McCain puts ex-official on hot seat

By Josephine Hearn

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has called on the former No. 2 official at the Interior Department to testify before a Senate panel investigating lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his involvement with Indian gambling tribes.

The official, J. Steven Griles, who served as deputy interior secretary from 2001 to the beginning of this year, was involved in efforts to help two of Abramoff’s clients — the Louisiana Coushatta tribe and the Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Michigan — fend off casino proposals from rival tribes and may have done so while engaged in employment negotiations with Abramoff, recent news reports have said. Griles has said through spokespeople that he did not play a major role in endeavors to aid the tribes.

The development marks the first time McCain has taken direct aim at the administration during the Indian Affairs Committee’s year-and-a-half-long investigation of Abramoff, his associate Michael Scanlon and their efforts to extract more than $80 million in lobbying and public-relations fees from Indian tribes.

Abramoff was indicted in Florida earlier this year on federal wire- and mail-fraud charges stemming from his acquisition of a casino-boat chain. He remains under investigation in the District of Columbia by a federal criminal task force.

Tomorrow’s hearing marks the fourth and final one in the Indian Affairs Committee’s investigation of Abramoff. McCain, now chairman of the panel, held a hearing this summer focusing on the Mississippi Choctaw tribe. His predecessor, former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), held hearings last year on the Tigua, Agua Caliente and Saginaw Chippewa tribes.

Griles is expected to appear alongside Italia Federici at the hearing tomorrow. Federici, who was an aide to Interior Secretary Gale Norton during her 1996 Senate bid, reportedly served as a go-between linking Griles and Abramoff. Federici is president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a group founded by Norton and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist.

Griles is now a principal at the lobbying firm Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles LLC.

Also expected to appear at the hearing are representatives from the Coushattas, including tribe Chairman Kevin Sickey, tribal council member David Sickey, former tribal council member William Worfel and former outside counsel Kathryn van Hoof.

Two people who had business dealings with Scanlon are expected to appear: B.R. McConnon, president of Democracy Data & Communications, and Chris Cathcart, formerly of Capitol Campaign Strategies. Abramoff’s former tax adviser, Gail Halpern, will also be a witness.

In a break from earlier hearings, the committee called a representative of Abramoff’s former employer, law firm Greenberg Traurig, to testify. In past hearings, the panel has not sought testimony from Greenberg Traurig and has even praised the firm’s cooperation with the committee’s probe. Greenberg Traurig fired Abramoff in early 2004 after the first news reports of alleged wrongdoing surfaced.

It was unclear whether any of the witnesses would assert their constitutional rights against self-incrimination.

After tomorrow’s hearing, the Indian Affairs Committee is expected to release a report summarizing its findings.