has now been charged with lying and obstructing a
criminal investigation.

R. Jeffrey Smith and Susan Schmidt write in The Washington Post: "The Bush
administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was
arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal
investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the
federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a
government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff's
activities in Washington.

"The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. Safavian, 38, a
White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane
Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government
officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in
2002."

Philip Shenon and Anne E. Kornblut write in the New York Times: "The White
House said in a statement that Mr. Safavian had resigned on Friday and that
'we, of course, will cooperate fully with the Justice Department in this
investigation.' A spokesman said the White House would have no further
comment on the arrest. . . .

"His wife, Jennifer Safavian, is chief counsel for oversight and
investigations on the House Government Reform Committee, which is
responsible for overseeing government procurement and is, among other
things, expected to conduct the Congressional investigation into missteps
after Hurricane Katrina."

Shenon and Kornblut note: "The Justice Department did not reveal details of
Mr. Safavian's arrest, including where it occurred. The department also did
not say why the criminal charges were brought directly by prosecutors,
rather than by the Washington grand jury investigating Mr. Abramoff. The
Justice Department often bypasses a grand jury when a criminal case is
brought together hurriedly or when there is fear that a defendant may try to
flee."

Just recently, Safavian was the administration's point man when it came to
one of the controversial measures in the White House's recent $51.8 billion
supplemental aid request: The boosting from $15,000 to $250,000 of the upper
limit for purchases made with government-issued credit cards. Critics said
the change will allow card holders to circumvent important measures to curb
fraud and cronyism.

Here is the Justice Department's press release on Safavian's arrest.

Here is Stephen Barr 's January profile of Safavian in The Washington Post.

The Project on Government Oversight blog is keeping close tabs on the story.
So is Talking Points Memo .

In addition to Safavian, Abramoff is known to have close ties to at least
one other key White House official: Susan B. Ralston, Karl Rove's
omnipresent assistant and gatekeeper.

Here's Peter H. Stone writing in the National Journal last year: "As
presidential adviser Karl Rove set up shop in the West Wing in 2001, he was
looking for an assistant to serve as the trusted gatekeeper of his new
fiefdom. Superlobbyist and Republican fundraiser Jack Abramoff was happy to
lend a hand. Abramoff knew just the right person for the job: his own
assistant, Susan Ralston. She interviewed with Rove and got the position."

Ralston told Filipinas magazine last year: "Working for Karl Rove is like
being at the center of the Bush universe -- I am fortunate to be where I am,
and be involved in much of what goes on at the White House."

Ralston was in the news most recently for being summoned to testify in July
before the grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of CIA
operative Valerie Plame. Rove, of course, is one of the central figures in
that investigation.