James Steven "Steve" Griles (born December 13, 1947) was an American coal industry

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

and the United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic ...

from July 12, 2001, until his resignation on December 7, 2004. Griles held the second-ranking position at the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

, ranking below only the Secretary of the Interior, at the time

Gale Norton Gale Ann Norton (born March 11, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 48th United States Secretary of the Interior under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006. A member of the Republican Party, she previously serve ...

. Griles served as a Department of the Interior representative on

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

Dick Cheney's energy task force. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to felony

obstruction of justice Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...

in the Senate investigation of the Abramoff scandal, the highest-ranking Bush administration official to do so. He was sentenced to a fine and 10 months imprisonment.

Early life and education

Born in

Clover, Virginia Clover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in rural Halifax County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 438. Clover was an incorporated town from 1895 until 1998, when it reverted to uni ...

, Griles earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

in 1970.

Career

Griles was formerly a principal with National Environmental Strategies, Inc. (NES), a public affairs firm that provided advice and lobbying services to companies,

trade associations A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partici ...

and others regarding policy, regulatory, environmental and energy issues at the Federal and State government level. Prior to joining NES, he was Senior Vice President for Public, Environmental and Marketing Activities for the United Company. Located in Bristol, Virginia, the United Company was a diversified natural resources company with select diversification in non-energy areas, with operations in coal, oil and gas, cogeneration, gold mining, manufacturing, real estate, hotels, and golf operations with both domestic and foreign interests. Griles worked in the

Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...

as deputy director of the Office of Surface Mining, Department of the Interior from 1981 to 1983, and as assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals Management (1983–1989).

Department of Interior

Griles was confirmed as Deputy to Interior Secretary

. Second in rank only to Norton, Griles effectively was Interior's chief operating officer and its top representative on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. Upon taking the job of Deputy Secretary, Griles was allowed to receive payments totaling more than $1 million from 2001 to 2005 as part of a buyout by NES while collecting his $150,000 annual federal salary. This was allowed only under conditions approved by the Office of Government Ethics and the Senate, and Griles signed a written agreement stating he would recuse himself from "any particular matter involving specific parties in which any of isformer clients is or represents a party." However, a Freedom of Information Act request in September 2002 turned up evidence that Griles had met with former clients in the fossil fuel industries, despite the agreement. Griles resigned after an 18-month investigation by the Department's Inspector General concluded that Griles indeed had contact with former NES clients in violation of the agreement, although the report did not accuse Griles of violating any laws or federal ethics rules. David Hirsch, a director for Friends of the Earth, said of Griles: "he spent four years working for his former clients at the Department of Interior. It didn't seem to matter how many problems came out, he just kept going. He's the

Energizer Bunny The Energizer Bunny is the marketing mascot of Energizer batteries in North America. It is a pink mechanical toy rabbit wearing sunglasses and blue and black striped flip-flops that beats a bass drum bearing the Energizer logo. History The En ...

of conflict of interest."

Abramoff scandal

Griles was also asked to testify before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in the 2005 investigation of the Abramoff scandal.

Jack Abramoff Jack Allan Abramoff (; born February 28, 1959) is an American lobbyist, businessman, film producer, writer, and convicted felon. He was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation led by Earl Devaney that resulted in his conviction ...

's private emails indicated that Griles had pledged to use his authority to block a casino which Abramoff was lobbying against. Abramoff also indicated that he was interested in hiring Griles. Furthermore, Griles was involved with donations made to

Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA) was a Republican environmentalism, environmental organization founded in 1998 by Gale Norton, who in 2001 became George W. Bush's U.S. Secretary of the Interior. CREA "evolved from a group" I ...

, run by his then-girlfriend, Italia Federici. Donations were made to CREA by both Abramoff's tribal clients and by energy-sector companies with connections to Griles. Upon leaving office, Griles joined with two other political veterans, former White House national energy policy director Andrew Lundquist and former House member

George Nethercutt George Rector Nethercutt Jr. (born October 7, 1944) is an American lawyer, author, and politician. Nethercutt is the founder and chairman of The George Nethercutt Foundation. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representative ...

, to form the political lobbying firm of Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles, LLC. In his first two years with the firm, it made $1.3 million in lobbying fees. The following year, it was $1.6 million. Griles remarked, "If you’re honest and represent people fairly, you can succeed." On January 10, 2007, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

notified Griles that charges would be brought against him for making false statements in his 2005 testimony. On that date Griles resigned from Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles. He pleaded guilty to

charges on March 23, 2007. On June 8, 2007, Federici pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of justice. Griles was sentenced to a $30,000 fine and 10 months imprisonment, with some harsh words from Judge Ellen Huvelle, who doubled his prison sentence, telling the former second-ranking Interior Department official: "Even now, you continue to minimize and try to excuse your conduct."

References

External links