So apparently it was Follow-the-Money-Monday in Washington yesterday, which nine times out of ten will mean trouble for the GOP. On the same day that the FEC filed suit against the pro-Republican political group Club for Growth (in what may well be the first of many actions taken against soft money groups in both parties), David Safavian, the top federal procurement official at the White House, is arrested for lying about his involvement with — and obstructing the investigation into — “Casino Jack” Abramoff. Safavian, who as of last week was not only “setting purchasing policy for the entire government” but active in Katrina relief efforts, has a history of crooked behavior — he was earlier a bagman for Utah Rep. Chris Cannon. So, naturally, Dubya put the guy in charge of the nation’s pursestrings in 2004.
And here’s an interesting triangle for you. Safavian is also “a former lobbying partner of anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, he of the “drowning goverment” and “bipartisanship is date rape” quips, at a firm they co-founded called Janus Merritt (It was acquired in 2002.) As it turns out, Norquist was also — and I can’t believe I hadn’t heard this before — none other than Casino Jack‘s college roommate. Hmmm…you think maybe the shredder was working overtime this weekend at Americans for Tax Reform? Update: Upon further review, the article calling Norquist and Abramoff college roommates was probably wrong. However, their close college connection as leading Reagan Youth in Massachusetts (along with Christian Coalition guru Ralph Reed) is without question — more in the comments.
Great Ghu, that’s a tangled nest of vipers. (to mash several metaphors…)
God, really? Norquist and Casino Jack? I hadn’t heard that. That almost can’t be right, except I very much want to believe it. Casino Jack is so obviously a crook… but Christ, do I hate Grover Norquist.
More on their college relationship here: “The two men’s paths have intersected frequently since their days as young Republicans, organizing Massachusetts campuses for Ronald Reagan in 1980; Mr. Norquist was at Harvard, Mr. Abramoff at Brandeis.
The next year, Mr. Norquist managed Mr. Abramoff’s successful campaign to become chairman of College Republicans, a national campus organization; the two men left amid complaints of financial mismanagement. Similar criticism followed them to Citizens for America, a conservative group that shut down soon after they left.”
So, I suppose they could’ve been roommates if they lived off-campus, but that kinda stretches the term “college roommate.” The author who called them roommates might have been thinking of Ralph Reed, who apparently often slept on Abramoff’s couch.
That being said, they were clearly thick as thieves well-back into the college days.