Chippewa Supporter in Justice Department, Linked to Abramoff Case, Resigns

January 11, 2007
By: Dave Rogers

Something continues to be fishy in Mt. Pleasant.

Remember super lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who wheedled about $14 million out of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe a few years ago?

Well, one of Super Jack's buddies was J. Steven Griles, the former No. 2 official in the Interior Department.

Griles has been notified by federal prosecutors that he will most likely be indicted for lying about his relationship with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

With the prospect of his indictment, Sue Ellen Wooldridge, the assistant attorney general for environment and natural resources who has been reportedly dating Griles, tendered her resignation this week.


Whoops! Sue Ellen Wooldridge is the official we told you about last week who is lead counsel for the government in the Chippewa lawsuit against the state.

The feds have come out in support of the Chippewa in the massive land suit that informed observers theorize is a strategic ploy to gain state approval for gaming at the Saganing reservation in Arenac County.

The whole mess is beginning to smell like an extension of the federal corruption that has pervaded the Bush Administration.

We were surprised to find that Uncle Sam came out against the state and puzzled about the motivation behind the support of the Chippewa. Is it possible that the grimy tentacles of Abramoff are still entangled in the Mt. Pleasant tribe's business?