Italia Federici
Italia Federici is the former president of CREA, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (formerly the Coalition of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy). She is a vocal critic of the environmental movement. In June of 2007 she agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of Congress for her connection to the lobbying efforts of Jack Abramoff. She will be sentenced in November of 2007.
Previously, Federici worked as a political aide to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, making Federici the second aide of Norton’s to have pleaded guilty. Norton helped Federici found CREA, and was close to former Deputy Secretary of the Interior Steven Griles, who also pleadedguilty to lying to Congress about his relationship to Abramoff and Federici. A filing by federal prosecutors reveled that Griles and Federici were romantically involved and that this relationship facilitated Jack Abramoff's access to Griles. Griles is serving a ten month prison sentence. Jack Abramoff recognized how important Federici's connections within the Interior Department were to furthering the interests of his clients, and donated money to her organization in return for political favors.
Key Points:
Federici communicated messages between Abramoff and the Interior Department.
The Jena Choctaws were pursuing approval for a casino which would have competed with those run by two of Abramoff's tribal clients, the Louisiana Coushattas and the Mississippi Choctaws. Abramoff successfully convinced Griles to oppose the casino, and Griles unsuccessfully put pressure on his boss, Norton, to stop the bid. Griles brought wavering congressmen a binder opposing the casino which he has admitted under scrutiny likely originated with Abramoff.
Federici had been e-mailing with warnings that letting the casino go through would be costly for Norton. In one e-mail, she warned Norton spokesman Eric Ruff that Ralph Reed "has been bending the ear of Karl Rove and possibly even the President...I am also hearing that Ralph has involved James Dobson and Phyllis Schlafy with this. Supposedly Dobson is planning to run ads and they mention Gale by name." Federici included copies of e-mails from Reed to Abramoff. When the Jenas gained Rep. Billy Tauzin's (R-LA) support, Abramoff e-mailed Federici with the bad news, a warning that it would "get really ugly," and a request to "Please let Steve know about this."
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Abramoff directed at least $500,000 of his clients' money to Federici's group. He also provided her with a steady stream of personal favors in exchange for her help.
Abramoff gave CREA at least $500,000 from his tribal clients. Within weeks after one $50,000 donation from the Coushattas, Federici wrote to Norton's scheduler asking for a meeting between Norton and the chairman of the tribe.
Abramoff offered Federici "skybox seats at Redskins games and paid the bill for her meals and cocktail parties at his downtown restaurant, Signatures...She arranged meetings, requested photo opportunities, delivered memos and newspaper articles to Interior officials. She even organized Georgetown dinner parties, under the cover of CREA, so Abramoff's clients could meet with Norton and Griles. 'Thanks for all you do for my clients, the cause and me personally,' Abramoff wrote her in a 2002 e-mail."
Federici told Senate investigators that CREA did not receive contributions in return for favors from the Department of the Interior In her testimony, Federici told investigators that Abramoff's tribal clients donated to CREA as part of a new policy of distributing campaign contributions more evenly between the parties, though investigators believe that in exchange for contributions, Federici used her influence in the Department of the Interior to help Abramoff's clients.
Research by Peter Sheehy, Josh Eidelson, and Asheesh Siddique
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