Court nominee's latest jam: Abramoff dinner

That Georgetown dinner has now come back to haunt one of the guests -- William G. Myers III, who was the Interior Department's top lawyer at the time and for the last three years one of President Bush's most controversial nominees for a federal judgeship.

Last week, Myers was asked to explain why he testified earlier to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had never met Abramoff.

Virtually every major environmental group in the country as well as civil rights, women's, labor and American Indian organizations have vigorously opposed Myers' nomination to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Senate Democrats have succeeded in blocking his appointment, saying they feared Myers, who has spent much of his career as a lawyer and lobbyist for mining and grazing interests, would be an anti-environmental activist on the bench.

Myers' backers counter that he would bring balance to the 9th Circuit, which they maintain is too liberal.

Immediately after the November midterm election, Bush announced his intention to renominate Myers -- who now practices law in Boise, Idaho -- to the San Francisco-based court.

In recent days though, questions have arisen about Myers' March 2005 response to a query by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democratic on the judiciary committee. Leahy asked Myers whether he had ever had any contact with Abramoff, then the subject of intense federal investigations who later pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud and is serving 70 months in prison.

"I have searched my memory and files," Myers responded. "To the best of my recollection, I have never had any contact with Mr. Abramoff. I do not recall ever meeting him, speaking to him by phone, corresponding with him at any time, or otherwise having any contact with Mr. Abramoff."

A week ago, however, the Denver Post published a story based on information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showing that Myers was among two dozen people attending the dinner on Sept. 24, 2001, with Abramoff. Sponsored by the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, the event was held at the home of Republican fundraiser Julie Finley.