The NY Times reports that David Safian, a White House Budget Official, that lied to investigators about his relationship to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Judge Paul Freedman of the Federal District Court admonished the convicted liar at sentencing.  His remarks reflect the publics growing disgust with the current culture of corruption in Washington.  According to the Times:

 “He came to work in an environment that has become, frankly, more and more corrupt,” Judge Friedman said in announcing Mr. Safavian’s sentence, which was half of the three-year prison term sought by the Justice Department.

“It’s become corrupted by money,” Judge Friedman added. “You’ve literally got lobbyists sitting in Congressional offices writing legislation. That’s what’s going on.”

Mr. Safavian’s crimes, he said, were a “classic case of abuse of the public’s trust.”

JD Hayworth, this one's for you:  Bad boys, bad boys…whacha gonna do…..whacha gonna do when they come for you? 

In an astonishing OPEd in the Arizona Republic today, JD Hayworth is exposed an uncivilized bully.  For every election since Hayworth has been running, the Arizona Republic has firmly endorsed his candidacy, but this time they unequivocally endorse his opponent.

A quote from the article:

And that scalding approach doesn't help get anything done…It is high time to hit this matter squarely: J. D. Hayworth is a bully. He may not yet have reached the point where you can't take him anywhere, but you certainly can't take him to a calm, civil discussion.  

The Republic goes on to say the JD Hayworth no longer represents the values and views of Arizona's 5th Congressional district.  They called JD's book "a quickie border-security book" designed to divide the community on the issue.  The Republic analysis of Hayworth is that his past "cartoonish" attitude has turned exploitive and angry as Hayworth "shamelessly" exploits the immigration issue. 

According to the AZ Republic, Jonathan and Irit Tratt were sent by JD to address the National Council of Jewish Women candidates at a synagog in North Phoenix, the Temple Beth Israel, last week.  Since the Tratt's have given $7,800 to JD's campaing in 2005, JD must know them pretty well to trust them to represent him at an important event.

JD's relationship with Phoenix Jewish population has been tenuous since the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix published an editorial last July about Hayworth's praise of Henry Ford, a know anti-Semite, in his book, Whatever It Takes.  It's amazing JD did not try to attend himself if he was so concerned about what the Jewish population thinks of him.

The Tratt's were not met with a friendly crowd during their speech and did not manage the adversarial crowd very well.  Mr. Tratt at was goated into saying that Hayworth, a Southern Baptist Christian, is a "more observant Jew" than Jewish members of the audience.

Wow. That's a real campaign killer.  So much so it propted a walk out at the event.

The AZ Republic quoted JD's response on the incident:

If you think writing a piece on something that occurred outside my district is valuable, then please go ahead, but I have no comment, because I don't know.

Essentially JD's excuse was since the offended Jews in question were not in his district they do not matter.  What about the Hispanics in your district?  Do they get to stay while you deport and harass the rest of them?  The sooner JD's term in Congress is over, the better off the people of Arizona and District 5 will be.

That's what his fellow Republicans are saying about him after JD issued the following statement yesterday regarding an incident with AZ State Representative Russell Pearce (R-Mesa):

Given the regrettable and disturbing nature of the email Russell Pearce circulated earlier today, I cannot in good conscience lend my endorsement to his candidacy for State Representative. While Russell has issued an apology for his email, I nonetheless will not be associated with any communication that contains anti-Semitic remarks.

In brief, Pearce was surfing the net and came across a web page he thought was insightful.  He emailed it to his friends and colleges (including JD) before he found out it was put out by an anti-Semitic hate group.  He apologized immediately after he discovered his blunder, yet JD, who will NEVER apologize about anything, stabbed him squarely in the back.

Back in July, Hayworth was nailed by the Jewish community for praising Henry Ford in his book, "Whatever it Takes".  Ford is a known anti-Semitic. 

Hayworth's compassion obviously extends to no one.   Pearce is a fellow Republican who was proud to put JD Hayworth's endorsement on his web page, but alas JD shot one of his own through the heart in order to save his own skin after this July blunder.  Nice moral values, JD.