Federici on the Hill

I'll just crib the heavy reporting from Mike Soraghan of the Denver Post: "A former Colorado political aide to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, appearing before an often hostile Senate committee Thursday, denied there was any connection between the nearly $500,000 that Indian tribes gave her organization and access she arranged for the tribes to officials who regulate their casinos. Italia Federici, who now runs a Washington-based Republican environmental organization, told the panel that she set up meetings between top Interior Department officials and lobbyist Jack Abramoff out of friendship, not because of the money he directed to her group from his Indian lobbying clients... Chairman John McCain threatened at one point to have Federici held in contempt of Congress because he felt she wasn't answering his questions. He called her attempts to explain her interactions with Abramoff 'bizarre.'"

I am not sure why Ms. Federici didn't just explain that she was auditioning for White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's job.