[Mb-civic] Scandal Visits the White House - Dan Froomkin - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

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."

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