The Next One?

Federal prosecutors have revealed 278 emails between accused former Bush administration official David Safavian and admitted fixer Jack Abramoff, according to AP. The messages show a close and cozy relationship between the now-fallen uber-lobbyist and the former director of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, a position to which Safavian was appointed by President Bush. Before going to the White House, Safavian was chief of staff in the General Services Administration, source of a huge number of government contracts that could have been--and, we may expect prosecutors to argue, were--valuable to Abramoff's clients.

Safavian's trial is scheduled to begin May 22nd. Want to place a bet on when a deal is struck and Safavian becomes the next former insider to roll over and tell all he knows? And if--or when--he does what will he say about people in and around the White House?

The tide laps still higher.

(A word should be said about the prosecutors who have been dismantling the network of corruption in the Republican establishment in Washington. Given GOP control of Congress and the White House--not to mention the number of Republican judges before whom they have to appear--these lawyers show that professionalism still exists in the Justice Department. One good thing for the public interest: the multiple pleas and continuing investigations are making it harder and harder for political pressure to block or divert the widening circle of investigations; the threat of open resistance and a Watergate-style calamity is getting to be just too high. That may not stop an attempt, however; we've already seen how ham-fisted the people in the administration can be. Keep your eyes and ears open.)