Opponent takes issue with Cannon letter

OREM — The first man facing jail time as a result of his ties to disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff received a measure of support this week from Rep. Chris Cannon , R-Utah, his one-time employer.

And Cannon's opponent in the general election is taking issue with a letter Cannon wrote to a judge in support of David Safavian, who was convicted in June for lying to investigators regarding his dealings with Abramoff, the former Republican lobbyist who in January pleaded guilty in a conspiracy to corrupt public officials.

"I think the division is clear," said Burridge, who is Cannon's Democratic opponent in the race for Utah's 3rd Congressional District. "I'm against the revolving door between the Congress and lobbying offices and my opponent is not. He's also unrepentant about his connection to Jack Abramoff."

Burridge questioned why Safavian was on Cannon's staff in the first place.

"We have enough bright people in Utah to represent us," he said. "We don't need Washington insiders."

Safavian was Cannon's chief of staff from 2001-2002, before he took the job as chief of staff in the General Services Administration, where his dealings with Abramoff occurred. He faces sentencing Friday when prosecutors plan to ask for a three-year jail sentence.

In a Sept. 28 letter to U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, Cannon said Safavian was a hard-working, bipartisan public servant.

"When David was my chief of staff, he worked tirelessly in my Washington office," Cannon said in the letter. "He would come in early, stay late, and devote his undivided attention to the needs of the people in Utah's Third Congressional District."

Cannon said he wrote the letter at Safavian's request to give Friedman a more complete idea of Safavian's character.

"I have great confidence in judges ... my only hope was to give him some information that he might not have otherwise had come out during the trial," Cannon told the Deseret Morning News.

Cannon pointed out that Safavian's actions happened after he left Cannon's employ, when he was at the GSA. Even when Safavian was at the GSA, Cannon, who says he has no ties to Abramoff, said he had a positive working relationship with him.

"Whether it was helping a Utah contractor get on the GSA schedules or ensuring that the transfer of a North Carolina lighthouse to the private sector was done properly, David entered the fray as someone who wanted to solve problems," Cannon wrote in the letter. "And quite possibly, that willingness to help led to the problems he is now facing."

In the letter, Cannon called Safavian a "decent man who made an error in judgment" and argued that separating Safavian from his wife and daughter would "not do anyone any good."