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White House OMB official David Safavian arrested, for allegedly obstructing a GSA investigation and making false statements concerning his ties to Jack Abramoff:
(Thx to POGO for the heads up)....The affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges that from May 16, 2002 until January 10, 2004, Safavian served as Chief of Staff at the GSA. During that time he allegedly aided a Washington D.C. lobbyist in the lobbyist's attempts to acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C. In August 2002, this lobbyist allegedly took Safavian and others on a golf trip to Scotland.
The false statement and obstruction of the investigation charges relate to Safavian's statements to a GSA ethics officer and the GSA-OIG that the lobbyist had no business with GSA prior to the August 2002 golf trip. According to the affidavit, Safavian concealed the fact that the lobbyist had business before GSA prior to the August 2002 golf trip, and that Safavian was aiding the lobbyist in his attempts to do business with GSA
Since Nov. 29, 2004, Safavian has served as the administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget...
Update: Reader MP writes, "Just in case you've missed these items in your web searching on David Safavian":
You couldn't make this stuff up... More from the AP:...Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, plans to look at reorganization of the GSA and whether parts of the federal acquisition system needs modification. Safavian's wife, Jennifer Safavian, is chief counsel for oversight and investigations on the committee, and she has signed a recusal agreement that will keep her from looking into OMB and procurement matters.
...David Safavian, then-chief of staff of the General Services Administration and a former Abramoff lobbying associate, concealed from federal investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do business with GSA when Safavian joined him on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002, according to an FBI affidavit and the officials.
At the time, FBI agent Jeffrey A. Reising said in the affidavit, a lobbyist _ identified separately as Abramoff _ had enlisted Safavian's help in trying to gain control of 40 acres of land at the Federal Research Center at White Oak in Silver Spring, Md., for a private high school that Abramoff helped establish and supported.For his part, Safavian edited a letter the lobbyist was preparing to send to GSA, and arranged and attended a meeting involving a GSA official, the lobbyist's wife and others to discuss leasing the property, the affidavit said.
Abramoff told his wife to use her maiden name at the meeting because Safavian sought to play down Abramoff's involvement, the affidavit said, citing an e-mail from Abramoff.
Safavian was given clearance to go on the August 2002 golf trip after telling GSA's ethics officer that the lobbyist "has no business before GSA," the affidavit said.
Nine people, including Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, made the trip and played golf on the fabled Old Course at St. Andrews. Safavian paid $3,100 for the travel, "in the exercise of discretion," he said, as quoted in the affidavit. The total cost was more than $100,000, the affidavit said.
Safavian moved to the Office of Management and Budget last year, becoming the administration's top procurement official. He resigned that post, effective Friday, OMB spokesman Alex Conant said....
More from Knight-Ridder, which reports that it was Safavian, not Abramoff, who suggested that Abramoff's wife use her maiden name in her meeting with the GSA officials:
Wonder who recommended Safavian to the White House for the job in the first place? Abramoff recommend it to Rove? Norquist?In a June 15, 2002, e-mail to a colleague, according to the affidavit, the lobbyist explained why he'd invited Safavian on the golfing trip: "Total business angle. He is new (chief of staff) of GSA."
From May 2002, when Safavian was the GSA's chief of staff, through the August golf trip, the affidavit says the lobbyist sought to acquire as a site for his high school some 40 acres at the Naval Surface Warfare Center-White Oak, which was controlled by GSA. The FBI affidavit also says the lobbyist also sought changes in regulations for another GSA-controlled building in Washington, the Old Post Office, in ways that could have benefited his Indian tribal clients seeking to lease and develop the building.
E-mail excerpts quoted in the affidavit suggest Safavian offered advice to the lobbyist on how to approach the GSA and lobby Congress to secure the land. He forwarded internal communications to the lobbyist, the affidavit says. And Safavian counseled the lobbyist's wife not to use her marital name during a meeting with GSA officials to discuss providing land for the school.
In a July 21, 2002, e-mail to a colleague, the lobbyist wrote that Safavian was "totally supportive" of the efforts to acquire the White Oak land for his school, the affidavit said.
At the White House budget office, spokesman Alex Conant said that Safavian had resigned Friday and the office was cooperating in the investigation...
Safavian, who once was an Abramoff colleague at a Washington law firm, was tapped by President Bush for the White House budget post in November 2003, and was confirmed by the Senate nearly a year later.