Friday, May 26, 2006
Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau
Washington- Two more Capitol Hill aides who worked for U.S. Rep. Bob Ney have been caught up in the federal bribery investigation wrought by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Paul Vinovich, who served as Ney's top aide with the House Administration Committee, and Will Heaton, Ney's current chief of staff, have received subpoenas to appear as witnesses and provide testimony, congressional records show.
But at least one, Vinovich, is exercising his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and won't testify at a trial that started this week involving favors allegedly given by Abramoff to a former government official.
Vinovich and Heaton accompanied Abramoff and Ney on an August 2002 golf trip aboard a private jet to Scotland, along with former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed and former Ney aide Neil Volz. David Safavian, then a General Services Administration official, also was on the trip.
Federal prosecutors say Abramoff provided the trip as part of a plot to win separate favors from Ney and Safavian. But in the second day of Safavian's trial on charges of obstruction and making false statements, Justice Department lawyer Peter Zeidenberg told U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman Thursday that Vinovich won't testify because he has exercised his "Fifth Amendment privilege."
However, Vinovich's financial records will be introduced as evidence, Zeidenberg said.
A House Administration Committee spokesman confirmed that the Justice Department contacted Vinovich in connection with the investigation. The extent of his or Heaton's role in the case against Safavian is unclear, nor is it clear what role either might have in the ongoing investigation of Ney, who has not been charged.
Ney spokesman Brian Walsh confirmed that Heaton still works as the congressman's chief of staff but said he could not speak for him.
"As Congressman Ney's spokesman, though, I will tell you that the congressman has pledged the full cooperation of his office, and from day one he has been doing just that," Walsh said.
Although Safavian indicated that Abramoff had no business before the General Services Administration when he got its OK to travel with Abramoff, e-mails between them show that Abramoff repeatedly sought Safavian's help in obtaining federal property.
Safavian's attorney, Barbara Van Gelder, says her client told the truth because Abramoff never submitted a bid for GSA properties. She complained to Friedman that witnesses she'd subpoenaed to testify on Safavian's behalf were all exercising their Fifth Amendment rights because they were either subjects or targets of federal investigators.
Friedman said there were three such witnesses.
Van Gelder would not identify the prospective witnesses or say whether Vinovich was among them. But she said Zeidenberg's statement confirmed that "Vinovich was on the trip and is under investigation."
Volz left Ney's staff in February 2002 to work as a lobbyist for Abramoff. He pleaded guilty this month to conspiring to violate mail and wire fraud laws. Volz is scheduled to testify today at Safavian's trial.
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