The Noose Doth Tighten

Once upon a time, two Lousiana tribes, the Jena Band of Choctaws and the Coushattas, were looking to get in on the Indian gaming business down in Louisiana. Both needed the approval of Department of the Interior. The Coushattas hired Jack to help further their cause, and spike the Jena's efforts. Little did they know. NYTimes (11.02.05):

"Investigators have expanded their inquiries into the activities of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff to include his efforts to pressure Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton and other senior Interior Department officials on behalf of Indian tribes with gambling interests, lawyers involved in the investigations said in interviews this week. Although Ms. Norton is not reported to be a focus of the inquiries, the lawyers said investigators from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, the Justice Department and the inspector general of the Interior Department had raised questions about actions of her former deputy and the president of a lobbying group that Ms. Norton helped found." Inquiry on Lobbyist Widens to Senior Officials; Senate Hearing Is Today

What the Committee is looking at is Jack's "work on behalf of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, which paid him more than $6 million in lobbying fees, much of it for a campaign to urge the Interior Department to reject a proposal by a rival Louisiana tribe, the Jena Choctaws, to open its own casino." One of the "senior Interior Department officials" is our buddy, J. Steven Griles. Washington Post (08.28.05):

"Indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff claimed in e-mails sent in 2002 that the deputy secretary of the interior had pledged to block an Indian casino that would compete with one of the lobbyist's tribal clients. Abramoff later told two associates that he was trying to hire the official." Abramoff Cited Aid Of Interior Official

"The two former Abramoff associates, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are under scrutiny in the investigation, said Abramoff told them in late 2003 that he was trying to arrange for his firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP, to hire J. Steven Griles, then deputy interior secretary." "Federal investigators are interested in those discussions and in job negotiations Abramoff may have had with a second department official, according to sources." Also being asked to testify is Italia Federici. NYTimes (11.02.05):

"Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy [CREA], the lobbying group that Ms. Norton helped create in the 1990's. The council describes itself as a group committed to protection of natural resources. Major environmental groups describe it as a front for the mining and chemical industries. Interior Department officials say Ms. Federici repeatedly contacted department officials, including Ms. Norton and Mr. Griles, on behalf of Mr. Abramoff's Indian clients, even though her organization had no obvious interest in Indian gambling. About that time, the advocacy council received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from some of the tribes." Inquiry on Lobbyist Widens to Senior Officials; Senate Hearing Is Today

Hundreds of thousands in donations? Imagine that? Italia, who has called Gale "a mentor", and "who worked on Ms. Norton's failed Senate bid in 1996", said that "although she had never lobbied for Mr. Abramoff, he was a supporter who 'interacted with lots of different groups and organizations, and ours was just one of them.'" At least she didn't say they "interfaced". Ahhh yes. The CREA "was founded in the 1990s by conservative anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and Gale Norton, now secretary of the interior. It has received financial backing from chemical and mining interests, leading some environmentalists to brand it a front for industrial polluters." Which reminds us of this sage bit of advice, ostensibly from Attila the Hun to his minions: remember to pillage and loot before you burn.