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10/18/2005 12:57:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Naomi Seligman of Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington, 202-588-5565
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a
brief this week in a lawsuit CREW brought against the National
Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) in the District Court for the
District of Columbia. CREW's suit is based on the NIGC's
failure to adequately respond to CREW's Freedom of Information
Act request (FOIA). CREW filed the FOIA after learning that
Members of Congress, lobbyists and Christian activists were
working with Jack Abramoff to benefit certain Indian casinos
at the expense of other Indian tribes. Indian casinos fall
under NIGC's jurisdiction.
CREW had asked NIGC to produce any records relating to
contacts that NIGC had with the major players in the Indian
gaming scandals including former Majority Leader of the House
Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
(R-Ill.), Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.),
Jack Abramoff, David Safavian, Mike Scanlon, James Dobson,
Ralph Reed, Scott Reed,
Grover Norquist and head of the Counsel of Republicans for
Environmental Advocacy, Italia Federici. CREW's initial
request included any contacts from Jan. 1, 2001 through March
18, 2005, the date of CREW's original FOIA request.
The FOIA requires federal agencies to respond to requests
for records within 20 days of receipt of the request, which
the NIGC failed to do. After NIGC failed to respond to CREW's
request, CREW sued the Commission in federal court. Only after
CREW filed suit did NIGC respond to CREW's request. On May 9,
2005, NIGC sent a letter stating that the Commission had
discovered only 14 relevant documents, but it withheld 13 of
them claiming that they were exempt from FOIA. The one
document NIGC released was a portion of a document described
as a "draft bill sent to House Speaker Hastert."
On May 19, 2005, NIGC released the additional 12 pages of
Speaker Hastert's draft bill and newspaper articles, documents
the NIGC had previously -- and erroneously -- claimed it could
not legally produce.
CREW has challenged NIGC's response as patently inadequate.
Although NIGC claims to be involved in multiple investigations
relating to the Indian gaming scandal, it has identified only
a handful of documents that it claims to have that are
responsive to CREW's requests.
Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said, "The NIGC
is either running a lackluster investigation or illegally
withholding documents, or both. Regardless, the American
public deserves to know what NIGC's dealings were with these
officials, including now-indicted former GSA Chief of Staff
David Safavian and former Majority Leader Tom DeLay." Sloan
continued, "We will not sit by and allow the Administration to
ignore the law and their responsibilities to the public. We
will fight to learn the extent of Jack Abramoff's influence in
Congress and the Administration."
A copy of CREW's brief can be obtained by contacting Naomi
Seligman by phone at 202-588-5565 or
press@citizensforethics.org.
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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
is a non-profit, progressive legal watchdog group dedicated to
holding public officials accountable for their actions.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
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