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David Safavian, a former Bush administration official whose 2006 conviction over lying about his relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff was overturned on appeal, was convicted Friday on similar charges. Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration when Abramoff gave him trips and gifts in exchange for advice on how to obtain two pieces of GSA property that he wanted.

NPR's Peter Overby, who has followed the Abramoff scandal from the outset and has closely watched as others in the case have been convicted and sent to prison, has this report:

In the sprawling criminal case still emanating from Jack Abramoff's lobby operations, there's just one defendant who has fought the feds in court. And now he's lost for a second time.

David Safavian was one of the duffers on Abramoff's ill-fated golf outing to Scotland in 2002. They were buddies. But Safavian was also chief of staff at the General Services Administration -- GSA is the government's property manager -- and Abramoff had a couple deals he wanted to work with GSA. Safavian was advising him on the QT.

In 2006, a jury found Safavian guilty of lying to investigators about that back-channel relationship. Safavian appealed and won a new trial. Now a new jury has found him guilty again on essentially the same charges.

Safavian made two basic arguments. First, he said there was no ethics violation because Abramoff wasn't "doing business with GSA" according to GSA's own definition of the phrase. GSA uses the phrase to describe its contractors, and Abramoff was merely seeking to cut deals with the agency. You can read a good presentation of the argument in this column from Government Executive magazine. If the jury saw it, though, they didn't buy it.


Safavian also argued that when they went to St. Andrews, Scotland -- certainly one of the iconic Abramoff episodes -- he reimbursed the lobbyist $3,100 for his share, so his intentions were pure. But because the case went to trial, prosecutors got to ask witnesses about the junket's budget: The trans-Atlantic charter jet costing close to $100,000, $400-per-player links fees, barroom Scotch at $100 a round ... the list went on. The $3,100 didn't come close to covering it.

Of the eight men on the trip (Abramoff brought one of his sons), five are now felons. Rep. Bob Ney has served his prison time. Abramoff is still locked up. Ney aide William Heaton and Abramoff lobbyist Neil Volz got probation.

After the new verdict against Safavian, his lawyer suggested he could appeal again.

Safavian is one of two significant players in the Bush administration who've been prosecuted because of their dealings with Abramoff. When Safavian was arrested, he had left GSA and was the administration's chief procurement officer. J. Steven Griles was the deputy secretary of Interior -- that is, the department's No. 2 official -- before pleading guilty to obstructing Sen. John McCain's investigation of Abramoff.

categories: Crime And Punishment

11:50 - December 21, 2008

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