Disgraced ex-lobbyist and felon-for-life Jack Abramoff doesn't get a whole lot of good press. As in, none. And a sympathetic book about what brought him down, "The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff" by ex-Boston Globe reporter Gary Chavetz seems to be in danger of sinking beneath the waves.

Now, though, a federal judge is casting a spotlight on Chavetz's book, giving  a helping hand for former Bush administration official David Safavian.

Perhaps the reading public is tired of the whole Abramoff affair -- it's so 2006 -- or perhaps a sympathetic portrait that makes Abramoff a victim rather than K Street Evil incarnate simply cannot compete with the consensus narrative of what that whole scandal was about. Whatever: the book currently ranks a lowly 364,551 on the Amazon sales chart.

But one reader, or at least skimmer, is U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman. Friedman is currently presiding over the second trial of Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration. Safavian was convicted in 2006 for making false statements and sentenced to 18 months, but that conviction was later overturned on appeal. Now, in his retrial, he's seeking access to FBI documents he believes could help his cause. Until now, Safavian has been frustrated in his efforts.

This week, citing apparent revelations in the Chavetz book, Judge Friedman ordered the FBI to produce material by Dec. 8 that could "constitute favorable or potentially favorable evidence" for Safavian. This will be FBI 302 reports, the ones covering certain field interviews conducted with Abramoff; equally important, the FBI will have to cough up as well the "rough notes" that undergird the formal 302 documents.