She allegedly took $250,000 from indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for using her influence in high government places to benefit his clients. But when she failed to show up to testify before a Senate committee chaired by Sen. John McCain, he sent U.S. marshals out to bring her in.
It is an odd characteristic of our era that all the big scandals seem to produce a blonde woman near their centers - Fanne Foxe, Donna Rice, Fawn Hall, Gennifer Flowers and Linda Tripp, to name just a few.
The corrupt Republican leaders in the Congress have kept a lid on scandals during the first five years of the Bush Administration, but recent events indicate that the lid is about to be blown off.
And right on cue comes Italia Federici, complete with honey-colored hair and a swirling cloud of controversy.
She is the president of a Republican anti-environmentalist group based in Washington who has been caught up in the alleged influence peddling of former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon are accused of bilking $80 million from six Indian tribes who had hired the lobbyists to represent their interests in the Capital.
Abramoff donated between $225,000 and $500,000 he collected from his tribal clients to Federici’s nonprofit group, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA).
Investigators allege that, in return, Federici used her influence at the Dept. of Interior to help one of the tribes maintain its monopoly over gambling in its home region.
The “favors” Italia Federici performed for Abramoff’s clients usually involved making requests to her friend Steven Griles, who was a deputy interior secretary.
Whatever she did for Abramoff, it had little or nothing to do with the activities or purview of CREA, which was founded by anti-tax whack job Grover Norquist and Gale Norton before she became interior secretary.
Its pedigree is squeamish-making and, sure enough, CREA’s role seems to be to support the GOP’s efforts to rape and pillage Mother Earth as quickly as possible. Headlines for recent news releases on their website sound like talking points from Tom DeLay’s office: “ANWR Passage an Important Part of Energy Diversity” and “[Endangered Species Act] Reform Victory in the U.S. House.”
CREA appears to be a very light organization, without even the incumbrance of rent. It’s listed address is a mail drop.
The timing of emails between Abramoff and Federici and the receipt of donations from Indian tribes strongly suggest a classic quid pro quo:
On April 3, 2003, Abramoff sent her an “urgent alert” about an Interior policy change. “Any way to see if this is something coming from the top?” he asked. Federici responded: “I will definitely see what i can find out. I hate to bug you, but is there any news about a possible contribution. . . .”
Earlier this month, Federici astounded members of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs by skipping a hearing in which she had been called to testify about the alleged payola. Her absence prompted committee chairman Sen. John McCain. McCain to send U.S. marshals after her. She appeared this week at a rescheduled hearing in which she was the only witness.
During this very contentious hearing, McCain and the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Byron Dorgan, grilled Federici about her relationship with Abramoff and Griles, including this:
Typical of the many requests Abramoff made to Federici was an e-mail dated Dec. 2, 2002, in which he sought Griles’s help in scuttling a casino plan by the Jena Band of Choctaw, a Louisiana tribe seen as competition by his clients: “It seems the Jena are on the march again. if you can, can you make sure Steve squelches this again? thanks!!”
During the hearing, when Sen. John McCain asked Federici to explain this email, she said, “We work with people every day with varying levels of decorum.”
To which McCain responded: “Your answers are so bizarre.”
Despite the continental sound of her name, Italia came off in the hearings as a product of American suburbia, an emanation in the same vibe as Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Kellyann Fitzpatrick and the late Barbara Olsen. (More blondes!)
Finally, another sign that everybody will soon know Italia Federici’s name, she interconnects with another GOP scandal - one that the Republican Congressional leadership passed on. She wrote at least one op-ed piece for GOPUSA, the propaganda “news” site that “employed” the Republican prostitute/reporter, Jeff Gannon.
She’s only a candidate so far. So many blonds, so little time. Give all the other contenders an equal chance and then crown the Scandal Blond. ( I’ve recently noticed raven- haired, mostly Asian types, may be lining up for equal time and consideration. )
She’s only a candidate so far. So many blonds, so little time. Give all the other contenders an equal chance and then crown the Scandal Blond. ( I’ve recently noticed raven- haired, mostly Asian types, may be lining up for equal time and consideration. )
It’s TIME 2 GET MONEY OUT of POLITICS
Ck Out the Buffalo Party
http://www.TheBuffaloParty.com
It’s All Yours 2 Build As U C Fit ?
Yip-eeee and Stop by de Buffalo Web &
Pass It On… If U Want 2…
Thank U, de Buffer & de Buffie
.
Why is everything coming out so late But guess now is better than never.
Fanne Foxe, Donna Rice, Fawn Hall, Gennifer Flowers and Linda Tripp, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Kellyann Fitzpatrick, Barbara Olsen and more…
All, fine Republican examples of what I’ve come to think as BlondeSkank.
Indeed, the party seems to have a lock on ditzs with this affliction - which looks to be be chemically induced, likely from repeated drownings of weak minds in great quantities of Clairol.
For an antidote, and to revive your faith in blondes, check out http://blondesense.blogspot.com/
(Or, if you are drawn more to Redheads with Attitude, http://www.moxiegrrrl.com/ )
Hubba Hubba Hubba ! Good looking blondes ? Doing dirty deeds for the GOP power players of the USA.
Drop dead gorgeous, not ! Stupid with greed, yep ! They drop their drawers for the CNOTES in bundles of 500. What they’ll do for more is being found out daily.
I wonder how much Delay has to put in the attache for a go round with the sluts ?
Oh yeah… Strom Thurmond and Trent Lott had their knobs slobbed because of their neo-con mightyness. Do me a favor and I’ll give ya some good ole tax payer money darlin.
Such bigoted hypocritical pigs they are, dead or alive ! War is Peace…
BET !
It should be BYRON Dorgan (D-ND)
If you saw the hearing on CSPAN, she actually came off a lot better than this article portends, and at times made McCain look like a fool, particularly when she insinuated that McCain was persecuting her for her previous work opposing some of McCain’s ‘pet’ legislation.
The real question is…what was her exact relationship with Griles? Handjobs-R-Us?
the queen strumpet, monica lewinsky was brunette!
Just shows how money gets things done in Amerikaka.Fish rot from the head down.
In other countries—firing squads are employed.
NIXON’S FAMOUS TAPE-AFTER DAYS IN OFFICE
“I’m surrounded by sooooooo many FKN Jews”
To bad,he didn’t do anything about it!
There’s always a neoCon blonde in every Bushevik scandal
Reply to “Anonymous”: I did watch some of young Miss Federici’s “testimony,” and came away with a very different impression from yours of this distinctly NON-bombshell-like (except regarding her weight), sneering, doughy-faced, yellow-dyed individual. But to turn quickly from her appearance to her character: the “true” person was revealed — nay, flouted — in her “testimony.” As she made clear — deliberately, obstinately, and impudently — through ostensible forgetfulness and evasion over things proven plainly obvious in e-mails presented to the committee (such as her obeying Abramoff’s e-mail orders to make phone calls to no less a personage than Steven J. Griles, the Number Two Man at the United States Interior Department, yet having “no recollection” of doing so, except perhaps to chat with her “old friend, Steve”), she is a liar and scofflaw — though one salvaging the most for herself from a bad situation by trying psychosexually to provoke a spanking from surrogate daddy, John McCain. (Perhaps the spanking she is itching for will come in the form of a citation for contempt of Congress — will that satisfy her?) The transparency of her lies was ridiculously obvious to anyone except Federici herself, for what would that other daddy figure, the old, grizzled, jaded — and now scared out of wits — Steven J. Griles, want with Italia Federici’s “friendship” anyway? Shared corruption is just not enough to bridge the gaps of age and real, as opposed to feigned, cynicism; and on the basis of her looks, there clearly could be nothing else of interest to “Steve” about her, barring some indeed very deep psychosexual twists. Thus, add vanity and self-deception to Italia’s long list of neophyte, but brightly ripening vices. There are more: stubbornly attached to her (current) greedy project, the financial exploitation of the already most wronged and exploited of all Americans, and, moreover, using for this purpose a once publicly beneficial, but now (under the Fascist wing of the Repuplican Party) yes, twisted and perverted, Interior Department, Italia not only shows precocity as a grifter, but as a traitor, as well. What else, though, would one expect from an acolyte of that treasonous subversive, Grover Norquist, who was in on this crooked act along with her, using her gofer sevices to obscure, collect, and transfer some of the bribes? Let us dare to hope that the whole lot of them — Abramoff, DeLay, Griles, Norton, Norquist, Scanlon, Ney, Reed, and little (Er, a bit on the big side, really) Miss Federici, too — be relegated for many idle years to come to the used paperback library, goofy golf course, and ping-pong tables of the federal detention facility at Maxwell Air Force Base, unable there to perpetrate further frauds upon OUR country. Given the on-going nosedive of our ruling Fascist party, that seems a real and delightful possibility.
Federici tried to play the fool, but her act was spotted right off by the staff.
Anyone who can’t finish a phrase without saying “you know?” and “ok?” becomes dumber and dumber as they speak…
and how about the fact she “doesn’t even have an appointment book, so she wouldn’t be able to confirm any dates”?
makes you wonder how many like her are slithering around DC…
nancy bakker
all politicians are scumbags - -it is and always has been about one hand washing the other and the exchanging of favors in order to boost one another. - Politicians are lawyers nad liars who have learned to hide their hand from the common folk - whos vote htey require.
they all suck - they’re all guilty of something - and those who are pin pointed just suck at playing the game, while some one chucked them under the bus as a scapegoat. - - this poor girl will get a scarlett letter on her forehead while all the other players who we all know had bigger parts, will go unnotices and unrecognized.
There was significant shrinkage!
Any one want to think this about this women? She really thinks she did nothing wrong at all and that is even more scary. Odd thinking on her part but in a society where anything goes as long as you make money it can be normal thinking.
I saw a replay of Ms. Federici’s scandal-mony last night and I think she’s a snide, lying, deceptive individual who’s caught, red-handed, in the proverbial cookie jar. She thinks it’s a witch hunt, well, when you’re a witch, you get hunted. She’s borderline evil, who would probably eat her young, were it not contrary to the laws of modern civilization.
I hope and pray that McCain and Dorgan tag-team this chick and send her fat a** where it belongs: in a correctional facility for a great number of years where she can do no wrong, except to make a mistake making license plates.
That chick is a sociopath. Greed is her mission statement. I wonder what she would have done if Hitler was her friend. Get more ovens built? In the immortal words of George Castanza [and I paraphrase] “IF you believe in your heart to be the truth, then It can be.” She is sick, and deserves to be punished with like minded people.
Federal Detention facility at Maxwell AFB? I assume you are referring to OCS (LOL).
She won’t get into any trouble, just like the rest of the cronies. They will endure a public roasting by the juries, and then either slide into another scum bag political job, or land a book deal.
In any case, I’m ashamed of our leaders as a whole. Every one of them are crooks when examined close enough. Yeah, it’s always been that way, but I still hate it.
Then again, I don’t understand why anyone in thier right mind would actually want to do this kind of crap. I would rather gouge out my eyeballs with a fork than have to put up with the political life of lobbyists and the crooks we elect.
That’s why I became an engineer. I build stuff for a living.
Someone bit this b**** for an orange jumpsuit!
I agree with Hank, the last comment, however, it’s gonna be awful hard to fit a big b***h like that with an orange jumpsuit, she’ll blind all the other inmates! How about just putting her in solitary so no one has to look at her? Art’s pal (see above) is also right. Greed is her mission statement. She’s nothing different from any of the corporate monks who pray to the power gods each day, the same people who wouldn’t so much as look at ANY Indian tribe were it not for being able to illegally extract money from them. Let’s face it: she’s a crook. I don’t care how many times she says McCain’s out to get her. McCain is a Republican too, and we know since 2000 when Bush STOLE the White House, that Republicans protect their own. Except in times like now, when they all run for cover. If Bill Clinton had lied and started a war so some of his political friends from Arkansas could get rich, Gingrich and that whole ilk would have hung him upside down, from the roof of the White House, by his nuts.
By the way, above, I was saying that since McCain is a Republican, it’s not like it’s partisan politics all over again, this is one Republican going after another, so a Dem vs. Repub. excuse just won’t fly.
Sen Dorgan nailed it when he expressed disbelief in Ms Federici explanation that hundreds of thousands of dollars came to CREA because Native American tribes were Thanksgiving Generous and that the things she did for Jack Abramoff were merely the actions of one friend for another. In fact friendship and generosity were the twin themes of her testimony. But all of that friendship appears not to have worked out too well for her. Perhaps Harry Truman was right –if you want a friend in Washington get a dog.
Cannot remember who said this on a radio talk show, but I am afraid since most, if not all, Senators and Representatives, both Republicans and Democrats, took money knowingly or unknowingly, the sheer number of them work in their favor. Nothing meaningful will come out of this. As long as money and political favors are what drive a country, this sort of corruption will continue to occur no matter what political system we use. It is obvious that Italia believes that only thing she did wrong is that it was found. But then, unless you are able to lose sense of guilt completely, how can anyone work in Washington?
Redheads are very feminine and just need to show their true color and not hold back. Blondes get away with a lot. So should redheads. Redheads are blondes only the top of there hair is red.
ronda shepard said “the queen strumpet, monica lewinsky was brunette!”.
Let’s stay on-topic, ronda. We’re talking about REPUBLICAN scandals, not DEMOCRATIC scandals (which, by the way, was a witch-hunt in itself). Like it’s been said: “$60 million for a blowjob and nothing for voter fraud.”
Also, Romelee asked “Why is everything coming out so late But guess now is better than never.”
It’s because, until now, there has been a Republican Congress and they circled the wagons to protect their own (laws and constitution be damned!).
This current spate of problems with Antonio Gonzalez (spelling?) is just another ruse to circumvent the political ramifications of the firings. If the Bushwhacker can use legal delays over the subpoenas until he’s out of office, it makes the entire affair an exercise in futility. With a right-leaning Supreme Court, you already know who’s going to win, anyway.
We the people only get the option of the lesser of two evils for the White House. The REAL decision is made by big money (oil, business conglomerates, etc.) as to which two evils we get to choose from.
I recently watched a copy of the senate hearings with Italia and she is dumber than shit or lying like hell to cover her fat ass.
She’s dumber then shit and she fills the bill.
I hear that Rice does it much better plus she does have that rooster ass going for her and we know how farm boys grow up with that style.
TheFabOne:
Speaking of Bill Clinton:
It is opined that Bill Clinton committed racist hate crimes, and I am not free to say anything further about it.
Respectfully Submitted by Andrew Y. Wang, J.D. Candidate
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
(I can type 90 words per minute, and there are probably thousands of copies on the Internet indicating the content of this post. Moreover, there are innumerable copies in very many countries around the world.)
_________________
“If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.†Off the top of my head—it came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.