Abramoff Cited Aid Of Interior Official

Federal investigators are examining the circumstances that led the section to raise its objections, according to people who have been interviewed in the probe.

Thomas L. Sansonetti, then the associate attorney general overseeing the Indian law section, told Interior Department officials that his office did not want to take on the burden of defending the department if it was sued by Michigan opponents of Gun Lake on environmental grounds.

In an interview this month, Sansonetti said that he wanted to have a strong defense in the event of a lawsuit. He said he was not moved by the Gun Lake tribe's offer to provide legal assistance for any court case.

Sansonetti said he first heard about Gun Lake from the Interior Department's solicitor's office. "I think there was a concern with the [environmental assessment] being sufficient all along," he said.

Sansonetti said he has attended events sponsored by Federici's group. He said he had no communication with Griles or Abramoff about Gun Lake and said he is unaware of any investigation of the matter. He left the Justice Department this year to join a Wyoming law firm.

Asked to comment on how his tribe's application was handled, Gun Lake leader D.K. Sprague issued a statement complaining of the cost of the delay in the casino application and urging "a thorough investigation" by the Justice Department task force. "We have been denied our federal rights, economic self-sufficiency, and jobs that will benefit our community," he said.

Opponents Sue Interior

In addition to Gun Lake, in 2003 Abramoff and Griles were active in an effort to stop a casino proposed by the Jena Band of Choctaws in Louisiana, rivals of another Abramoff client.

Late in that year, Griles, who was generally not involved in Indian issues, presented Interior officials with a binder containing legal arguments and congressional letters opposing the Jena plan. Griles acknowledged to colleagues that the binder had probably been put together by Abramoff, according to one former senior department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In March, The Post reported that Griles's involvement in the Jena case led to a clash with other Interior Department officials, including former legal counsel Michael G. Rossetti. A spokeswoman for Griles commented for that article, saying that he "didn't participate in any decision-making process regarding the Jena Band and gaming."

In April, the Interior Department solicitor's office dropped opposition to the Gun Lake tribe's casino application. The tribe subsequently received approval for its casino.

A group of Grand Rapids business leaders, who had long argued that the casino would harm the city's renewal plans and should undergo a more extensive environmental review, immediately sued the Interior Department.

One of those involved in the legal action was Peter F. Secchia, a major GOP fundraiser who served as an ambassador for President George H.W. Bush. In December 2002, he told the Kalamazoo Gazette that he was going all-out to block the casino, so much so that he spoke to presidential political adviser Karl Rove about it at a White House Christmas party for donors.

"I talked to Rove, and he put me in touch with his guy in charge of this kind of operation. I'm going to do my damnedest on this one. This is really important to us," Secchia told the Gazette that December.

In a recent interview, Secchia said he has spoken not only to Rove but also to President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney about what he sees as the negative impact of the proliferation of tribal casinos. Both men, he said, told him it was a legislative issue. "Karl told me to talk to [congressional] committee people," he said, and put him in touch with the White House office of intergovernmental relations.

Secchia said he has not talked to officials at Interior or Justice about Gun Lake. He said he has never had contact with Abramoff, who is out on $2.25 million bond and is to be arraigned next week in Miami in the casino fleet case.