The separation of the Bush political machine from organized crime is often like the thin layer of rock between a seemingly ordinary surface and volcanic activity rumbling below. Sometimes, the lava spews forth and the illusion of normalcy is shattered. In the weeks ahead, a dangerous eruption is again threatening to shake the Bush family’s image of legitimacy, as the pressure from intersecting scandals builds.

So far, the mainstream news media has focused mostly on the white-collar abuses of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for allegedly laundering corporate donations to help Republicans gain control of the Texas legislature, or on deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove for disclosing the identity of a covert CIA officer to undercut her husband’s criticism of George W. Bush’s case for war in Iraq.

Both offenses represent potential felonies, but they pale beside new allegations linking business associates of star GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff – an ally of both DeLay and Rove – to the gangland-style murder of casino owner Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2001. These criminal cases also are reminders of George H.W. Bush’s long record of unsavory associations, including with a Nicaraguan contra network permeated by cocaine traffickers, Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s multi-million-dollar money-laundering operations, and anti-communist Cuban extremists tied to acts of international terrorism.
Safavian, Former Chief Procurement Officer for the OMB
On October 5th, 2005, David Safavian, was accused in the federal grand jury indictment of making false statements to investigators. Safavian was arrested on September 19th, three days after resigning from his job as the chief procurement officer for the Office of Management and Budget. The charges against Safavian go back to his former position as chief of staff at the General Services Administration. While he was in that position he is accused of taking gifts from Jack Abramoff and covering up help he allegedly gave Abramoff, who was pursuing land deals with the General Services Administration. As Chief Procurement Officer for the OMB, Safavian helped create the rules for federal reconstruction contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Jack Abramoff, Lobbyist & Republican Activist
Abramoff is a central figure in a series of high-profile political scandals linked to the Republican Party. He is currently under investigation by grand juries in Washington, D.C., for his involvement in the Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal, and by a grand jury in Guam over a separate matter. He was indicted on August 11, 2005, by a third grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for bank fraud arising out of an unrelated business deal.

Abramoff also is under investigation for his ties to the murder of Konstantinos Boulis; in September 2005, police charged three men in the 2001 gangland-style slaying of the Florida businessman who was gunned down in his car months after selling a casino cruise line to a group that included Jack Abramoff. Two of the three men charged had been hired as consultants by Adam Kidan, one of Abramoff's partners in the SunCruz Casinos venture. The men accused of the murder are allegedly connected to the Gambino crime family, but had received money from Abramoff in the months before the murder.

The investigations and indictments of Abramoff have taken on significant national importance because of the lobbyist's close political connections with leading national Republicans, including President of the United States George W. Bush. Congressman Tom DeLay, former Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, has called Abramoff one of his “closest and dearest friends.” Abramoff also has been a leading George W. Bush political fundraiser.

Tom DeLay, Former House Majority Leader
On September 28th, 2005, a Texas grand jury indicted House Majority leader Tom DeLay (R - Texas) and two political associates, charging them with a conspiracy to violate Texas campaign finance laws.

The K Street Project
The K Street Project is little known outside the Washington beltway and its effectiveness as a political stratagem is only possible because of the unique importance of campaign finance to American politics. DeLay, together with Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and some conservative activists conceived the notion 10 years ago that they should use the Republican majority in the House as a lever to ensure that the lobbyists, law firms and trade associations that inhabit Washington's K Street, heart of the industry, should only employ Republicans or sympathisers. It worked. The most influential Washington lobbyist is Barbour, Griffiths and Rogers; it employs not a single Democrat. Last year, in a classic operation, House Republicans let the Motion Picture Association of America (the film industry lobby group) know that appointing a Democrat, Dan Glickman, as its head would mean $1.5 billion of tax relief for the film industry was now in peril. Glickman staffed up the MPAA with Republicans, but the threat remains. In 2003, the Republican National Committee could claim that 33 of the top 36 top-level K Street positions were in Republican hands. Today, it's even closer to a clean sweep.