[B]oth houses voted overwhelmingly to ensure Senate confirmation for U.S. attorneys. What a difference a scandal can make.
And how deep does the rabbit hole go anyway?
The former No. 2 official in the Interior Department yesterday admitted lying to the Senate about his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who gained the official's intervention at the agency for his Indian tribal clients.J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a felony for making false statements in testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November 2005 and in an earlier interview with panel investigators. He is the 10th person -- and the second high-level Bush administration official -- to face criminal charges in the continuing Justice Department investigation into Abramoff's lobbying activities.
The scope of the Griles, Federici and Abramoff scheme was not limited to a few casinos. It included defrauding the Federal Minerals Management Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and of course, Tribal Governments.For reasons that either pass understanding, or are patently obvious, the media and its non-tribal alternatives construe Abramoff et alia as a morality play in which Indian Gaming alone occupies the central stage.
Similarly, the political control of US Attorneys, manifested in the Gonzales Eight, is construed as partisan voting rights, overlooking the peculiarity that six of the eight fired US Attorneys had significant MMS and Tribal lease prosecution responsibilities.
So, has anyone in our government or media raised the question as to why it took John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee (at least from January, 2005, though previously still the lead Senator on the Abramoff investigation for the ten months prior) from March, 2004, when he first received emails and other documents implicating Steve Griles, until late October, 2005 - a full eighteen months, until Senate investigators even "informally" questioned him?
I do believe there are a lot of dots to connect for some diligent investigator somewhere.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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