David Safavian, a former Bush administration official was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison for lying about his role in the Jack Abramoff.

Earlier this week, Jeff Skilling, Enron executive, was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in driving Enron out of business and destroying the financial lives of thousands of people.

I find both of these heartening. I wish I was surprised when government officials or top business executives take advantage of their positions to benefit themselves, regardless of the law and the cost to others. There are too many people operating at this level and too much money involved to not expect that some will cross the line.

The heartening thing is that we catch some of them and when we do, they are punished. I think this represents the best in our system.

I am always happy to see the guilty punished, but even more important, I hope that watching Skilling in handcuffs and basically sentenced to life in prison will stop others from following. Not all of course, but some.

The same with Safavian. The next time some mid-level government bureaucrat thinks a free trip to Scotland his somehow due him / her, perhaps they’ll think about 18 months in prison.