(David) Safavian's sentencing set for Friday

[brooklynite]

WASHINGTON - Sentencing for former Bush administration official David Safavian was set for Friday, another election-season reminder of the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Safavian was convicted in June of lying to investigators about his relationship with the disgraced former lobbyist while Safavian was chief of staff in the General Services Administration.

It was the first jury conviction handed down in the Abramoff case, and prosecutors sought a three-year prison sentence. Safavian says that would be unfair and is asking for house arrest or probation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061027/ap_on_go_ot/lobbyist_probe_2

Too bad this couldn't have occured during National Character Counts Week.

[brooklynite]

1. Update: Safavian seeks leniency in Abramoff case

WASHINGTON - Former Bush administration official David Safavian wept as he asked for leniency in his obstruction of justice case Friday, telling a judge that his lobbyist friend Jack Abramoff manipulated him and drew him into the scandal.

Safavian, who was convicted in June of lying to investigators about his relationship with the lobbyist while Safavian was chief of staff in the General Services Administration. He helped provided Abramoff with details about GSA projects and offered advice on dealing with the agency.

At sentencing Friday, Safavian apologized for giving the appearance of impropriety but said it was not fraudulent.

"Yes, Jack Abramoff was a friend but he wasn't my coconspirator and I wasn't his," Safavian said. "There was no conspiracy to defraud anyone, least of all the taxpayers."

[turbo_satan]

2. Bullshit! Goodbye, Mr. Safavian. (n/t)

[KamaAina]

3. 18 months in the clink

Buh-bye! Oh, and I want my vanity plate to read "BUSHSUX"...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061027/ap_on_go_pr_wh/lobbyist_probe

WASHINGTON - A federal judge sentenced a former Bush administration official to 18 months in prison in the Jack Abramoff lobbying case Friday — after delivering a 30-minute eulogy for good government in Washington....

David Safavian, the former chief of staff for the General Service Administration, was sentenced on obstruction and concealment charges for lying to investigators about his relationship with Abramoff.

Safavian wept in court as he asked for leniency, but Friedman said the ex-bureaucrat had become part of Washington's culture of corruption, where congressmen listen to campaign donors and lobbyists while farming out to staff members the job of writing laws....

The case, which has become an election-year liability for Republicans, snared its first congressman this month when Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, pleaded guilty to taking expensive gifts and trips from Abramoff in return for official favors.

Drip... drip... drip...