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Thursday, September 22, 2005

Ornstien on Abramoff

Now on to Abramoff. Yet another shoe dropped on Monday in this ongoing saga: the arrest of the White House’s top procurement official on charges of making false statements and obstructing an investigation related to Abramoff and the General Services Administration.

Based only on what we know now, this whole matter stinks to high heaven. The official, David Safavian, accompanied Abramoff and Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) on the now-infamous golfing trip to Scotland, and, according to the charges, apparently helped an unnamed lobbyist (guess who?) in his attempt to acquire GSA-controlled property.

It is growing increasingly clear that Abramoff’s behavior as a lobbyist set new levels for sleaziness and that he spread his tawdry net far and wide, roping in many Members of Congress, a number of high-profile conservative activists outside the government and now, it appears, even players in the executive office of the president. Federal investigators and prosecutors are not going to let go of this story and they have a trail of e-mails and documentary evidence, and also the likelihood that some of the figures in this sorry saga will turn on others to save their own necks or reduce their sentences.

It is a tale of arrogance, greed and venality that comes right out of the Gilded Age. It may well topple some major figures in Congress and others along the way. And it could be a catalyst for a broader populist reaction in the country.

But in the meantime, we will keep most of our focus on the aftermath of Katrina, and especially the huge reverberations that will flow from the president’s pledge in his speech. The sweeping call for reconstruction of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, along with the promise to make the area a new opportunity zone with dramatically different social policies and a new role for government, could provide a regional rival to the New Deal in its scope.

Go check out the whole article.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe