From 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. Until his resignation on the day the criminal complaint against him was signed, Safavian was the top administrator at the federal procurement office in the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he set purchasing policy for the entire government.
Abramoff was indicted by federal prosecutors in Miami last month on unrelated charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. He remains the linchpin of an 18-month probe by a federal task force that includes the Internal Revenue Service, the Interior Department and the Justice Department’s fraud and public integrity units. His lawyer did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
Accompanying Safavian and Abramoff on the 2002 trip to Scotland, for example, were Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee, lobbyist and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and Neil Volz, a lobbyist with Abramoff at the Washington office of Greenburg Traurig.
So the Bush Administration’s top procurement official (that’s buying shit) has been arrested for a coverup regarding activities with and investigations of Jack Abramoff (the lobbyist) whose campaign finance schemes with Tom DeLay (the House majority leader) have put DeLay’s PAC under indictment?
Where, oh, where does this tangled web of deception and intrigue lead?
It looks like the Republican corruption scandal in Ohio, but on a national scale – linking Tom DeLay, George W. Bush, and a whole bunch of others.
To no one responsible getting the blame?
let’s hope it leads right up to the top!
hachet-men,like tom delay and karl rove, are more slippery than a worm avoiding a hook. let’s get these guys for bait to catch the big cats: i.e. george and dick!
So far, despite all the evidence and investigations Tom DeLay has been untouched, Karl Rove still has his job, and all the other people (including Catherine Harris from the previous posting) have been either untouched or rewarded for basically being sneaky, devious, underhanded, corrupt, lying, corporate/White House yes-people. Until we get rid of this Congress and replace it with some people with real integrity, i don’t expect anything to change in Washington. They haven’t been listening to our complaints for the past 6 years, why should they start now? Face it, our government is as corrupt as any other on the earth. America has lost its place as the moral bastion of people who hope for freedom from oppression, fairness of treatment under the law, and a place where all voices may be heard and regarded. We’re a model of how to run a crooked regime now. Just take over the media and spew all kinds of fear hatred, and nationalism and practice constant censorship of any criticism of your leadership, all under the guise of religious principles and you’re good to go. The corporate world has bought the government off to the extent that the common man has no worth today. Labor is shot, wages are stagnant and insubstantial, health care is only for those who can afford it, and Congress does the bidding of the lobbyists with the most money to contribute to their remaining in power. Democracy has been shanghaied by a coalition of the religious right, the rich, and international corporations. Now that we’re practically bankrupt as a nation, it’ll be a long time before any significant positive change will be noticed.
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This little thread, it turns out, led to Jack Abramoff pleading guilty. Abramoff is now preparing to rat out the members of Congress he bribed.
Little thread gets big.