More Safavian
Over at her blog, Laura Rozen rounds up some more stories on Safavian. Quickly, here are some snippets:
From a Washington Post story this last January:
"...Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, plans to look at reorganization of the GSA and whether parts of the federal acquisition system needs modification. Safavian's wife, Jennifer Safavian, is chief counsel for oversight and investigations on the committee, and she has signed a recusal agreement that will keep her from looking into OMB and procurement matters."
Knight Ridder's story says that it was actually Safavian, rather than Abramoff, who recommended that Abramoff's wife use her maiden name when meeting with GSA officials to conceal the fact that she was the wife of a lobbyist trying to acquire GSA land. Also, in the KR story is a great email quote from Abramoff, explaing why he invited Safavian to the Scottish golfing trip: "Total business angle. He is new (chief of staff) of GSA." [Note: If someone could get POGO these Abramoff and/or Safavian emails or the affidavit, we'd be most appreciative.]
The NYT reports that, "...Mr. Safavian had recently been working on developing contracting policies for the multibillion-dollar relief effort after Hurricane Katrina." Which is not surprising given that Safavian was Bush's top procurement official until Friday. But as we noted in an earlier entry, Safavian had virtually no procurement experience coming into his political appointment. Shouldn't we at least have pros, whether they are politically connected or not, be in charge of federal agencies?
There is no connection between the reorganization of GSA and the Safavian trail. You all are idiots. You have no idea how the government works. The GSA reorganization is ENTIRELY the result of a scathing 2004 IG audit on procurement practices that have no connection to anything Safavian. The guy wasn't even here that long. He's a political appointee. He has limited management decision power. Contracting officers have control over procurements.
Posted on: Jun 20, 2006 at 11:34 AM
Honey, the fact that Kelman defends Safavian's qualifications is like my 15 year old son defending the rights of girls to wear belly shirts to high school. It doesn't mean it's good for the community or the public, but it's driven by Kelman's self serving interests in his anti-taxpayer "reforms" that have been advanced by Safavian.
Posted on: Sep 23, 2005 at 05:08 PM
http://www.missoula.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl? We are leftwing forum and we need your help to fight facism!
Posted on: Sep 23, 2005 at 04:28 PM
http://www.missoula.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl?
Posted on: Sep 23, 2005 at 04:27 PM
Safavian was unqualified according to the NYT. Really? Steve Kellman, the OFPP Administrator under Clinton doesn't seem to agree. See URL for link to Kellman's April 25th editorial in Federal Computer Week.
Posted on: Sep 23, 2005 at 12:38 AM
Raw Story has posted the affidavit.
Posted on: Sep 20, 2005 at 03:56 PM