absolute power

[theknife]

it's something less than a surprise that, less than one year after winning the trifecta of American politics (control of the White House, the Senate, and the House Of Representatives), the GOP leadership of all three are enmeshed in criminal investigations.

first we have Bill Frist, Republican Senate Majority leader, apparently engaging in the same activities that sent Martha Stewart to jail:

The federal government broadened its inquiry Friday into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's sale of stock in the giant hospital chain that his family founded.

The company, Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA, and Frist's office said Friday that investigators from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York had requested documents related to the sale, which occurred shortly before the stock price plunged.

meanwhile, in the White House, Karl Rove, Andrew Card and the rest of senior staff have more to think about than just the Valerie Plame grand jury. the indictment of lobbyist Jack Abramoff has segued into the first arrest of a ex-White House official (ex as in "quit Friday, arrested Monday"):

WASHINGTON -- The arrest of a former White House official marks a new phase in the investigation of Jack Abramoff in which authorities are seeking to extract information about the high-powered Republican lobbyist.

David Safavian was arrested Monday and charged with making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation relating to a 2002 golf outing to Scotland with Abramoff; former Christian Coalition executive Ralph Reed; US Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio; and others.

Safavian is the first person to face charges arising out of the investigation of Abramoff, a major Republican fund-raiser with close ties to GOP leaders in Congress.

the Abramoff indictment is now raising questions about his relationship with Karl Rove as well:

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by President Bush's nominee to be deputy attorney general.

Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Abramoff's lobbying firm initially boasted that Abramoff could help Tyco fend off a special liability tax because he "had good relationships with members of Congress," including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

but that's not Delay's only nagging legal problem:

A grand jury in Texas indicted yesterday a state political action committee organized by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for accepting $120,000 in allegedly illegal corporate campaign contributions shortly before and after the 2002 elections that helped Republicans cement their control of the House of Representatives.

it's worth noting that, unlike the Clinton years, these are not congressional investigations by the opposition party. the assorted and often overlapping probes are just good old-fashioned investigations by the SEC and state/federal prosecutors and grand juries. as always, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[albed]

Also unlike the Clinton years those don't involve foreign nations like China and Indonesia subverting the US by buying influence from the democratic party.

And no imprisoned drug kingpins buying their pardons either.

Clinton still holds the prize for absolute corruption.

Give the man a cigar.

[Drakonix]

LOL Clinton gave the cigar to Lewinsky.

The Chinese are naming a new line of condoms "in honor of" Clinton and Lewinsky.

[theknife]

David Safavian, the chief of the White House's federal procurement office official who resigned several days before his arrest has apparently had the additional distinction of being a lobbyist for clients associated with Hamas and Hezbollah - groups the US has designated as terrorist organizations and therefore, with whom the US is at war:

Arrested ex-official initially didn't tell panel about work
Susan Schmidt, R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Washington -- David Safavian, the Bush administration official arrested Monday, initially failed to disclose lobbying work he had done for several controversial foreign clients when he went before a Senate panel last year to be confirmed as chief of the White House's federal procurement office.

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held up Safavian's nomination for more than a year, in part because of lawmakers' concerns about lobbying work for two men later accused of links to suspected terror organizations, according to committee documents. The Senate panel nevertheless approved him unanimously, and the Senate followed suit on Nov. 21, 2004.

Safavian was arrested Monday on charges of lying and obstructing an investigation into former powerhouse lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the federal government. Safavian resigned his government post Friday. Tuesday, his attorney, Barbara Van Gelder, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Senate approval of Safavian occurred two months after the Washington Post disclosed Safavian's participation in an August 2002 golf trip to Scotland with Abramoff. That trip was central to the criminal complaint against Safavian unsealed Monday.

Tuesday, a spokeswoman for committee chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the review of Safavian's background had been thorough.

The record of Safavian's confirmation shows extensive questioning by the committee staff about his alleged lobbying for local Muslim leader Abdurahman Alamoudi, who in October 2000 made widely publicized comments supporting Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, at a rally in Lafayette Park.

Lobby disclosure forms originally filed by Safavian's firm, Janus-Merritt Strategies, show that it represented Alamoudi, a prominent Muslim activist, until 2001. Alamoudi has since been convicted and imprisoned for accepting money from the Libyan government as part of an alleged plot to assassinate the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

Janus-Merritt Strategies changed its lobby disclosure forms in 2001 to indicate that its client was not Alamoudi but Jamal Barzinji. In March 2002, Barzinji was named in a search warrant affidavit filed by a Customs Service official as "the officer or director" of a group of entities in Northern Virginia "controlled by individuals who have shown support for terrorists or terrorist fronts." No charges have been filed against Barzinji, and he has denied any wrongdoing.

Safavian told the committee in an April 16, 2004, letter that he and his firm had never done any work for Alamoudi. He said the firm had lobbied at Barzinji's request to gain U.S. support to free the former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, who was imprisoned for six years.

Safavian also told the committee that he had "overlooked" two other clients while preparing his initial submissions for the OMB position. He did not initially mention work as a registered foreign agent for Gabon, a country persistently rated by the United States as having a "poor" human rights record, or his work as a registered foreign agent for Pascal Lissouba, the former president of the Republic of Congo who has been tried in absentia for treason and embezzlement.

Safavian, former chief of staff at the General Services Administration, is charged with three counts of making false statements and obstructing a GSA investigation into his ties with Abramoff. Before joining the government, Safavian worked as a lobbyist with Abramoff, then founded Janus-Merritt Strategies with antitax crusader Grover Norquist.

edit:

Originally Posted by albed

unlike the Clinton years those don't involve foreign nations...

no, just terrorist groups.

[Mazer]

Don't you see that the fact that people are being investigated and possibly indicted is evidence to the fact that they don't have absolute power?

I await your witty, sidelong response followed up with an other opinion editorial. I know you won't disapoint.

[JackSpratts]

Originally Posted by Mazer

Don't you see that the fact that people are being investigated and possibly indicted is evidence to the fact that they don't have absolute power?

I await your witty, sidelong response followed up with an other opinion editorial. I know you won't disapoint.

well if you'd been rotting away in some orwellian patriot act prison somewhere tied naked to chairs with no access to lawyers, or phones, or any way to contact loved ones, with armed, arrogant keepers poking you, and baiting you, screaming obsenities at you and dogs barking and scaring the hell out of you, lights on lights off, no chair to sit in nor bed to lay in, sprayed with ice water, told when to eat, when to sleep, when to piss, made to crap in your pants, and had this been going on for years without you having been so much as charged with jaywalking, you might begin to feel these guys had absolute power over you.

guess what? i'd forgive you for thinking so.

- js.