Dear Earnest Reader,

You are absolutely wrong! This is a witch hunt and any anyone that sat through the entire trial as I did would know that.

First of all, if they were looking to have Safavian “throw someone under the bus” they would not have the nerve to retrial this case - he did not do it before and hes unlikly to do it on the second run. They have already bankrupt, embarrassed, ruined, and disgraced Safavian’s name in a trial that was ON ALL APPEALED ACCOUNTS OVERTURNED. Now DOJ, who has a hot headed young attorney trying to make his name on this case in the first chair seat they decide to retry it... Earnest you are kidding your self if you think this is still true.

Secondly, Safavian went before the ethics committee and got APPROVAL to go on this trip for FREE. Only after receiving the ethics approval did he decide that he would just gentlemanly pay for his portion of the trip. You have to realize that if you have 10 people each throwing in $3,100 the total trip then looks pretty reasonable at $31,000 for a weekend. Safavian was tagging along as a friend and former colleague of Jacks, and whether he went or not – paid or not – Jack was paying some of the others on the trip. Safavian asked Jack, a trusted friend, "how much do I owe you for my portion of the cost" and Jack responded with this figure. Without going too far into researching the costs and not thinking that a trusted friend would lie or deflate the cost of the trip, it is VERY reasonable for anyone to think that $3,100 is a fair portion of the trip.

Finally, the whole case was surrounded by the terms “doing business”. This term can have a variety of meanings and when asked by ethics officials Safavian said that Jack did not have any business before GSA. When the Defense tried to call a witness that would help clarify this term, DOJ shut them down and refused to allow him to testify… how is this just?

Anyone who has every met David Safavian would know what a genuine, caring and ethical person he is. He was a law enforcement volunteer and a man who worked so hard at what ever he did, and sadly, now he has been ruined. What more does DOJ want out of this case? Talk about a waste of taxpayer’s money…

Shame, shame, shame on the Republicans in Washington and on the President for allowing this Kangaroo Court to ruin a very good man, and waste millions of tax payer dollars, without a peep from any of them. It is time for the public to get MAD at the hours, manpower, and money that is wasted on this kind of trial when Wall Street Schenanigans, Fannie and Freddie fraud, and potential terrorists are ignored due to a "staff shortage". This is the kind of thing that is making qualified people steer clear of politics...previously political enemies were satisfied if they forced you to resign...now they want to put you in jail and bankrupt you with legal fees. At least a dozen from the FBI/DOJ were observed at each day of the 10 day+ trial. Can you imagine the tax money spent on lawyers and other expenses for two long trials? Now I hear the DOJ is going to pay to fly someone from Europe to show pictures of the fancy hotel ....ridiculous waste of money.
Why was this man thrown under the bus? Obviously for headlines, they wanted someone connected to the administration.He was the only one connected to Abramoff that would not plead out, because he is innocent. Other government scandals with huge noncompetitive contracts awarded to friends or under the table cash payments just result in a resignation, whereas, at worse this may have been an insignificant underpayment, not necessary as this qualified as a gift from a long time friend. Not one free meal, not one dollar hidden in a freezer, not one lucrative job for a relative, was ever offered up in this trial.
All the prosecution proved were emails that prove Safavien turned down earlier chances to leave gov. service and make real money; and he turned down most invites for golf and lunch because he was always working too hard (as his boss confirmed in the trial). The GSA "business" referred to in the trial was an inquiry to see if there was any lease property available for a non-profit school....no one would try to bribe a person for that...where is the money??
Read the appellate Judges opinion if you want to see how unfair the first trial was. I bet Safavien will win this one on appeal also after the same Judge allows the the prosecuters to make Safavien appear as a wealthy elitist member of the good ole boy club. The irony is Safavien was a very middle class, hard working, over-achiever who just had the bad luck of enjoying occasional golf with a former co-worker who had a side that was not shown to Safavien. Who has never had a friend that disappointed you??
Does that justify jail time?