David Safavian, the recently resigned Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, was arrested on three counts of filing false statements and obstructing an investigation into the actions of a lobbyist, identified by some newspapers as Jack Abramhoff. The Report of the Senate Governmental Affirs Committee on Mr. Safavian's confirmation hearing on April 29, 2004, establishes a host of potential links between Mr. Safavian and Jack Abramhoff, as well as between Mr. Safavian and Grover Norquist.
Between the lines, the Report on Mr. Safavian's confirmation hearing also demonstrates a pattern of "inadvertent errors" by Mr. Safavian in preparing his biographical information for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.
The first link to Mr. Abramhoff comes in 1995 when Mr. Safavian became an associate at Preston, Gates & Ellis, a D. C. law firm where Jack Abramhoff was a partner specializing in legislative affairs and lobbying. Mr. Safavian left Preston, Gates in 1997 to work with Grover Norquist at a lobbying firm known as Janus-Merritt Strategies (formerly The Merritt Group). While with these firms, Mr. Safavian worked for a variety of clients, including the Embassy of Pakistan, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Choctaw Indian Tribe, the National Indian Gaming Association, and the Interactive Gaming Council.
In identifying potential conflicts of interest, Mr. Safavian identified the fact that his wife was chief counsel for oversight and investigations for the House Committee on Government Reform. He also noted that former clients Microsoft Corporation and Covad sell goods and services to the government.
The form questionnaire completed by Mr. Safavian on February 9, 2004, asked if he had "ever been investigated, arrested, charged or convicted (including pleas of guilty or nolo contendre) by any federal, State, or other law enforcement authority...other than for a minor traffic offense." In response, Mr. Safavian said: "I have never been arrested, charged or convicted of any violation of law outside of minor traffic violations." The ommission of the word "investigated" in Mr. Safavian's response catches my eye.
In a followup letter dated February 16, 2004, Mr. Safavian added dozens of additional lobbying and legislative affairs clients, and a further follow-on letter added additional names, including the client Dr. Jamal alBarzingi. Mr. Safavian noted that lobbying for this client related to "human rights issues related to political prisoners in Malaysia." Mr. Safavian said, "It is my intention to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct in my personal and professional lives..."
However, the Committee staff identified additional clients not disclosed by Mr. Safavian, including Pascal Lissouba, from Congo, and the President of Gabon. Again, Mr. Safavian admitted he "erroneously overlooked these clients."
In total, Mr. Safavian failed to disclose sixteen lobbying clients in his Biographical and Financial Questionnaire. Senator Lieberman asked him to explain each individual failure. The response was always the same, "Having represented a great many clients in the fifteen years I have worked in the Washington, D. C. area, my inital submission on February 9th contained a list of entities that--to the best of my ability--I could recall representing...This was inadvertent error." However, Mr. Safavian admitted that he obtained the information from the Lobbying Disclosure Act and Foreign Agents Registration Act databases.
Mr. Safavian also previewed the "Roberts gambit" in his responses to Senator Lieberman about his representation of Internet gambling associations. Senator Lieberman asked if he thought this business should be legal. Mr. Safavian responded "As a threshold matter, one accanot assume that I shared the same positions as all of myfoerm clients held. As an advocate, I argued my clients' positions to the best of my ability."