By By Sadiq Green Mar 19, 2009 in Crime While there were many officials from the Bush administration who pushed the limits of legality over a myriad of topics, President Bush and Vice-President Cheney included, most have been allowed to leave public office without the fear of reprisals. Felipe Sixto Judge Walton criticized Mr. Sixto for accepting a job in the White House, knowing that he had been stealing from the center. Mr. Sixto quit his job as a special assistant to President George W. Bush for intergovernmental affairs after learning that the center was beginning legal action against him. Walton said having employees like Sixto inside the White House makes people question the honesty and integrity of government officials. One could conclude the culture of dishonesty was rampant and corruption was bound to happen because of the example set by their bosses of the past eight years. Haliburton, the company that former VP Cheney served as chairman, and whom Cheney owns millions of dollars of stock in received a multi-million dollar, no-bid contract for work in Iraq. The company was caught in an Yet there have been a number of Former Bush officials who have been sentenced to jail time for various roles in some of the scandals that were prevalent during Bush and Cheney's reign of corruption. Eric G. Andell - Deputy Undersecretary in charge of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, who was once a senior adviser to Secretary of Education Rod Paige, pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest for using government travel for personal causes and was sentenced to one year of probation, 100 hours of community service, and fined $5,000. Lester Crawford - A Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration, resigned in late September 2005 after only two months on the job. On October 17th, 2006 he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts, making a false writing and conflict of interest. On February 27, 2007, Crawford was sentenced to to three years of probation and was fined $90,000. Brian Doyle - The Deputy Press Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, resigned in wake of child sex scandal. Doyle was arrested on April 4th, 2006 and pleaded no contest on September 19, 2006 to seven counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and sixteen counts of transmitting harmful material to a minor. On November 17th, 2006 Brian Doyle was sentenced to five years in state prison and ten years of probation. He will also need to register as a sex offender. Steven Griles - The Deputy Secretary at the Interior Department, pleaded guilty in March 2007 to lying about his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal. He was sentenced to 10 months incarceration. Scooter Libby - Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff - resigned after being indicted for lying to a grand jury and investigators in connection with the investigation stemming from the leak of Valerie Wilson’s covert CIA operative’s identity. Convicted on four of five counts, making him the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-contra scandal. Sentenced to thirty months imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. On July 2nd, after a judge decided that Libby would remain in prison during the appeals process, President Bush commuted Libby’s sentence by removing the thirty months in prison. David Safavian - Former head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget was convicted of lying to ethics officials and Senate investigators about his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. On October 27, 2006, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is currently appealing the ruling. Robert Stein - The former comptroller and funding officer for the now defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, possession of a machine gun, and being a felon in possession of a fire arm. On January 30, 2007 Stein was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit $3.6 million. There are If that example of hiring practice was followed by American companies throughout the United States, perhaps ex-convicts nationwide would have an easier way of becoming productive members of society and perhaps we would see a lower recidivism rate. That, however, is a story for another day. On Wednesday, however, former George W. Bush White House aide Felipe Sixto was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for stealing nearly $600,000 from a U.S. Government funded organization. The Center for a Free Cuba describes itself as "an independent, nonpartisan institution dedicated to promoting human rights and a transition to democracy and the rule of law" in Cuba. The U.S. Agency for International Development regularly provides the center funds for travel, rent and equipment such as computer laptops and shortwave radios.Felipe Sixto pleaded guilty December 19 to theft and acknowledged that he overcharged the organization more than $579,000 when purchasing radios and flashlights with federal funds. Sixto had asked for home confinement or probation, however, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton sentenced him to 30 months in prison, three years supervised release and fined him $10,000. Judge Walton compared Sixto to Bernie Madoff, who recently pleaded guilty to ripping off thousands of investors of billions of dollars stating, "The mentality that brings you before this court is the same."Judge Walton criticized Mr. Sixto for accepting a job in the White House, knowing that he had been stealing from the center. Mr. Sixto quit his job as a special assistant to President George W. Bush for intergovernmental affairs after learning that the center was beginning legal action against him. Walton said having employees like Sixto inside the White House makes people question the honesty and integrity of government officials.One could conclude the culture of dishonesty was rampant and corruption was bound to happen because of the example set by their bosses of the past eight years. Haliburton, the company that former VP Cheney served as chairman, and whom Cheney owns millions of dollars of stock in received a multi-million dollar, no-bid contract for work in Iraq. The company was caught in an overcharging scheme of its own in Kosovo while Cheney was running the company before he became VP and another while currently in Iraq. The company has been under continued scrutiny for shoddy work in Iraq that has led to the deaths of American soldiers. As of today there have not been any official charges brought against Haliburton officials.Yet there have been a number of Former Bush officials who have been sentenced to jail time for various roles in some of the scandals that were prevalent during Bush and Cheney's reign of corruption.- Deputy Undersecretary in charge of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, who was once a senior adviser to Secretary of Education Rod Paige, pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest for using government travel for personal causes and was sentenced to one year of probation, 100 hours of community service, and fined $5,000.- A Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration, resigned in late September 2005 after only two months on the job. On October 17th, 2006 he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts, making a false writing and conflict of interest. On February 27, 2007, Crawford was sentenced to to three years of probation and was fined $90,000.- The Deputy Press Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, resigned in wake of child sex scandal. Doyle was arrested on April 4th, 2006 and pleaded no contest on September 19, 2006 to seven counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and sixteen counts of transmitting harmful material to a minor. On November 17th, 2006 Brian Doyle was sentenced to five years in state prison and ten years of probation. He will also need to register as a sex offender.- The Deputy Secretary at the Interior Department, pleaded guilty in March 2007 to lying about his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal. He was sentenced to 10 months incarceration.- Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff - resigned after being indicted for lying to a grand jury and investigators in connection with the investigation stemming from the leak of Valerie Wilson’s covert CIA operative’s identity. Convicted on four of five counts, making him the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-contra scandal. Sentenced to thirty months imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. On July 2nd, after a judge decided that Libby would remain in prison during the appeals process, President Bush commuted Libby’s sentence by removing the thirty months in prison.- Former head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget was convicted of lying to ethics officials and Senate investigators about his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. On October 27, 2006, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is currently appealing the ruling.- The former comptroller and funding officer for the now defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, possession of a machine gun, and being a felon in possession of a fire arm. On January 30, 2007 Stein was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit $3.6 million.There are a plethora of other Bush/Cheney government representatives that are currently being investigated and could face criminal charges and even more who have been sentenced to no jail time. The Bush administration also hired many people to work for their government who were already convicted of crimes.If that example of hiring practice was followed by American companies throughout the United States, perhaps ex-convicts nationwide would have an easier way of becoming productive members of society and perhaps we would see a lower recidivism rate. That, however, is a story for another day. More about Bush aide, Corruption, Jail-time More news from bush aide corruption jail-time