Federici is Latest Target in Abramoff Probe

[The Witch]

Source: Legal Times

Italia Federici, the one-time girlfriend of a convicted former senior official at the Interior Department, is a target of the ongoing federal influence-peddling investigation into the activities of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court documents obtained by Legal Times.

In a letter dated Jan. 19, the Justice Department informed Federici, founder of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, that she was a target of the federal probe.

“The investigation is focused on the allegedly illegal manner in which you operated the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy,” wrote Stephanie Evans, a trial attorney in the department’s Tax Division.

According to the Jan. 19 target letter filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, investigators are looking at whether Federici violated five statutes in connection with running the group: conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion, impeding the Internal Revenue Service, and obstructing proceedings and making false statements before the Senate. The letter makes no mention of Abramoff or Griles.

Read more: http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/PubArticleDC.jsp?id=1175517532318&hub=TopStories

[DCKit]

1. Republicans for Environmental Advocacy????

Lobbyists for mining, timber and oil, no doubt.

[Disturbed]

2. Congress shoud charge her with Perjury.

She should be found guilty and sentenced to at least two years in a real Prison. I witnessed her testimony. It was totally obvious that she was lying to Congress.

[Eugene]

4. CREA is a conservative front group

and a conduit for Jack Abramoff's influence buying.

The Salon article The greening of Italia Federici gives a useful description:

The greening of Italia Federici

To buy influence at the White House, GOP operative
Jack Abramoff gave $500,000 in tribal loot to a Gale Norton
pal who heads an "environmental" nonprofit.

By Michael Scherer
Page 1

November 18, 2005 | Italia Federici is a minor Republican player
in Washington, the sort of dime-a-dozen functionary who can build
a career trading favors in backrooms and producing political
campaigns for moneyed interests. Her specialty is the environment.
She leads a conservative front group called the Council of
Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, or CREA, a tiny outfit,
originally founded by Interior Secretary Gale Norton, that argues
it is healthy for forests to clear-cut trees, good for the air
to weaken air-quality controls, and "environmentally responsible"
to drill for oil in the Alaskan wilderness.

-snip-

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/11/18/federici/index.html

[DCKit]

8. Gale Norton is a Dominionist, which follows EXACTLY what I said

These people don't believe God gave us dominion to care for the earth, but to rape the shit out of it.

[Lindsay]

3. I remember the Senate hearing with her,

when they were investigating Abramoff's Indian casino scams. She's not competent to organize a bake sale, let alone a big-bucks (and it was) Council of Republicans for anything.

She's a fairly small fish in the overall scheme of things, though. I wonder if they're looking for other information from her.

[Joanne98]

5. She was such an arrogant asshole! I hope she gets 20 years!

[Joanne98]

6. Her boyfriend Griles is only getting FIVE MONTHS!

Abramoff Probe Chugs Along

April 2 2007

What with all the news about the politically tainted firings of several federal prosecutors - apparently for refusing to subject justice to the White House's political agenda - it's good to know the Justice Department's prosecution of Washington's lobbying scandal is alive and ongoing.

J. Stephen Griles, who served as deputy secretary of the Interior Department under Gale Norton during President Bush's first term, pleaded guilty a week ago to lying to a Senate committee about his ties to Jack Abramoff, the one-time prominent lobbyist and central figure in an influence-peddling scandal.

Mr. Griles attracted the notice of environmentalists early on. He was a high-profile lobbyist for the oil and gas industry before moving to the public sector in 2001.

In 2004, a scathing report by the department's inspector general criticized Mr. Griles for using his official position in dealings with former clients of his lobbying firm - even as he received payments from the firm of more than $1 million.

At the time, the inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, characterized ethics at the department as a "train wreck waiting to happen."

Sure enough, Mr. Griles went off the rails. In November 2005, he lied to a Senate Indian Affairs subcommittee, saying he'd never had a unique or special relationship with Mr. Abramoff. Actually, Mr. Griles' girlfriend, Italia Federici, the head of a conservative environmental group that received $500,000 from Mr. Abramoff and his clients, had introduced Messrs Griles and Abramoff. She also acted as a frequent go-between.

In one instance, Mr. Griles injected himself in an application by a Louisiana Indian tribe seeking to build a casino. The application was opposed by a competing tribe represented by Mr. Abramoff.

When Interior officials appeared inclined to grant the application, Mr. Griles presented them with a binder full of congressional letters opposing the application - a binder prepared by Mr. Abramoff.

Mr. Griles' guilty plea places him among the growing ranks of Republican rogues who've been tainted by the lobbying scandal: former Ohio congressman Robert Ney; David Safavian, the former deputy director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget; and several one-time top aides to Mr. Ney and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Mr. Griles, who faces five years in prison, is due for sentencing June 26. Prosecutors are recommending a five-month jail term and another five months in a halfway house or home confinement.

Mr. Griles has admitted to wrongdoing in this case, apologized and accepted responsibility. Still, we think justice demands a longer sentence than what prosecutors are recommending.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant

[Supersedeas]

7. what's the likelihood Goodling knows this crowd?