disconnect

Just so we all know the kind of people that Bush has put in charge of doling out the billions in Gulf Coast reconstruction money...

Ex-White House Aide Charged in Corruption Case

A senior White House budget official who resigned abruptly last week was arrested Monday on charges of lying to investigators and obstructing a federal inquiry involving Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist who has been under scrutiny by the Justice Department for more than a year.

The arrest of the official, David H. Safavian, head of procurement policy at the Office of Management and Budget, was the first to result from the wide-ranging corruption investigation of Mr. Abramoff, once among the most powerful and best-paid lobbyists in Washington and a close friend of Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader.

. . .

The White House said in a statement that Mr. Safavian had resigned on Friday and that "we, of course, will cooperate fully with the Justice Department in this investigation." A spokesman said the White House would have no further comment on the arrest.

Mr. Safavian had recently been working on developing contracting policies for the multibillion-dollar relief effort after Hurricane Katrina.