Remember Gary Baise trying hard to play off his connections with Abramoff-tainted CREA founder Italia Federici? And how poor his explanation got the more the press asked him about it? Well, if this pattern holds up, expect some more poor explanations, because the press may be calling with some more questions soon:
The Hill has learned that Italia Federici, a one-time political aide to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, has agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of Congress as part of the investigation into the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff.And that Abramoff anchor around the neck of the Fairfax GOP just got a little bit heavier.The Republican activist will be the second person with ties to Norton to plead guilty in the Abramoff investigation. Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his relationship to Abramoff and Federici. He is to be sentenced later this month.
How could he be a leader of this organization and not know what was going on?