by emptywheel
We've been talking a lot about the role of the Native American Issues Subcommittee (NAIS) to the USA Purge here. If you haven't already, go read through that post for background--and pay particular attention to mbw's comments, as she is the blogosphere's resident expert on how BushCo has attempted to cheat Native American tribes (again).
In this post, I'd like to take a close look at what has happened to the membership of the NAIS in just the last year. I've taken email addressees from two of the emails included in the document dumps below and compared them in this table.
3/22/06 (OAG562)
2/24/07 (ASG417)
Chiara W/MI
Chiara W/MI
Sperling E/OK
Sperling E/OK
O'Meilia N/OK
O'Meilia N/OK
Charlton AZ
Knauss AZ
Moss ID
Moss ID
Iglesias NM
Heavican NE*
Mead WY
Mead WY
Mercer MT
Mercer MT
Bodgen NV
Wrigley ND
Wrigley ND
Lampton S/MS
Lampton S/MS
Scott E/CA
Scott E/CA
Suddaby N/NY
Suddaby N/NY
Immergut OR
O'Connor CT
O'Connor CT
Shappert W/NC
Shappert W/NC
Washington W/LA
Washington W/LA
Larson N/IA
Rhodes S/AL
Rhodes S/AL
Richter W/OK
Richter W/OK
Tapken SD
Jackley SD
Eid CO
Cohen AK
Sullivan W/WA
Tolman UT
Remember, the February 24 email came just ten days after Tom Heffelfinger's resignation, so count him in the list of people on the list to be fired as well). I've put an asterisk by Michael Heavican because he resigned to become Nebraska's Chief Justice, so there's no reason to believe his departure is related to the purge, but he is gone. Karin Immergut remains the USA of Oregon.
The other names in red, though, have left under suspect circumstances in the last year. (In Chuck Larson's case, his AUSA replaced him, but then resigned just one month later.)
Keep reading for more background on those in blue, replacement members of NAIS that speak volumes about where Alberto Gonzales would like to see NAIS go.
We know Deborah Rhodes is a DOJ loyalist, because in one of the document dumps, she was named to replace Carol Lam in San Diego. They needed someone in AL before SD became available and they put Rhodes there.
Rhodes, however, is qualified for this position. She spent fourteen years as an AUSA before working for DOJ on sentencing issues. So she's friendly, but certainly has the background for the position.
Jackley is young (perhaps 37?) and started practicing law in 1995. He was born and raised in South Dakota, so at least he know the community.
Three things stick out in his background though. First, he lists his political service (which admittedly only goes back to 2000). Of note, however, is that he serves as a Republican election monitor in the reservations--Pine Ridge, Porcupine, Interior, and Kyle--that have swung elections to the Democrats in the past several years. He is a member of the Ogalala Sioux bar, which should not, by itself be a concern for a lawyer with a decade of experience in South Dakota. But when you couple that with Jackley's apparent experience in reclamation law, and you begin to see why BushCo would want this guy on NAIS.
Unfortunately, the Internet Archive didn't take a snapshot of the CO USA website just after Troy Eid came in. If it had, you'd see that when USA purge just started blowing up, the website still had the same resume for Eid that DOJ released in the document dump. But since then, as USA Purge has exploded, they updated his bio, hiding one or two aspects of his background that are very relevant to the issue at hand. See if you can pick out what I mean. Here's the old resume:
Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig in 2003, Troy served for five years on the Cabinet of Colorado Governor Bill Owens.
And here's the new one, helpfully titled "eid_bio_new":
Returning to law practice in 2003, Troy was a partner in the Denver office of a national law firm, focusing on environmental, energy, technology, and federal Indian law, and was rated as one of America's best business attorneys by CHAMBERS USA.
Now why do you suppose DOJ wouldn't want you to know, in the middle of USA purge, that USA Troy Eid practiced Native American law with Greenberg Traurig at the same time as Abramoff worked there? Like Jackley, Eid is a member of a Native American bar, in his case the Navajo Tribe.
And speaking of conflicts of interest, you might want to know that Eid's wife is on CO's Supreme Court (note Jeralyn Merritt's reaction to her appointment in the article). Troy Eid withdrew from consideration for the USA position long enough for her to get the spot, and then, voila! He's the USA. A neat scheme, really.
Don't misunderstand me. Eid appears to be really smart (as does his wife) ... particularly if you're the kind of person who likes to see businesses win in resource disputes with Native American tribes. Not that there's anyone like that in Bush's Republican circles.
Nelson Cohen
Resume
Cohen is still interim USA, so he'll be in temporary status with the revocation of the PATRIOT Act provision under which he was nominated. On paper he's got a lot of experience and some history in Alaska (though he's not a native). But two things make his position on NAIS very suspect. There's the way he was appointed over the objections of AK's two Republican Senators, apparently due to the intervention of Mary Beth Buchanan, who is a notoriously political USA with close ties to DOJ:
The U.S. attorney position in Alaska opened Jan. 23, 2006, when Timothy Burgess left to become a U.S. district judge. His first assistant, Deborah Smith, was named acting U.S. attorney that day. U.S. attorneys are typically nominated by the president and approved by the Senate. Traditionally, Alaska's two U.S. senators send the names of one or more Alaskans to the White House for consideration. Sen. Murkowski said her clear choice was Smith, a career prosecutor who started out in the federal prosecutor's office in Anchorage in 1982 and worked in Boston and Washington.
Sen. Stevens wouldn't reveal his choices.
After submitting Smith's name, Murkowski said in a telephone interview, her legislative director periodically called the White House during the first part of 2006 to check the status of the nomination.
"We'd get these vague, 'Oh, we�re still working on it, still working on it,'" Murkowski said. "So it gets to the point where you�re thinking, 'Wait a minute, this has been a heck of a long time. What is happening'" And so the response to my inquiry is, 'We still haven't, there's some issues,' and ultimately what we got back was, 'The picks were not acceptable by the White House,' and yet no explanation as to why they're not acceptable."
When she was in Alaska for the August 2006 recess, Murkowski's Blackberry vibrated with a message. It was her chief aide in Alaska, Mary Hughes, citing a media report that Nelson Cohen had been named interim U.S. attorney.
"You just think, 'It can't be, wait.' There was no consulting, no process, no nothing. That�s where I was certainly caught blindsided," Murkowski said.
Stevens, himself a former federal prosecutor in Alaska, was enraged. "I am just furious at the way the attorney general handled this," he said at the time.
And then there's the fact that Cohen is already on NAIS. When Margaret Chiara invited two of the acting USAs that replaced members of the Gonzales 8 to attend March's conference, she was told that there was formal process for naming USAs to NAIS, even in cases where a USA was replacing a sitting NAIS member, and even in cases, like AZ, where it'd be absurd to leave off the USA. But Cohen, without Senate confirmation, got named to NAIS on his own accord. They sure were quick to get him on NAIS.
Also, I'm not so sure when his submitted resume dates from--but like one of the candidates for the USA job in WA, his pertinent bar membership was lapsed at the time he submitted the resume.
Brett Tolman
Resume
Last but not least, Brett Tolman. Tolman is best known as the guy who snuck the AG appointment power into the PATRIOT Act in the middle of the night. Tolman's resume is most remarkable for its length. Many of the selected USA replacements have short resumes, suggesting they were confident they didn't have to really describe their experience. Tim Griffin's resume started out short, until the time when the Arkansas Senators balked at his appointment, at which point he fluffed up his experience. But Tolman's resume--one page with two and three inch margins--resembles nothing so much as a Freshman Comp paper written 10 minutes before class.
But then, it wasn't so long ago that Tolman was writing those Freshman Comp papers. He has practiced law for nine years. Of that, he spent three years as counsel to Senator Hatch and then (as a kind of babysitter) Senator Specter. I'm not sure if Tolman has any experience working with Native Americans. But he has sure proved his willingness to advance the party's agenda.
You add these folks to someone like Bill Mercer, and it seems you've got a solid corps of people willing to advance whatever scheme BushCo has in mind for Native Americans.
Eid is bad news. While continuing to look for the article I mentioned in a previous thread, I tripped on at least TWO references to Eid being not only a lobbyist with Greenberg Taurig, but a SHAREHOLDER.
In other words, he had a highly vested interest in the outcomes of Native American issues he was representing while at Greenberg.
Posted by: Rayne | April 30, 2007 at 20:34
EW have you seen Murray Waas' new article? Bombshell about AG signing an order to delegate hiring/firing at Justice to Goodling and Sampson. Murray is the man. He saw the docs. Smoke, meet gun.
I need to read and digest this post. I don't know if history will ever digest the depths of this corruption. I don't know if I can, either. It just goes deeper and deeper.
Posted by: whitewidow | April 30, 2007 at 20:57
porcupine. pine ridge.interior.
Yes. i read up on that stuff at one point when I first saw the resume. I thought it was paulose's, not Jackley.
This is an indian area where some serious "voter fraud" accusations went on. there was a race in SD in 2002 where John Thune barely lost to (Johnson?)
There was a big contingency of lawyers from the republicans, including the RNLA - and there was a big BS story created by the Repubs) about "voter fraud" - There was one woman who was actually convicted of signing someone elses name on a form to request absentee ballots - but the charges were later dismissed.
There was a newsreporter who was a good buddy of a lawyer working for thune's campaign who manufactured a fake story about "voter fraud".
If you haven't already read up on this. here is one place:
http://www.votelaw.com/blog/blogdocs/GOP_Ballot_Security_Programs.pdf
see "case 13" "investigating 'massive fraud' on the reservations"
I think the article says that as a result of all this sturm und drang which amounted to nothing - the SD legislature passed a bill which made it much harder to vote absentee - requiring notarization to do so. The idea is that this would disproportionately affect native americans.
So the bottom line is that by adding that line Jackley has proven to people who matter that he is very much on the "right" side of Indian issues (when it comes to voting anyway)
Posted by: anonymouse | April 30, 2007 at 21:53
EW. I enjoy your insight. Try reading the history on the relationship btwn NA's and the oil industry...Someone has drilling rights on their mind perhaps...
Posted by: K Lynn | April 30, 2007 at 21:53
Here's something I've always wondered about, wrt Rhodes. SDCA is one of the bigger USA offices, with 120 AUSAs. Southern Alabama? Not so much. Plus, Rhodes lived in SD for a number of years. Did Rhodes knwo she almost got SD but instead got AL?
Posted by: emptywheel | April 30, 2007 at 22:04
K.Lynn - yes, considering the vast land holdings of the tribes, I've been waiting for a Cheney nexis moment. The mineral reservers, gas & oil holdings must make Cheney grit his teeth in frustration but his name hasn't cropped up in these discussions that I've seen.
Posted by: mainsailset | April 30, 2007 at 22:10
mainsailset 22:10 -- read the last USA-related thread. I think you'll be satisfied with the direction.
Posted by: Rayne | April 30, 2007 at 22:38
clever innovation and presentation.
the weblog world of journalism is growing exponentially by the day and week, not by the year or the decade.
Posted by: orionATL | April 30, 2007 at 23:20
Me, again!
Am I just manifesting my little, bear brain, or is there something here that doesn't meet the eye? I recall (and other wheelers can fill in the big gap I'm leaving) that there are Native Americans sitting on oil patches here and there, who haven't been getting the full benefit of the royalties promised to them by the US Govt, for, oh, about a century. Wouldn't it be hilarious, given that oil is involved, if the Cheneys, and the Bushes and the Mitchells and who knows who else, arranged to divert some of that green in the direction of their bank accounts? [Pass the tinfoil hat, please] We're talking, not hundreds of Ks, not thousands of Ks, but millions of Ks that have gone, to use the language of the BIA, missing. No records. No payments. No compensation, whatsoever, save a token, here and there. Forgive me, for I know not what I think.
Posted by: Canuck Stuck in Muck | April 30, 2007 at 23:47
Still scratching my head over the "shareholder" status of Eid...why is he a "shareholder" and not merely a partner, although it looks like they downplay the shareholder angle and promote partner instead. Did he buy his way into Greenberg? Was he expecting a solid yield on that investment? And why would a guy with the CV he's got settle for a USA slot? Is he parked for a judgeship -- which still seems a bit light for a guy with this CV.
Something smells.
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 08:44
Wow. Troy Eid at GT in Denver in 2003. Just wow.
I took a look at his Senate lobbying disclosure forms, and two things stood out. One, he was definitely in with Abramoff's gang, as the one lobbying disclosure form on record at SOPR lists his co-lobbyists as Ed Ayoob, Kevin Ring, Stephanie Leger, Pat Wilson, Neil Volz, Michael Smith - I mean, almost every except Abramoff himself.
Second, his client - Convergys Corp. Not happy with taking over state government:
Convergys was looking to move into the Federal government, and who better to look to than Abramoff and GT.
This one's a biggie, Marcy. I'm driving to from LV to LA today, so won't have much time to do more research, but will hunker down tonight when I get to the hotel.
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 10:06
Still drinking my coffee, so I won't start packing just yet.
I went over Eid's resume at GT, and here are some thoughts. Abramoff wanted him on the Convergys account because of his experience as Secretary of Personnel and Administration. The lobbying disclosure form states Convergys' lobbying targets as the White House, Department of Labor, Homeland Security and "others". For this, GT in last half of 2004 was paid $140,000. Even for GT, that's a hefty sum for just one 6 month reporting period. The contract was terminated in February, 2005, one would assume because of the fall-out from the scandal hitting the media. According to Colorado Political News blog at the time, Eid's name was submitted for the Colorado USA way back in December 2004, even though he wasn't named until mid-2006. Was that because the White House was watching the Abramoff fallout and wanted to make sure their golden boy didn't get caught up in the scandal's fallout. They must have wanted him pretty bad if they were willing to take that chance.
Which leads me to contemplate Eid's Navajo Bar membership - throughout 2005, most of Southwestern Indian Country and the lawyers who worked against the tribes were caught up in the implications of the El Paso/Navajo right-of-way dispute and the fallout in the form of the Section 1813 study imposed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. If the White House really wanted to have someone with knowledge of the Navajo dispute but didn't want it known that they really cared about the whole issue as deeply as they do, then Eid was definitely the right guy.
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 10:37
MB
One of the delays of timing had to do with CO, not USA. Eid was under consideration, then it was perceived as a conflict for his wife's Supreme Court bid, then he resubmitted after she was appointed. So it may have just been kabuki on how to get them both named.
Posted by: emptywheel | May 01, 2007 at 11:17
Note on page 17 at this link a mention of Troy Eid at GT in Nov. 2003, writing to Norton. (Note also use of the word, "shareholder".)
EW, you'll also want to note mentions in page 16 of Michigan-related content.
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 11:40
I can see the reason for the delay - but it is interesting that the WH chose not to nominate one of other two recommended attorneys. They clearly wanted Eid, and were willing to wait, even a year and a half.
One interesting note - I came across a Denver Post article on Eid's nomination. In it, Eid made it sound like he and Abramoff's paths didn't cross:
Abramoff wasn't fired until after the late February, 2004 WaPo expose, well after Eid's joining the firm. Eid was picked for the Convergys project in early 2004 (the lobbying disclosure was dated 2/1/04), when Abramoff was very much still around. There is no doubt in my mind that Eid and Abramoff knew each other, as Abramoff's crew did nothing without his knowledge and consent.
Remember Robert E. Coughlin II, deputy chief of staff for the DoJ criminal division resigned this week. He was good friends with Kevin Ring, co-lobbyist with Eid on Convergys. Ring also resigned from his lobbying firm, Barnes & Thornburg, two weeks ago. Ring was an aide for Doolittle for five years prior to joining GT and "Team Abramoff".
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 11:59
mbw 11:59 -- wonder if Eid is redacted on any of the Abramoff documents released by Waxman last year...or maybe not redacted? Ring's clearly in there.
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 12:01
Yup, you and I are thinking along the same lines, particularly WRT Coughlin, MB.
But then Eid is just one more Republican who seems to have forgotten his friend Jack.
Posted by: emptywheel | May 01, 2007 at 12:01
OMG, Rayne, that is an amazing find! The Mashpee were definitely Jack's client, and if Eid wrote Norton (who he probably knew personally from Colorado) in November 2003, then that's even more evidence that he was part and parcel of Team Abramoff while at GT. I wonder just how well Eid knew Italia Federici, another key player with Colorado ties. Ack! How can I be in the car for four hours and away from the internet.
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 12:10
Waxman's Abramoff collection shows Rudy billing for repeated discussions with White House about staffing in DOI in 2001 and Indian issues -- but there's no connection between this work and Norton's exchange with Eid about an Indian tribe in 2003? Yah. Sure.
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 12:15
mbw -- found the original article in Cape Cod archives, including chart showing Abramoff involved in Wampanoag. Maybe the local paper has more tucked away in the recesses...
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 12:32
So I checked out the Mashpee lobbying records, and while most of Team Abramoff is listed, Eid is not. What's more, in their mid- and end-year reports for 2003 and 2004, only the Senate and House are listed as lobbying targets - nothing for DoI. So Eid, 1) didn't have himself listed as a lobbyist, despite contacting a government official regarding a current client, and 2) that government official's agency was never reported as having been lobbied by his firm. Bad form all around, and, frankly, legally actionable.
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 12:42
Folks
Note that Eid joined GT in NOvember 2003, so he shouldn't show up in the records until then. That'd give him 6 months of overlap with Abramoff.
Posted by: emptywheel | May 01, 2007 at 13:08
No surprise, though, yes? Makes me wonder what Susan Eid was doing in terms of filings for her lobbying, too, but that's an altogether different investigation.
Wonder where the reporter at Cape Cod got the scoop on the letter from Eid to Norton -- was there a doc dump related to DOI and Norton someplace? I'm afraid I haven't done any work in that area. Wonder what would happen if a copy of that letter or letters were faxed/emailed to the Judiciary Committees...
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 13:12
GT was hired by the Mashpee on October 1, 2003. They were terminated a year later, probably due to the Abramoff scandal. If Eid was writing Norton in November, 2003, he should have been listed in an amendment, or at least in the year-end report, as a lobbyist. He was not. Nor in the 2004 mid-year report. Nor the termination report (end of 2004 reporting period.)
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 13:50
Ladies, I'm going to turn this into a dedicated post, with full attribution to you both (and feel free to cross-post it). I'd like to get some more attention to this now, and to turn it into something I can send on to some people.
Posted by: emptywheel | May 01, 2007 at 14:02
I just did the same thing over at Wampum, Marcy. I think it's an amazing find by you and Rayne, and it's been really fun to have people to work with on this. I've been plugging along on Indian stuff for so long out in the wilderness, I forgot how enjoyable tag-teaming could be.
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 14:05
Rayne, thanks so much for the heads up on the last thread, I hadn't read it to the very end.
MBW, 'Down the Rabbit Hole' series at Wampum I had bookmarked way back when and it's still one of the best investigative pieces around. Bravo to you once again!
Posted by: mainsailset | May 01, 2007 at 14:16
And with that, I'm taking down the satellite and hitting the road. See you all back here in a few hours.
Posted by: MBW | May 01, 2007 at 14:21
I think a commenter in an earlier thread on this topic mentioned that Paulose, the new Minnesota USA, is Indian. That is correct, but she is from the India next to Pakistan. She is not native American.
Posted by: tedb | May 01, 2007 at 14:30
OT -- Something to squirrel away at the back of the mind, not something to chase, but possibly important because it happened in parallel.
Babs Comstock left DOJ Public Affairs in September 2003, to become a lobbyist with Blank and Rome eff. October 1, 2003. Did you know she was a lobbyist for at least two different tribal corporations -- Kake and Alutiiq?
Huh. Not important now, but worth sticking away in a file, just happened to trip on it while snooping around lobbying records.
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 14:33
tedb -- pretty sure I've seen news articles that make mention of Paulose as first Asian-American USA in MN. The powers that be would definitely not hire someone of Native American heritage for the role.
Posted by: Rayne | May 01, 2007 at 14:37
EW, Sorry to come back so late. Re Tribe landholdings and oil: T Boone Pickens name has come up though...And some others...
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Posted by: Marlo Spencer | December 16, 2007 at 11:52