Griles punished for lying about Jack Abramoff

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Citing his abuse of the public trust, a federal judge on Tuesday sentenced J. Steven Griles, the former deputy secretary at the Interior Department, to 10 months in prison for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Griles broke into tears as he apologized for lying about his relationship with the convicted lobbyist. He pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which investigated Abramoff's bilking of wealthy tribal clients.

"This has been the most difficult time in my life," Griles said as he struggled to complete his words. "My guilty plea has brought me great shame and embarrassment."

Judge Ellen Huvelle was not moved by the emotional display in a courtroom packed with spectators. She said Griles failed to accept responsibility for giving "untrue" testimony to Congress.

"Even now you continue to try to minimize and to excuse your conduct," she told him. "You consistently mischaracterized the nature and extent of your relationship with Abramoff," she added.

Huvelle expressed disbelief that Griles did not know that Abramoff's tribal clients were the main donors to an organization that was run by his former girlfriend. Italia Federici, whose Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy took in $500,000 from tribes, has pleaded guilty for her role in the scandal and has yet to be sentenced

"I did not know who funded CREA," Griles said in response to one of Huvelle's questions.

Huvelle was equally dismayed by two letters that Griles' attorney sent to Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), who led the Abramoff investigation. Claims that Abramoff did not enjoy special access at Interior were "highly misleading," the judge said earlier in the hearing.

"Your Honor, it was the best I could recall," Griles said of the letters that were sent after he testified before the Senate panel. "We were never given any documents to refresh my memory."

Griles also denied allegations that he vouched for a binder that showed up on his desk and contained information about a Louisiana tribe's land-into-trust application that one of Abramoff's clients opposed. A former aide to then-Interior secretary Gale Norton questioned the origin of the documents.

"We speculated that it came from Jack Abramoff," he said of the mysterious binder that raised during his Senate testimony. "The government says I knew it did and I did not."

The statements weren't enough to convince Huvelle that Griles should not go to prison for his crime. His attorneys argued for three months of home confinement, 500 hours of community service and a "reasonable" fine.

Huvelle did not agree with the Department of Justice that Griles should "split" his sentence between jail and home confinement either. She instead imposed a full 10 months in prison plus three years of supervised released and a $30,000 fine, to be paid in $1,000 monthly installments.

"You are not above the law," she told the former Bush administration official.

Many supporters of Griles attended the nearly two-hour hearing yesterday afternoon. They included his new wife, Sue Ellen Wooldridge, former Interior and Justice official whom he married shortly after pleading guilty in March; Special Trustee Ross Swimmer, the former chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma who urged leniency for Griles in a letter to the court; and John Berrey, the chairman of the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma.

Before the hearing, Berrey told Indianz.Com that Griles personally asked him to speak. "He's done a lot for me," Berrey said.

Berrey, who has been working as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., in addition to his elected tribal position, worked on trust reform issues during Griles' tenure and filed a trust mismanagement suit that was settled under Griles' watch. Once Griles left Interior, the tribe hired him as its lobbyist.

But after sifting through more than 90 letters in defense of Griles, Huvelle indicated during the hearing that Berrey's account was not necessary. Griles' attorneys chose not to call Berrey, who had prepared a statement in defense of the former official.

Following the hearing, Berrey said he wasn't upset that he wasn't able to address the court though he called the entire affair "sad."

Griles has 10 days to file a notice of appeal to his sentence. Huvelle agreed to recommend that he serve his time at the federal facility in Petersburg, Virginia, but said it would up to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to make a final decision.

DOJ Documents:
Press Release (June 26, 2007) | Criminal Information (March 23, 2007)

More Letters:
Exhibit Volume 1 (PDF 266 pages)

Griles Calendars:
July 2001 - February 2002 | February 2002 - July 2002 | July 2002 - December 2002 | December 2002 - July 2003

Senate Indian Affairs Committee Abramoff Report:
“GIMME FIVE”— INVESTIGATION OF TRIBAL LOBBYING MATTERS (June 2006)

Exhibits:
Pre-2001 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | Undated | Finance