Judge doubles sentence for former Interior official

The highest-ranking Bush administration official to plead guilty in the Jack Abramoff investigation was sentenced to prison yesterday, with the judge adding time because, she said, he violated the public trust.

J. Steven Griles, 59, whom Abramoff once described as “our guy” at the Department of the Interior, is to serve 10 months in prison for lying to senators and investigators looking into his ties to Abramoff.

{mosads}U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle increased the sentence from the five months laid out in Griles’s plea agreement with prosecutors, saying it was important to send a message not to lie to Congress.

“We need to deter others from obstructing other legitimate congressional inquiries,” Huvelle said. “Others in high places should not be able to expect favorable treatment due to their long careers in public service.”

Griles pleaded guilty in March to lying to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee about the access and influence he’d given to Abramoff, a Bush “pioneer” fundraiser, on Indian casino issues.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) led the probe. Italia Federici, a former campaign aide to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, has also pleaded guilty to lying to the committee.

Griles’s guilty plea indicated he’d likely have to serve five months in jail. Huvelle had warned Griles that she might not accept the prosecutors’ recommendation.  

Huvelle increased the sentence of former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) because of the trust placed in him as an elected official.

Griles’s attorneys had argued that five months in prison is too harsh, saying his crime was minor and citing his history of public service. They advocated a sentence of community service to be served at the American Recreation Coalition, an industry group Griles had worked with at Interior that supports motorized recreation on public  lands.

Griles, known for his booming voice and something of a  swagger when he was the “chief operating officer” of the Interior Department, cried as he told Huvelle he was sorry.

“This has been the most difficult time in my life,” Griles said in a halting voice. “I’ve lost my income, my business and, more importantly, my reputation.”

Norton wrote a letter in support of Griles’s request for leniency. Griles’s attorneys noted that while other Abramoff defendants took money from the lobbyist, Griles had not. Griles noted that he’d been invited on Abramoff’s now-infamous golf trip to Scotland with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), but “expressly and affirmatively rejected” the offer.

Prosecutors replied that five months was fitting, and offered up new details about how Griles helped Abramoff’s Indian casino clients.  

They said Griles “was not shy” about seeking favors in return. The favors included asking Abramoff to raise money for the group run by Federici, then Griles’s girlfriend, and trying to get jobs at Abramoff’s firm for other women with whom he had “close, personal” relationships.

For his part, Griles berated an official who didn’t want to send federal school construction funds intended for poor tribes to a wealthy casino tribe that had hired Abramoff, and worked to block a casino that would compete with one of Abramoff’s clients, according to prosecutors.

They also compared the case to that of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was given a two-and-a-half-year sentence for lying to investigators about the outing of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame.

“The judge’s sentence was strict and more than the government requested but within the normal range for this type of behavior,” said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.