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Quoted from appended article from today's press:
“Instead of doing jail time for lying to Congress in the Jack Abramoff investigation, disgraced Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles has asked a federal judge to be allowed to do community service with the American Recreation Coalition and the Walt Disney Company,” Silver said, “and to once again work on their behalf much as he did before being caught, fired and convicted.”
It's not difficult to imagine that Griles may soon be working for the ARC.
It is, after all, a perfect match-up and they already enjoy the benefits of what
has been more than a 20 year working relationship. What is difficult to believe
is that so many public figures are pleading on Griles' behalf and imploring the
courts to have him work for the anti-environmental / wise-use ARC as
pertinence for his felonious crime.
What is most difficult for me to believe is that the specific ARC programs
and initiatives upon which Griles would be working are not generally understood
to be components within the ARC's ongoing, anti-environmental agenda. Is it
possible that those pleading on Griles' behalf, people such as Congresswoman
Barbara Cubin, Former Interior Secretaries Gale Norton and Donald Hodel, and
long-time motorized recreation lobbyist Bill Horn know more about the ARC and
its programs than does the general public and that these anti-environmental
villains are having a good laugh at the expense of the American People and their
public lands????
Scott
J. Steven Griles and Derrick Crandall
Photo credit: American Recreation Coalition
--- begin quoted---
By BRODIE FARQUHAR - Star-Tribune correspondent
Two Wyoming political figures have written letters to a federal judge,
requesting leniency in sentencing the former No. 2 official in the Interior
Department who pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate
committee.
J. Steven Griles is the second-highest-level Bush administration official
to be caught up in the ongoing Department of Justice investigation of former
lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Although Griles initially denied doing any favors for
Abramoff’s casino-owning Indian tribe clients, court records show that Griles
inserted himself into several casino cases at Interior.
U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., and Tom Sansonetti, former assistant
attorney general for the Department of Justice's environment and natural
resources division, have both written to Judge Ellen Huvelle of the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia. The two Wyoming Republicans are
part of an effort by 91 people to convince the judge that Griles should not be
sentenced to prison, but should instead be given three months' home confinement,
500 hours of community service and a "reasonable" $15,000 fine when he is
sentenced June 26.
Sansonetti is an applicant for the vacant seat in the U.S. Senate left by
the late Craig Thomas.
The 91 people also include three Republican-era former secretaries of
Interior and Idaho Gov. Butch Otter. Cubin was the only member of Congress to go
to bat for Griles.
Griles’ legal team has suggested that half of the community service would
be with "Wonderful Outdoor World" in the position of national counselor and
strategic planning coordinator. In that post, Griles would develop public and
private partnerships among federal land agencies, Disney Co. and the American
Recreation Coalition, as well as raise money and conduct outreach to the
government and media. The other half of Griles' community service would focus on
"Operation Coaches and Warriors," to assist injured veterans of the Iraq
war.
Griles pleading guilty this spring to a felony for making false statements
in testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005 and earlier in
an interview with panel investigators working for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the
chairman of the committee. Griles withheld information from the committee about
his meeting Abramoff through Italia Federici, president of the Council of
Republicans for Environmental Advocacy. Griles was dating Federici at that
time.
Earlier this month, Federici pleaded guilty to one count of income tax
evasion and one count of obstructing the U.S. Senate’s investigation into the
corruption scandal surrounding Abramoff, before Judge Huvelle.
According to court documents, Griles’ felony charge could land him in
prison for a maximum of five years and carry a $250,000 fine. Department of
Justice attorneys, however, recommended a 10-month sentence -- half to be served
in a federal prison.
In her letter, Cubin noted that Griles had been a friend since she first
entered Congress, and was particularly helpful with coal miners' health
legislation and reauthorization of the Abandoned Mine Lands program last
year.
"His voice now strains under the sorrow and regret he bears for his
infraction. I believe a sentence of community service will benefit this nation
much more than will his imprisonment," Cubin wrote.
Sansonetti’s three-page letter extolled Griles' public service and his work
in the private sector as well.
"Steve is the consummate public servant," Sansonetti wrote. "He took on
huge, complicated, and often unpopular, tasks for Secretary (Gale) Norton within
the Interior building, such as the complex and high-profiled Cobell case
involving the management of Indian Trust Fund monies."
Sansonetti strongly denied that Griles had ever tried to influence him “on
matters dealing with Indian tribes and their affairs before the Department of
Justice.”
Asked for further comment, Sansonetti said in a telephone interview Friday
that the letter speaks for itself, but noted that he has known Griles for many
years, and his friend is “in a jam.”
“You find out who your real friends are when you get in trouble or your
name gets put on a ballot,” said Sansonetti, now an attorney with Holland and
Hart in Cheyenne.
Cubin’s press secretary also suggested that the congresswoman’s letter
“spoke for itself."
Scott Silver, executive director of Wild Wilderness and an environmental
advocate, expressed dismay that Griles sought leniency.
“Instead of doing jail time for lying to Congress in the Jack Abramoff
investigation, disgraced Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles has asked a federal
judge to be allowed to do community service with the American Recreation
Coalition and the Walt Disney Company,” Silver said, “and to once again work on
their behalf much as he did before being caught, fired and convicted.”
Griles is scheduled for sentencing on June 26.
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- Activism 
