Washington – An investigation of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with tribal gambling interests is turning to Gale Norton’s Interior Department.
Senate Indian Affairs Committee chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., will hold a hearing next week to delve into Abramoff’s dealings with the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.
As interior secretary, Norton – a former Colorado attorney general – nixed a proposal in March 2002 for an Indian casino that would have competed with the Coushattas’ casino in Kinder, La. The Coushattas employed Abramoff to ward off the threat.
At the time, Abramoff was one of the highest-flying lobbyists in Washington, trading on his contacts with then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and his status as a top fundraiser for President Bush.
He since has been indicted on fraud charges in connection with a casino deal that ended in a gangland-style murder.
The Justice Department, along with McCain’s committee, is investigating whether he bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars. That investigation has already resulted in the indictment of the Bush administration’s top procurement officer, charged with lying about his dealings with Abramoff in another administration post.
In the Coushatta case, Abramoff focused on the Interior Department, allegedly turning to those with access to Norton to try to persuade her to block the casino proposal of the rival Jena Band of Choctaw Indians.
One of those people was a former Colorado political operative, Italia Federici, who is expected to testify before the McCain committee next week.
Federici worked with Norton on her unsuccessful 1996 campaign for the U.S. Senate in Colorado. She then helped Norton start a Republican environmental organization in Colorado in 1997.
After she restarted the organization in Washington in 2000 as the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, or CREA, Federici became a link between Abramoff and Interior Department officials on gambling issues, according to documents obtained by The Denver Post.
Abramoff directed his tribal clients to donate $250,000 to CREA, and Federici helped set up meetings for Abramoff’s clients with key Interior Department officials, documents show.
Federici worked to arrange meetings with Norton for the Coushatta chairman and warned Interior officials about Christian conservatives’ displeasure with the Jena casino proposal. It later turned out that Abramoff had helped whip up the Christian opposition to the casino.
McCain already has held three hearings into Abramoff’s dealings, but next week’s hearing will be the first to look at decisions made by Norton and the Interior Department.
Interior officials, Federici and her attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
Staff writer Mike Soraghan can be reached at 202-662-8730 or msoraghan@denverpost.com.
