January 28, 2006

Interior Secretary Gale Norton met often with Jack Abramoff and posed for a photograph in just her second encounter with the scandal-scarred lobbyist, a face-to-face session in her office in 2002.

Norton did not speak with Abramoff and the Choctaw chief when they met for the photo, Interior spokeswoman Tina Kreisher claimed Friday. The men waited while Norton finished a meeting, then posed with her for an official department photo in front of the large fireplace in her office and left, Kreisher said.

Other sources, however, say Abramoff often met with Norton and had easy access to the Interior Secretary.

Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to federal felony charges related to congressional influence peddling, counted among his clients six Indian tribes with casinos. The Interior Department oversees Indian affairs.

In e-mail exchanges that have been made public, he mentioned having an inside track in Norton's Interior Department. He sought congressional help several times to lobby Norton for tribes, and his clients donated heavily to an environmental group Norton founded.

In the wake of the Abramoff scandal, many media outlets have asked for documents relating to contacts Abramoff had with the Interior Department and other Bush administration officials.

President Bush himself appears in photos with the disgraced lobbyist, but the White House has refused to release the photos the president acknowledges were taken.

Bush has said he would cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating Abramoff. But the president has said he has taken pictures with thousands of people and said a photo with Abramoff is not evidence that they were friends.

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Friday, 76 percent of those surveyed said the Bush administration should provide a list of all meetings any White House officials have had with Abramoff.

Kreisher said the Interior Department posted the photo of Norton and Abramoff on its website because officials wanted to ensure it would be widely circulated.

The photo represents the second time Abramoff and Norton met.

The lobbyist and one of his clients, a member of the Louisiana Coushatta tribe, dined with Norton on Sept. 24, 2001, at a private fundraising dinner.

The photo had been mentioned in testimony by former deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November. The shot was arranged by Griles, who resigned last year.

Until a request for all images of Norton and Abramoff was filed recently, no one in the department had seen the photo, Kreisher said. "It wasn't something we went looking for," she said.

She added that the photo is considered a document under the Freedom of Information Act, and that the department should have released it to media outlets when they asked for information about Norton and Abramoff. She said the request for photos was filed by The Washington Post.