Wampum

Last year, I spent so much time sifting through the Abramoff documents released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that I think they're all permanently burned onto my brain tissue. Thus, when I was reminded in Marcy's comments that US Attorney Margaret Chiara was a supporter of the Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi Indians attempts to take land into trust for the purposes of developing a class III gaming presence in Michigan, bells went off in my head.

See, one of Jack Abramoff's treasured clients were the Saginaw-Chippewa tribe, also located in Michigan. The Sag-Chip had developed a very successful gaming operation, and were very protective of it, so much so, they were willing to pay Jack wicked amounts of money to screw any Johnny-come-lately tribes out of a their own gaming franchises. Of course, Jack knew how to play, and soon there-after, significant contributions from the Sag-Chip made their way into certain politicians coffers. Those same politicians just happened to develop a sudden severe aversion to any expansion of gaming in a particular locale, in this case Western Michigan, and letters were astroturfed to each and every senior member of the Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs, including our friend, J. Steven Griles, who recently plead guilty to lying to Congress regarding his relationship with Jack Abramoff - a relationship which centered around Griles' assistance at Interior on behalf of Abramoff's clients - including the Sag-Chip and their desire to derail the Gun Lake casino.

Earlier today, Murray Waas published a piece in the National Journal which details a confidential memo from Gonzales delegating extraordinary "human resources" powers to aides Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling. The purported goal of the new powers was to allow Sampson and Goodling to ferret out those non-Senate confirmed political appointees not sufficiently Bush loyal, and to replace them with honest-to-goodness Administration lemmings. The number and scope of such fire and hire power is remarkably stunning, particularly within such key departments as the DoJ's Criminal Division. A few months back, as the US Attorney scandal broke, I wondered about possible repercussions in such departments as the Public Integrity Section, which oversaw the Abramoff investigation, and had been plagued by high turnover in its senior-most position (a non-confirmed political appointment.) Just recently, with little of the pomp and circumstance typical of this Administration, a new head was named, William Welch II, a former assistant US attorney from, of all dull and non-Abramoff-tainted places, Springfield, Massachusetts. However, while the appointment was recent, Welch's presence in Washington was not, as he had been tapped by the DoJ in September of 2006 for a six-month stint to purportedly help "clean up" some of the backload. The acting head of the Public Integrity Section, who had previously been deputy to the prior department leader, was passed over for Welch and his six-month tenure. In light of what we've currently learned from Waas, it appears Welch possessed the necessary attribute, Bush loyalty, which earned him the job. One can only assume that the Deputy and Acting Head of PIS did not.

So what does this all have to do with US Attorney Margaret Chiara? US Attorney, as I mentioned previously, cannot initiate anything more than a very basic investigation of a public official without the approval and assistance of the Public Integrity Section. Thus, Chiara, was clearly aware of Abramoff's "intervention" in the Gun Lake gaming process, via Steve Griles and perhaps other public officials, such as Congressman and Abramoff contribution beneficiary Peter Hoekstra (R-MI). From a 2006 Indian Country Today article:

Hoekstra received $2,000 from indicted former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's firm after asking former Interior Secretary Gale Norton in December 2002 to extend a comment period on Gun Lake's environmental review for its land-into-trust application.

In the fall of 2006, it was clear that Abramoff was getting way too comfortable with federal investigators (namely, the acting head of Public Integrity) and Steve Griles was in the sites of the same department for lying to Congress. Either of those two could easily bring down the house of cards, should the state US attorneys decide the risk of prosecuting a public official be worth the price. Margaret Chiara, in supporting the Gun Lake tribe against the likes of Hoekstra and MichGO chair and head of the Michigan GOP, Peter F. Secchia, had shown her true colors, and it was up to the Administration to take care of the situation. Was the addition of Chiara at the late date, particularly after she contacted William Mercer, whose former boss, Conrad Burns, was also in jeopardy regarding the Sag-Chip/Gun Lake scandal, having not only taken contributions from the Sag-Chip, but authoring legislation to appropriate money for Sag-Chip schools (money that was supposed to go to poor tribes, not highly successful gaming tribes, like the Sag-Chip.)

Just how did William Welch win the support of Sampson, Goodling and their handlers in Karl Rove's office? While Welch, a native of New England, seems as far from the purge of mostly Southwestern USAs as possible, I did find one small hint in a single mention of his position prior to Springfield - as Assistant Attorney in Nevada, working with none other than Daniel Bogden. Except Welch wasn't in the Las Vegas office, which handed the state's criminal and corruption cases - he was in the Reno office, which oversaw mostly Indian and federal land cases, and unusual training ground for a Massachusetts attorney. Ironic, too, that Bogden's name was added to "the list" soon after Welch arrived in Washington. Around the same time Margaret Chiara was targeted for termination as well.

Maybe it's all just coincidence.