YO: Another senior Bush official snared in Abramoff scandal

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_44/news/11052-1.html

Abramoff’s Interior Ties at Issue
By John Bresnahan
Roll Call Staff

November 1, 2005

J. Stephen Griles, the former deputy secretary of the Interior who has attracted intense scrutiny over his dealings with ex-GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is set to testify before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday, according to a witness list for the hearing.

Griles, who left the Interior Department in January, was called by Indian Affairs Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) to appear before the committee to answer questions on the department’s actions on behalf of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, an Abramoff client, in a casino dispute with another tribe, the Jena Choctaws. McCain is investigating allegations of fraud perpetrated by Abramoff and his business partner, Michael Scanlon, against a half-dozen Indian tribes that paid them more than $80 million in a three-year period.

Griles is the highest-ranking Bush administration official to become publicly enmeshed in the Abramoff scandal, and his scheduled appearance on Wednesday surprised those who have been following the case. “This a big deal, a really big deal, if Griles testifies,” said a GOP source who has been interviewed by federal agents conducting their own Abramoff probe.

According to a memo circulated by the Indian Affairs Committee late Saturday night, “Documents in the Committee’s possession also raise a question of whether Mr. Abramoff had improper contact with senior Interior Department officials regarding tribal issues that were before the Department.”

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[unpossibles]

1. what will it take to wake up the last 39%?

Photos of them biting the heads off babies?

[Scout1071]

3. Indictments. That is what it will take. Or * and Cheney named as

unindicted co-conspirators.

[0007]

2. John Cornyn the most inept Senator in the U.S. Senate and Ralph Reed

must have a good case of the drearies right now.

[chat_noir]

4. It's not the first time that Griles has been investigated

Introduction
In June 2002, our office initiated an investigation after a confidential source alleged that government contracts had been steered by high-level Department of the Interior (DOI or
Department) officials to a company with which Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles had been associated. Subsequently, we expanded our investigation to encompass three other concerns regarding Mr. Griles’ conduct – one by our own accord, one at the request of the Secretary, and one at the request of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Connecticut).

Our initial investigation focused on a series of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracts with Advanced Power Technologies, Inc. (APTI) – a company that provides remote sensing technology known as “hyperspectral imaging,” which, among other uses, allows BLM to
obtain aerial images of plant populations. A confidential source alleged that DOI officials manipulated the procurement process for these contracts as a result of Mr. Griles’ former association with APTI when he was employed as a lobbyist.

While addressing this first issue, we extended our investigation after becoming aware of a dinner party hosted by Marc Himmelstein, Mr. Griles’ former business partner. Mr. Griles purportedly had his former partner host the event to acquaint newly appointed DOI officials with each other, including the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management and the directors of both BLM and the Minerals Management Service (MMS). We looked into this
matter because the event could either be, or appear to be, a conflict of interest since Himmelstein is a prohibited source1 who represents several clients interested in doing business with the
Department.

In January 2003, Secretary Gale Norton requested that we investigate an allegation that Deputy Secretary Griles may have violated his recusal(s) by involving himself in a matter concerning the development of coalbed methane in the Powder River Basin. Since this
allegation raised similar ethics concerns as the ongoing inquiries noted above, we again extended our investigation to accommodate the Secretary’s request.

http://www.foe.org/griles.pdf

[realFedUp]

5. Ya almost need a playbook these days....to keep track. nt