David Safavian

Another day, another scandal.

David Safavian, who was chief of procurement policy in the Bush administration's Office of Management and Budget until late last week, was arrested Monday on charges of making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation.

Safavian is charged with making false statements to a General Services Administration ethics officer and the GSA inspector general's office. Safavian served as chief of staff at GSA before moving to OMB.

Safavian resigned as head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy effective Friday, an OMB spokesman said. Robert Burton, associate administrator of OFPP, will head the office on an interim basis, the spokesman said.

The Justice Department announced that Safavian "allegedly aided a Washington, D.C., lobbyist in the lobbyist's attempts to acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C.," and that Safavian joined the lobbyist on a Scotland golf trip.

That "lobbyist" would be Tom DeLay's good buddy Jack Abramoff, in case you couldn't tell.

While the complaint did not identify the lobbyist, a Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was Abramoff. Andrew Blum, a spokesman for Abramoff, declined to comment.

[...]

Safavian accompanied Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican, and Abramoff on the 2002 trip, which included a stay at St. Andrew's, Scotland, the Washington Post reported last year.

This has led to speculation that Safavian is being pressured to flip on Abramoff. If that happens, who knows? Maybe it'll get Abramoff to start singing. Then the real fun will begin.

As Atrios notes, it's one big happy family over there.

As he was on the job through last week he must've had a hand in setting the Katrina procurement procedures, including allowing people to go ahead and charge up to $250,000 at a time on their credit cards. He's also, well, another hack with no experience in his field.

Mr. Safavian's wife? Oh, that's Jennifer Safavian. Her job? Chief counsel on oversight and investigations on the House Government Reform Committee.

Their latest job? Heading up the sham Katrina investigation.

These guys are a tidy bunch, aren't they? Raw Story has more, as does Josh Marshall. The original link came from The Stakeholder.

UPDATE: Julia piles on.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 20, 2005 to Scandalized! | TrackBack