James Steven "Steve" Griles was an American coal industry lobbyist and the United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the George W. Bush administration from July 12,2001,until his resignation on December 7,2004.
John Taylor Doolittle,is an attorney and an American politician. Elected to Congress in 1990,he served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009,representing California's 4th congressional district. In the 109th Congress,he held a leadership role as the Deputy Whip for the Republican party in the House. He was succeeded in the House of Representatives by Tom McClintock. Before being elected to Congress,he had served in the California State Senate from 1984 to 1991.
George Rector Nethercutt Jr. is an American lawyer,author,and politician. Nethercutt is the founder and chairman of The George Nethercutt Foundation. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2005,representing Washington's 5th congressional district.
Robert William Ney is an American politician from Ohio. In 2007,he was convicted on charges of corruption and sentenced to 30 months in jail. A Republican,Ney represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until November 3,2006,when he resigned. Ney's resignation took place after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal. Before he pleaded guilty,Ney was identified in the guilty pleas of Jack Abramoff,former Tom DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy,former DeLay press secretary Michael Scanlon and former Ney chief of staff Neil Volz for receiving lavish gifts in exchange for political favors.
Jack Allan Abramoff is an American lobbyist,businessman,film producer,writer,and convicted felon. He was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation led by Earl Devaney that resulted in his conviction and 21 other people either pleading guilty or being found guilty,including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian,U.S. Representative Bob Ney,and nine other lobbyists and congressional aides.
Michael Scanlon is a former communications director for Rep. Tom DeLay,lobbyist,and public relations executive who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges related to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He is currently assisting in the investigation of his former partners Abramoff,Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed by separate state and federal grand jury investigations related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials.
The Jack Abramoff Native American lobbying scandal was a United States political scandal exposed in 2005;it related to fraud perpetrated by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff,Ralph E. Reed Jr.,Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Native American tribes who were seeking to develop casino gambling on their reservations. The lobbyists charged the tribes an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients,secretly splitting the multi-million dollar profits. In one case,they secretly orchestrated lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.
Alice Stevens Fisher is an American lawyer and partner at the Washington,D.C. office of Latham &Watkins LLP. Fisher served as Deputy United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division from 2001 to 2003 and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice Criminal Division for three years,from 2005 to May 23,2008.
Italia Federici,the former president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA),a greenscam organization. Federici was also a political aide to Secretary of the Interior and CREA co-founder Gale Norton. She pleaded guilty in June 2007 to tax evasion and obstructing the United States Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal and was sentenced to four years probation.
Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA) was a Republican environmental organization founded in 1998 by Gale Norton,who in 2001 became George W. Bush's U.S. Secretary of the Interior. CREA "evolved from a group" Italia Federici and Norton founded in 1997 "with tax activist Grover Norquist to push for Republican environmental goals." The organization's steering committee included lobbyists for the petroleum,mining,and auto manufacturing industries. The organization's president,Italia Federici,pleaded guilty in 2007 to obstructing the U.S. Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal and for siphoning CREA funds for personal use. Abramoff donated more than $400,000 to her charity,after which time she began using her connections with J. Steven Griles,to influence him to make decisions beneficial to Abramoff's tribal benefactors. Later in 2007,CREA's vice president,Jared Carpenter,pleaded guilty of tax evasion for also diverting CREA funds for personal use.
Clover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in rural Halifax County,Virginia,United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 438. Clover was an incorporated town from 1895 until 1998,when it reverted to unincorporated status. Clover was the site of a Rosenwald school,built around 1921 or 1922,with a three-teacher facility on a 2-acre campus.
Kevin A. Ring is a former American attorney and congressional staffer;he served Republicans in both the House and the Senate,including U.S. Representative John T. Doolittle (R-CA). He also served as a counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution,Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee.
Benjamin Aavan Stevens is an American politician and political advisor who served as the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Alaska,Mike Dunleavy. He previously served as the President of the Alaska State Senate as a member of the Republican Party. Stevens is the son of the late United States Senator Ted Stevens,who served as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate from 2003 to 2007,as a Republican U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009;the third-longest-serving Republican in United States Senate history,and as the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior from 1960 to 1961.
The Alaska political corruption probe refers to a 2003 to 2010 widespread investigation by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice,the Federal Bureau of Investigation,and the Internal Revenue Service into political corruption of nine then-current or former Alaskan state lawmakers,as well as Republican US Representative Don Young and then-US Senator,Republican Ted Stevens. Sometimes referred to as "The Corrupt Bastards Club" or the "Operation Polar Pen",the investigation focused on the oil industry,fisheries and for-profit prison industries.
Mark Zachares is a Republican politician and lobbyist who served as Congressional aide to Rep. Don Young (R-AK). He pleaded guilty on April 24,2007 to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for using his position in Congress to advance Abramoff's interests.
Robert E. Coughlin,II,is an American lawyer and former government official who served as the Deputy Chief of Staff,Criminal Division,of the United States Department of Justice and was a senior figure in the Jack Abramoff Probe.
The federal investigations into Jack Abramoff and his political and business dealings are among the broadest and most extensive in American political history,involving well over a dozen offices of the FBI and over 100 FBI agents tasked exclusively to the investigation. Given the extent and complexity of the suspected corruption,an entire inter-governmental task force,involving many federal government departments and agencies,has been established to aid the federal investigation. The U.S. Justice Department has announced that it will not reveal the details of the investigation,or who specifically has been targeted for investigation until indictments are issued. Under his plea agreements,Abramoff is required to answer all questions by federal investigators and prosecutors.
Todd Boulanger is an American lobbyist. He was senior vice president of Cassidy &Associates and was a figure in the Jack Abramoff scandal.
Earl Edward Devaney was an American government official who served as inspector general for the United States Department of the Interior and chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.
Ellen Judith Huvelle is an inactive Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She has overseen several significant cases. In a case decided in May 2001,Huvelle "upheld federal regulations that restrict the sale of consumers' names,Social Security numbers,dates of birth,addresses and phone numbers." Later that year,Huvelle heard requests by family members of Vince Foster seeking access to pictures of his body taken after his death. In November 2005,she accepted the guilty plea in the high-profile prosecution of lobbyist Michael Scanlon. Huvelle assumed senior status on June 3,2014.
