US District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle Not WOWed by Bush Crony

No Magic Kingdom for Interior Department Crony

As first reported by PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility the former number 2 politico, Steve Griles at the US Department of the Interior tried to escape jail time for his guilty plea of federal obstruction charges. Mr. Griles had friend of a friend ties to Jack Abramoff and provided favors and introductions and lied about them. He had a career of public service and provided the court with at least one hundred letters of character references from people in high places. In a proposed sentencing agreement his counsel offered to serve 500 hours of community service to Disney's WOW an acronym for the Wonderful World of Wilderness. This consortium by the Disney Corporation provides a certain orientation for the study of wilderness and conservation. The proposed sentencing agreement may be viewed in the June 21 newsletter of PEER. It is totally Wow!

Unfortunately for WOW and Steve Griles, Judge Ellen Huvelle of the United States District Court in Washington DC was not impressed by the lofty letters from former and current friends of the administration about this duty bound public servant. In fact she was so unimpressed that she dropped her notebook with a thud and proceeded to levy a stiffer fine and jail time than even the prosecutor asked for, according to the Washington Post reported on June 28, 2007.