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Here’s a blogger to put the rest of us little bloggers to shame: Schoolteacher Wendy Doromal, who fought for over a decade, braving death threats (as mentioned below) to bring justice to the guest workers of the Mariana Islands. Most of us have heard about the abuses these women suffered through the last few decades – the barbed-wire fences, the sexual slavery, the forced abortions; most of us know it had a lot to do with Jack Abramoff, who managed to sway enough legislators to allow the Marianas (CNMI) to sell its garments with a “Made in the USA” label while still being exempt from US labor laws; and most of us know that somehow, Abramoff’s best friend Dana Rohrabacher had a lot to do with it too. But Wendy Doromal, over at her blog Unheard No More, ties it all together with this barnburner of an expose, showing exactly how culpable her old nemesis Dana Rohrabacher (up for de-election next week) really was for all of this. READ IT ALL!
(Oh… I added a little bold – Vern)
Dana Rohrabacher: A Five Star General in Abramoff’s Army
October 23, 2008
I have had a personal battle with this congressman, at times one-on-one. However, my disdain for the congressman is a result of his actions in suppressing justice for the foreign contract workers of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). In 1995 I naively believed that human rights was a bipartisan issue that could not be refused. Jack Abramoff, Congressman Rohrabacher, and their fellow conspirators proved that, in fact, they could make human rights a partisan issue and hurt a great many innocent people in the process.
In 1995 Jack Abramoff was working as a lobbyist for Preston Gates Ellis Rouvelas and Meeds when he was hired by the CNMI government to block federalization of the minimum wage and immigration laws. The CNMI wanted to retain its local labor and immigration system that filled the pockets of a few powerful business owners and politicians at the expense of thousands of foreign contract workers.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher became an outspoken propagandist for Abramoff’s CNMI plan. If other congressmen were foot soldiers for Abramoff, then Rohrabacher was a five star general in the army of corrupt co-conspirators. Abramoff lined up his troops in Congress to defend his new client, the CNMI government. They included: Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), John Doolittle (R-CA), Bob Schaffer (R-CO), Tom Delay (R-TX), Ralph Hall (R-TX), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Richard Pombo (R-CA), and Don Young (R-Alaska). Some of their staffers would later join the Abramoff lobbying team including Duane Gibson, Counsel for the House Resources Committee; Tony Rudy former congressional staffer for Dana Rohrabacher and Tom Delay; Kevin Ring, former staffer for John Doolittle, and Michael Scanlon, former staffer of Tom Delay.
As a consequence of the postponement [of the hearing] we do not need to schedule a telephone call with Congressmen Royce and Rohrabacher for this week, rather, perhaps you and I could discuss the overall strategy and approach for Congressional hearings for the fall when I am in Saipan next week. After we set out strategy, we can move to get the discussion going with Congressmen Royce and Rohrabacher.
On a related note, Congressman Rohrabacher confirmed to me today he intends to bring a group of Congressmen to the CNMI in late December. I will discuss this with you next week, however, it is clear that word is spreading fast among the free market conservatives that the CNMI is a “laboratory of liberty.”
8/10/96 PP [Patrick Pizella] 2.70 Dinner meeting with W. Tan, E. Inos and B. Fitial re: CNMI issues—minimum wage , immigration and upcoming congressional elections and CNMI legislation; discussion re: upcoming trips of journalists and think tank representatives to CNMI and visits to Tan Holdings factory.
8/11/96 PP [Patrick Pizella] 4:30 Participate in event sponsored by Sen. Santorum’s “FIGHT PAC” with W. Tan, E. Inos, B. Fitial and Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT); follow-up luncheon/discussion with staff director of Senate Energy committee- G. Renkes; introduction of B. Fitial to Cong. Dan Burton (R-IN).
8/13/96 JA [Jack Abramoff] 4.00 Meetings at the Republican National Convention regarding Congressional Conservative Movement and Republican Party support for CNMI
8/13/96 JB [ Jonathan Blank ] 8:00 Meet with Saipan officials.
8/14/96 JA [Jack Abramoff] 4.00 Meetings at the Republican National Convention regarding Congressional Conservative Movement and Republican party support for CNMI
8/14/96 JA [Jack Abramoff] 8:00 Meet with Saipan officials.
8/15/96 JB [ Jonathan Blank ] 8:00 Meet with Saipan officials.
In exchange for all of the opportunities to network and gather support, John Pangelinian, Publisher of the Tan owned newspaper, The Saipan Tribune, made two $5,000 contributions to Santorum’s Fight PAC in August 2006.
Another Abramoff and Rohrabacher friend at the GOP Convention who would become an essential thread in the scandal was Rabbi David Lapin. He gave the benediction at the convention’s Tuesday night session. Dana Rohrabacher referred to Lapin as “my rabbi.” Abramoff would help Lapin land a $1.2 million no-bid contract from the CNMI to promote “ethics in government.” More troubling is that here is no evidence that Lapin ever produced anything to earn the money according to the New York Times.
Of course, Dana Rohrabacher was also a prominent figure at the convention. The Los Angeles Times reported:
And while former Vice President Dan Quayle was staging a rousing pep rally with California convention delegates, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) was outside in the hotel driveway, strapping a surfboard onto a recreational vehicle. Rohrabacher apparently bypassed a private lunch Tuesday for former Reagan White House staffers and campaigners.
“I’m going surfing first,” Rohrabacher said.
From the beaches of San Diego to the most private back-room meetings and points in between, local congressmen are doing what thousands of others who are not official delegates do at these conventions: meet, talk, gossip, spin the GOP message, and party, party, party.
They are all doing something. They’re just not doing it in the national media spotlight generally focused on the convention floor.
The strategy of connecting the CNMI trio with the Republican Conservative Movement was also mentioned in the billing records. One of the conservative groups pushing their values agenda at the convention was the Christian Coalition led by another long-time Abramoff friend, Executive Director, Ralph Reed. He too would become a friend of the CNMI. The Washington Post relates that in 1999 Reed’s firm sent out a mailer to Alabama Christian conservatives asking them to call then-Rep. Bob Riley (R-Ala.) and tell him to vote against legislation that would have federalized the CNMI’s federal wage and immigration laws.
Representing the religious right at the convention was another Abramoff-Rohrabacher friend, Lou Sheldon. He heads the Traditional Values Coalition, which has recently been labeled as a hate group by the Southern Law Poverty Center. Sheldon and his daughter Andrea Sheldon Lafferty, would become prominent defenders of the CNMI agenda taking junkets, trashing advocates and victims, and planting favorable press releases for Abramoff.
Governor Tenorio’s support and leadership in carrying out these reforms should make him a hero to all those who advocate free markets.”
At $275 – $360 per hour the CNMI taxpayers paid over $10,000 for the CNMI garment executives to network with Abramoff, his favored conservative groups, and congressional pals while partying, dining, and attend strategy meetings. The cost is especially obscene when one considers that the island’s infrastructure was crumbling as millions were drained from the government coffers to pay for lobbyists.
What better way to build support than to take co-conspirators and potential recruits on all-expenses paid trips to the Northern Marianas? The Abramoff junkets started in 1995. Travelers were treated to a tropical stay at the luxurious beach-side Hyatt. After attending a few meetings and taking the tour of the sanitized Tan garment factory, the visitors would have opportunities to golf, snorkel, tour the island, and party. Abramoff arranged over 100 such trips to the CNMI under the guise of “fact-finding” missions. Dana Rohrabacher was one of the U.S. congressmen to accept a junket to Saipan as this December 1996 email to the governor’s administrative officer, Herman Guerrero, details:
I look forward to seeing you when I return with the Congressmen at the end of the month. I hope you will have some time to meet some of them for dinner or lunch. I think you will find them extraordinary people and (especially Rohrabacher) a lot of fun. Thanks again. Kindest regards, Jack
The media was blocked from attending the party as this January 5, 1997 Marianas Variety article detailed:
Despite the significance of Delay’s visit, the Office of the Governor’s public information and protocol office (PIPO) imposed a “no media allowed” policy and local reporters who managed to get into one of the congressman’s “closed door” meetings were told to leave as a Variety reporter found out.
However not all reporters we “kept out.”
After informing the Variety that members of the media were not allowed to cover a Tan Holdings dinner reception for Delay last December 28, PIPIO apparently exempted a reporter of a newspaper owned by the garment magnate, Willy Tan from the “gag rule.”
The Variety was also told that the press was not allowed to tag along Delay during his meetings with the Labor and Immigration Department, garment manufacturers and garment workers.
But the New Year’s Eve party was documented by a human rights advocate posing as a garment buyer who filmed it undercover catching Tom Delay’s speech which, of course, praised the CNMI and repeated the mantra as CNN reported:
“You are a shining light for what is happening in the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we’re trying to do in America in leading the world in the free-market system.”
Inside Edition, and ABC’s 20/20 would air scathing exposes revealing the questionable junkets, adding to an avalanche of media stories that covered both the trips and the labor abuses. The junkets were intended to get the travelers to diffuse the issue of human trafficking and labor and human rights abuses, but they just highlighted them. More and more federal officials, advocates, journalists, and citizens began questioning the ethics and legality of the trips, and began examining the situation in the CNMI.
Explaining why he made the trip, Rohrabacher said on his return, “There are a lot of Pacific issues that are important to my district. I border right on the ocean.”
He and other visiting members of Congress praised the CNMI’s approach to immigration and its “business-friendly” atmosphere. They “met lots of guest workers,” including three young Chinese women at a garment factory barracks, and “all seemed to be very happy,” Rohrabacher said.
Despite the local government’s claims to have cracked down, a department official said, “there are still widespread abuses of overseas contract workers in the CNMI,” notably in the garment industry. The factories use the commonwealth to produce clothes that carry “Made in U.S.A.” labels and are shipped to the U.S. market without customs duties or quotas.
Wendy Doromal, a schoolteacher who was forced to flee the islands amid death threats after she exposed labor and human rights abuses against guest workers there, warned in a letter to Clinton last month that letting the CNMI keep control of immigration and the minimum wage would be “a dangerous mistake.” She called for a stronger federal presence.
“How can we, as Americans who denounce human rights abuses all over the world, remain silent when such human rights abuses are occurring on our own soil?” she asked.
Undaunted, the CNMI plans to invite dozens more members of Congress out to the islands this year and to shift its focus to the Senate. Broadhurst said.
I went to the Northern Marianas primarily because I am on the Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. Territories, and also because I had doubts about this delegate issue. I felt this trip would be an opportunity for me to learn more about this area.
AIso, I went at the request of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, of California, with whom I came to Congress several years ago. He is a close friend of mine, and he has done things for me, and I did this in part for him.
The Freedom of Information Act applies only to agencies of the United States as defined therein. The Congress is specifically excluded from the definition of an agency. 5 U.S.C. 55 1a( 1). The reasons for this exclusion of Congress from the Act include issues of separation of powers and constitutional immunities of Congress from outside questioning and interference.
Accordingly, Representative Gutknecht is not subject to the Freedom of lnformation Act. However, his office has asked me to make you aware that much of the information you seek may be available from the Legislative Resource Center of the House of Representatives.
I never did receive answers to the questions that I had sent, but it appears from Abramoff’s billing records that it was the CNMI taxpayers who paid for the trips.
Tauzin’s press secretary, Ken Johnson, told the New York Times that previous “fact-finding” trips by congressional staff members did not actually give them a picture of what’s really happening in the CNMI. Johnson said staff members who had come to the commonwealth upon invitation of the local government, “were shielded from seeing and talking to people who would be able to shed light on what is happening” in the islands.
“You’re going to see what they want you to see,” Johnson was quoted as saying. “You can’t make a decision here in Washington that affects the Northern Marianas with your head stuck in the sand.”
That statement said what I had been saying about the CNMI junkets – that those who accepted the trips would see what the Abramoff-CNMI team wanted them to see.
Where on American soil would congressional leaders excuse policies that exploit thousands of women except in the most remote territory in the Western Pacific, the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands? (“Northern Marianas: Not a Workers’ Paradise,” October 14, 1997) Republicans leaders like Dick Armey, Tom Delay and Dana Rohrabacher dismiss widespread evidence of worker mistreatment by asserting that the employees in the Marianas are treated better than had they remained in China and other underdeveloped nations that, unlike the Marianas, are not part of the United States. That is a novel and horrifying definition of what constitutes acceptable labor practices.
Despite highly credible reports of widespread and continuing abuses in the Marianas’ garment industry — from the Clinton Administration, the local and international media, numerous human rights and labor rights organizations, the House Resources Committee staff among others Gov. Tenorio blusters his defense of his current policies and House Republicans have refused to conduct even a preliminary hearing on the scandal.
Instead of investing in enhanced labor and civil rights enforcement, Tenorio has spent far in excess of a million dollars in his junket campaign to bring Members of Congress and their staffs to the Marianas and by hiring high-priced Washington lobbyists to cuddle up to his apologists in Congress, How much he has spent will surely be a key topic whenever hearings are finally scheduled.
No member of Congress would tolerate in his or her own congressional district a fraction of the abuse reported in the CNMI. whether it was good for economic development or not, and congratulations are due GOP senator Murkowski for saying so. Gov. Tenorio has spit in the eye of the Congress, and Republican leaders are thanking him for it and providing him political cover while citing his “economic miracle” to promote their own crusade against the minimum wage and other labor safeguards.
On February 9, 1997, Governor Froilan Tenorio joined his new pal, Dana Rohrabacher in Hollywood to speak before the Associated Film Commissioners International to announce the opening of a film office in the CNMI. Billing records indicate that Abramoff arranged the trip and traveled to Los Angeles to join the festivities:
02/09/97 JA 8.00 ‘ Travel to L. A. reception for Governor
Tenorio
An article in the February 11, 1997 Marianas Variety reported:
While in Los Angeles, the governor on Saturday was given a dinner reception by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-California).
Rohrabacher, who recently visited the CNMI, helped Tenorio arrange meetings with Hollywood producers, Broadhurst said.
What the article did not say is that this was all done on taxpayers’ dollars and Abramoff billed the CNMI for 8 hours. Cha-ching.
Following the sale of the script to Joseph Medawar, a little-known producer, Rohrabacher helped introduce Medawar to at least five Republican congressmen and staff members at the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee in 2004. At the time, Medawar was pitching his latest Hollywood project – a TV series about the Department of Homeland Security.
One of those congressmen was former Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), then chair of the Homeland Security Committee. Rohrabacher said he also made calls that helped Medawar and his crew gain access to officials in federal law enforcement agencies who briefed them on the inner workings of the federal government.
Records and interviews show Medawar repeatedly trumpeted his access to Washington big-shots when discussing his project with journalists and selling it to potential investors in his company, Steeple Enterprises.
Spokesmen at two nonpartisan watchdog groups in Washington said Rohrabacher may have crossed an ethical line when he helped the producer set up meetings with congressmen and government officials after accepting money for the screenplay.
In March 1997, Governor Tenorio, his wife Sophie, and CNMI officials Brenda Tenorio and David Ecret took another trip to Washington on taxpayer’s dollars. On March 5, 1997 Dana Rohrabacher held a reception for them in the Rayburn Building. Grover Norquist of Americans also treated the group to a reception for Tax Reform.
In October 1997 Tenorio traveled again to meet with Abramoff’s army in the Congress including Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Don Young (R-Alaska) Tom Delay (R-TX), Dick Army (R-TX), Jesse Helms (R-NC), and, of course, Dana Rohrabacher. During this trip Abramoff arranged for Governor Tenorio, his wife, Sophie, David Ecret (the governor’s special assistant for telecommunications and utilities) and the rest of his party to travel to Mississippi to meet with the Choctaw Indians. Billing records indicate that they were in Mississippi for three days. Once back in Baltimore/Washington, billing records indicate the trip including attending “a game” where the CNMI visitors were “introduced to guests.” (Red Skins vs. Dallas Cowboys?)
One of the A-team’s strategies in defending the CNMI’s dysfunctional labor and immigration system was to plant stories in major newspapers and periodicals portraying the CNMI’s guest worker program as a model that should be hands off for federal intervention. Some of newspaper columnists and writers bribed by junkets to write positive articles included: Doug Bandow from the Cato Institute, Don Feder a conservative columnist, L. Brent Bozell, Chairman of the Media Research Center, Marlo Lewis of Competitive Enterprise Institute, Daniel Mitchell of the Heritage Institute, Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center, Helle Bering-Jensen, deputy editor of the editorial page of the Washington Times, Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice, and David Dickson for the Washington Times.
The CNMI government and Jack Abramoff went over the deep end when they learned that Reader’s Digest was interviewing me for a story on the abuses in the CNMI. The story threatened to bring world-wide attention to the abuses happening under the U.S. flag. The author, Henry Hurt traveled to Florida to interview me and to the CNMI to conduct extensive interviews with guest workers, advocates, and CNMI and US officials. The story, Shame on American Soil was to be published in June 1997, but billing records show that Abramoff had a pal working within the Digest and received an advance copy.
Congressman Rohrabacher had a prominent role in leading the Reader’s Digest attack. The Washington Times printed the entire Reader’s Digest story on June 20, 1997. Soon afterwards Congressman Rohrabacher sent a letter to the editor denouncing the article and claiming that “The Northern Marianas are a land of opportunity.” Among his lies were these words:
It [Readers Digest story] paints a hideously false picture of the general situation there.
Mr. Rohrabacher was wrong to support a corrupt system that looks at the indentured guest workers as disposable commodities, rather than as future citizens. Workers should not be treated like commodities, like coconuts that can be consumed, tossed aside, and replaced with a new one. Federalization was not just a political issue; it was a moral issue.
More than 100 congressional staffers, members of Congress, think-tank members and media personnel have enjoyed trips to the CNMI since 1996. Almost all of them were paid for by the CNMI government with mystery funds that have not been appropriated by the CNMI legislature. In fact, the CNMI government has not released information about the origin of the funds.
Mr. Rohrabacher, one of those who participated in a trip, appears to be a victim of hideous distortion – a whitewash by the CNMI government. He claims, “The key to success has been a rejection of dependency on handouts from Washington and an emphasis on encouraging enterprise.”
The Commonwealth has received more than $1 billion from the federal government since 1975 when the covenant was approved. Surely this cannot be seen as a rejection of Washington dollars. The CNMI economy is based on the exploitation of foreign contract workers who make up a majority of the population in the CNMI, pay taxes and cannot vote or serve on juries. While a majority of locals with power and money benefit financially, the unemployment rate of the local population is 14 percent.
Mr. Rohrabacher claims that thousands of foreign contract workers return to their homelands with a couple thousand dollars in their pockets. I would like to see documentation of this ridiculous claim. For the decade I spent in the islands, I witnessed thousands of workers struggling as indentured servants trying to cope with the deductions taken from their pay for recruitment fees. I met few who returned home with even a small amount of money and far more who returned destitute and with broken dreams…
Hundred of foreign contract workers who left their homelands and families for an opportunity to witness democracy and partake in the American dream have become victims on US soil this year alone. The abuses taking place in the CNMI are a disgrace to all Americans, the democratic and humanitarian beliefs that we cherish, and to all that America represents.
Being the very good Abramoff General that he was, Rohrabacher responded with another letter on July 29, 1997. I considered the letter’s closing as a personal attack on me:
I appreciate that Miss Doromal may well have a good heart. But if she doesn’t get her benevolence under control, she might hurt somebody.
It was not me who would be responsible for hurting anyone. It was Abramoff and his anti-federalization army including his General, Congressman Rohrabacher who would inflict major harm on the guest workers of the CNMI. By effectively blocking legislation, he perpetuated the abuses and suffering of many workers for years and years and for additional new workers who could have been spared had legislation passed. Corruption bears a human cost. It bears a financial cost for taxpayers. It bears a moral cost for our country. Rohrabacher should take responsibility for his share of these costs.
Dear Colleague Letters
The Abramoff–CNMI team hired the Hay Group to issue a bogus economic study to prove that increasing the minimum wage would have “a devastating effect on the CNMI economy.” In September 1996, the government contracted the Hay Group under a sole source contract paying them $178,000.00 to write the report. They then promoted ”the findings” like it was an independent research study. Billing records show that Abramoff team consulted with Hay group officials dozens of times in 1996.
In the interest of sharing unbiased data with our colleagues who may have to make decisions affecting all the people of the CNMI we are providing you a copy of the executive summary of the Hay Group report. Their analysis shows that, not, only will raising the minimum wage cause real harm to the local economy, “it will not accomplish the economic and social objectives which proponents of minimum wage increases in the CNMI claim will occur.”
“Under the commonwealth covenant, the economy of those islands has benefited and the standard of living has improved. Garment factories that would never dream of locating in a distant island territory have opened because the CNMI permits the use of visiting workers from the Philippines and Guam,” Rohrabacher said.
He underscored that while these foreign workers receive wages below federal standard, they are protected by US labor laws and receive wages far better back home.
In September 1997, Rohrabacher made a speech on the floor of the U.S. House denouncing the words of Representatives George Miller (D-CA), Patsy Mink (D-HI) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) who told the truth about the situation in the islands. They condemned the abuses and backed legislative reform. Billing records indicate that the Abramoff team worked on Rohrabacher’s remarks. Rohrabacher ranted against Miller saying:
Wednesday evening, my colleague from California, Mr. Miller, resumed his nonstop, politically driven attack on the government and people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The gentleman’s remarks and accusations, along with those of Mrs. Mink and Ms. DeLauro are simply untrue and need to be clarified.
He continued to rage against the Reader’s Digest and a recent Inside Edition story that also exposed unforgivable abuses. The most shameful part of his speech was his statement about “Katrina”, a 16-year-old human trafficking victim who was turned into a sex-slave when she was 14. She was repeatedly sexually abused in a sleazy Saipan club. Rohrabacher said:
I would like to address one final concern raised by my friend in Hawaii, Mrs. Mink. It is in regards to the 16-year-old girl in Hawaii now awaiting resolution of her complaint against a Filipino nightclub owner who hired her to dance nude in his club. Sadly, stories like these are reported all too often in the media today. Incidentally, the Washington Post just ran a similar story in its late August about a Virginia man who pleaded guilty to the importation of teen prostitutes from Canada to work in the streets of our nation’s Capital. Stories like these put the situation in the CNMI into perspective.
Minimizing the devastation of a girl recruited at age 14 to work as a waitress and then was forced to dance nude and perform lewd sex acts on stage is despicable. The CNMI sex trafficking trade is huge when comparing the population of the CNMI to other countries including the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice declared the CNMI as a sex trafficking hot spot in May 2008. We owe that growth in part to obstructionists like Rohrabacher. He can also be credited with contributing to perpetuating the suffering of innocent minors and women.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher is a disgrace to the United States Congress and to all Americans who possess a conscience and a sense of decency. I knew “Katrina” personally and helped to fight for her to get asylum. Thanks should be given to U.S. Labor Attorney Faye Von Wrangel (a true hero), former Rep. Patsy Mink(D-HI), Senator Daniel Akaka(D-HI), and Rep. George Miller(D-CA) for fighting for this child to obtain asylum and a chance to provide an opportunity for her to erase her American nightmare.
“Katrinia” took the “V.I.P. list” from that club when she left. It is a list of names of the club’s regular customers with their phone numbers. We crosschecked the numbers to identify the customers when last names were omitted. We found that many of the phone numbers were CNMI government offices because many of club’s customers were CNMI officials. Some of them were officials that Rohrabacher met with on Saipan. But Rohrabacher would know about the sleazy CNMI club scene as details of his next CNMI trip reveal.
Another Trip to the CNMI
The governor has said he is optimistic that the trip will persuade US lawmakers to go easy on the proposed legislation that will takeaway from the CNMI its labor and immigration policies.
US Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California) assailed Washington’s insistence to fundamentally change the system in the CNMI instead of helping the local government institute the necessary reforms. “There is no perfect system. Every system will have its flaws, ” he said.
Another Saipan Tribune article written during that junket quotes Rohrabacher’s remarks on the garment industry:
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California), considered an ally of the commonwealth in the US Congress, threw his support to the sector whose contributions to the island economy he said has spared US taxpayers from putting in more money to assist the local economy.
But like the previous trip, this one was more than a “fact finding mission.” The congressional delegation was treated to an evening of nightclub hopping, visiting first Orchids, a club owned by the current governor, Ben Fitial. Renowned Abramoff researcher, Dengre wrote in a Daily Kos diary:
The delegation arrived on the 18th. Hundreds of foreign contract workers were waiting to meet with them. They had hoped that these Representatives of the US Congress were coming to learn. Instead, the Young delegation ignored them, dismissed them and, in effect, endorsed the abuse. John Bowe’s book [Nobodies], lays out the details of their lazy exploration of charges of labor abuse and he explains the type of fact-finding that the Young CODEL was really after:
“Later that weekend, a group of at least three congress members took their fact-finding mission to a Filipina strip club called Orchids, owned by a local businessman named Benigno Fitial. The club, was popular with local government officials and visiting VIPs looking for a good time. Later, the gang moved on to another club, called Russian Roulette, which featured Russian strippers. According to one source who was professionally obligated to accompany the delegation around the island, “I’ve never seen grown men—they were just like kids!” He reported that he sat next to one congressman, who was neither drinking nor getting into the action, while the others “were running to the back of the place into these little stalls to get blow jobs. That’s why they were there.” I spoke with the congressman he sat next to. He admitted to being in the club but described it not as a strip club but as a karaoke bar. He assured me, “There really wasn’t much going on.” Neither the congressman nor my source were able to remember the names of the allegedly misbehaving congressmen.”
So, there were five Congressmen on the trip. One was the source. At least three went club hopping. At least two US Congressmen were running to the “little stalls” to get blow jobs. Instead of investigating human trafficking, forced prostitution and labor abuse—these Congressmen were giddy sexual tourists.
To review, it could have been:
Don Young (AK-AL)
Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46)
John Doolittle (CA-04)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Ken Calvert (CA-44)
This should become a national a guessing game: Who got “serviced” in Saipan?
What Abramoff, the CNMI government, and the congressional co-conspirators pushed was the idea that the abuses were “old news.” Sadly, the reality is that the abuses never stopped. The names may have changed, but the same abuses kept repeating over and over and over. Every week the CNMI papers report on labor cases filed by EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor or individual guest workers. Guma Esperansa, a shelter for trafficked women, reported 50 cases just last year. These are women who may not have been placed in such a terrible situation if federal legislation had not been blocked by people like Rohrabacher.
Support for Fitial
One of the US Congress’ most outspoken advocate of human rights and democracy is throwing his full support to house Speaker Benigno Fitial’s quest to be the next Governor of the Northern Marianas. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California, a senior member of the US House Committee on International relations threw his support behind Fitial, whom he described as a visionary and a leader.
How many other candidates did Rohrabacher support with a full page newspaper ad?
Abramoff and Rohrabacher – BFF
The title of the Hill’s March 25 article about lobbying for the Northern Mariana Islands (“Memo raises questions about Marianas lobbying”) hinted at some skull-duggery, but the only thing the memo indicated was that Jack Abramoff is one heck of a public relations man.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who said he had been friends with Mr. Abramoff for two decades and did not shy away from his hospitality.
Mr. Rohrabacher, whose name bears the “FOO Comp” designation on the customer list, said he ate at Signatures at Mr. Abramoff’s expense once or twice a month and that the meals fell under the friendship exemption in House rules. He also said he tried to take Mr. Abramoff out regularly, paying for the lobbyist’s meals in return.
“Just because you are a member of Congress doesn’t mean you have to give up your friendships,” Mr. Rohrabacher said, adding that “it was dinner with a friend and I didn’t think of it as a gift.”
How do we influence Washington without a non-voting delegate (or other forms of official representation)? How do we make democracy work for us?
The answer is rather simple: Give money, make political campaign contributions. Support our friends in Washington, D.C. Financially support the political candidates who have helped us remain free, who oppose a federal takeover, who understand our existing political and economic realities.
Support the friendly Republicans. Support George W. Bush for President. Support Tom Delay. Support Dana Rohrabacher. Give to Dick Armey. Give “soft money” to the Republican National Committee.
However, Dana Rohrabacher joined convicted felon Jack Abramoff, Bob Schaffer, Tom Delay, John Doolittle, Don Young, Dick Pombo, Brian Bilbray, and other conspirators to block that legislation. He stood in the way of justice for the foreign contract workers. It wasn’t until May 2008, that PL 110-229, a law to apply federal immigration laws to the CNMI, was finally passed. (Rohrabacher did not vote for it.) It would have passed eight years earlier if the obstructionists like Rohrabacher had not blocked it. His actions perpetuated the suffering of thousands of victims of labor and human rights abuses as more workers were abused under the corrupt and unjust system.
On February 8, 2007, I attended the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing concerning immigration issues in CNMI. I was struck as Kyleen, a young Filipina woman, testified that she was a victim of human trafficking for Saipan’s sex trade. Her heart-wrenching testimony reminded me of another testimony from the 1998 Senate Hearing. At that hearing, a young 16-year-old Filipina girl, “Katrina”, testified to the same horrific story. Would Kyleen have been testifying if Congress had acted then? Would “Katrina” have been testifying if Congress had acted in 1995 when I testified to the same story on behalf of dozens of other trafficked young women? We can blame Abramoff and the CNMI for delaying reform, but we must also blame the members of Congress like Dana Rohrabacher. He stood on the floor of the House and attacked the proponents of reform and minimized the suffering of victims. Dana Rohrabacher needs to apologize to Katrina, Kayleen, and every one of the hundreds of other trafficked women who have endured unspeakable abuses.
Yes, reform legislation has finally passed, years after it should have been passed and without the vote of Dana Rohrabacher. There is still much work to be done to ensure protections for the foreign contract workers and their U.S. citizen children. We should not have members in the U.S. House who have made excuses for sexual slavery, indentured servitude, and human rights abuses. There are grave issues that face our nation today. We need members of Congress with the integrity, honesty and the moral character required to make decisions that will positively impact all of our lives. We do not need another member of Congress who can be influenced by lobbyists and special interests to the determent of every person who lives and works on U.S. soil. Our country needs moral leadership. Dana Rohrabacher, like other Abramoff soldiers, appears to be morally bankrupt. He is unfit to be a member of the U.S. Congress.
©2008
When Dana was not sucking up the free chow at Abramoff’s Signatures Restaurant, he was surely sucking up the Abramoff-DeLay boondoggle trips to the Marianas. Worse, he was in the cabal with former Congressman DeLay that brought virtual slavery to the Marianas along with a prohibition of labor unions and NO minimum wage.
The minimum wage, even today, is not linked to the national minimum and has with other policies resulted in a class of “natives” who rule the land without fear of any naturalization or wage competition of anybody else who can use the label “Made In the USA.”
The final insult to Americans of any political persuasion is that Rohrabacher, Delay and Abramoff proudly proclaimed the Marianas as a sterling example of Free Enterprise. It was a rare spot where labor was free or damn near free and imported workers were anything but free to leave. That is what Rhorabacher would love to bring to mainland USA. Cheap labor and an upper class of plutocrats who can control us without any regulation. These are the same thugs that brought us the financial collapse of the last few months. Why import cheap labor when we can grow our own? Don’t import from the banana republics when you can become a banana republic and be in the ruling class.
The change we need will not have happened if Dana returns to Congress. He’s a pebble in our collective shoe, much the way Dornan was.
There is no way to undo the horrors of the Marriannas and hopefully those who saw it can now see it as a precursor to the banking failure, both the byproduct of unbridled greed
The whole scream in the face politics started with Jack Abrahmoff. And who was in the middle of the Reagan revolution with the Young Republicans, and who later went to work in the RR White House? Our good friend Surfer Dude Dana. He has used his office like he has used the ocean he so poorly has protected. He takes advantage and does nothing to insure its health. Maybe we should extend this concept to the district and people “he represents.” What has he done? Yes, he has supported aero-space industry locally, because he needed their vote and cash, but what else has he done?
He was there when Abrahmoff pushed the new Republican agenda, and he still uses these tactics to support neocon ideas. Sell people on hatred, pick on a population that can make head lines (he attacks the undocumented, he praised Taliband “freedom fighters”- got the picture). I ask you again, What has he done? Astroid fighting does not count.
Know now that Dana is running for one, and only one reason: He needs a job. Our Democratic Candidate is running for several reasons: To better represent the consituents of the 46th CD, and to gain jobs for the area served. Plain and simple, we don’t need any more from Dana, but be certain he needs to win to keep a check coming in. It is time we use our vote and money to help the 46th CD move forward. We know the choices, so use your vote for its highest and best impact.
CJ
Your comment below is incorrect. Rabbi David Lapin was not present at the GOP convention, and has never had anything to do with the GOP.
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As for the New York Times claim – see their retraction of May 14, 2005 and comments of the Attorneys General of the CNMI as well as the article in the Saipan Tribune about the work done by David Lapin and his team and its positive impact on Labor in Saipan. (All quoted below)
On May 14, 2005, the New York Times acknowledged, in print, that its articles on SBE on April 29th and May 5th were handled unprofessionally. A correction appearing in the May 14th edition of the paper concedes that, “a headline on April 29 about a $1.2 million contract awarded by the Northern Mariana Islands to a rabbi for training government ethics misstates a key point of the article” (emphasis added). The Times correction goes on to state that, “in a subsequent comment to The Times, [Lapin] said his fees were standard for the work he did. But that comment was erroneously omitted during the editing of an article on the subject that was published on May 6” (emphasis again added).
The New York Times April 29, 2005 article by Kate Zernike about SBE and its work in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) during 1996/1997 was published without interviewing David Lapin or his company. The Times also neglected to interview the Governor of the CNMI at that time, Governor Tenorio, who commissioned the project. Neither the CNMI’s Public Auditor, who audited the SBE contract and was satisfied with its deliverables and cost, nor any members of the Tenorio administration were interviewed. In fact, it appears that the New York Times reporter wrote her article without speaking with anyone who had first-hand knowledge of the dedicated and successful work SBE accomplished in the CNMI. It needs to be stated that, until the Times’ factually inaccurate article, SBE had never received any negative feedback nor insinuations of impropriety about its work in the CNMI government. On the contrary, SBE received many positive reports and, in fact, was offered additional CNMI contracts, perhaps the best gauge of client satisfaction.
The Times article did quote Pam Brown, Attorney General of the CNMI as saying that, “the government had been unable to determine what work David Lapin had done.”
Ms. Brown subsequently assured David Lapin of SBE that she had implied nothing of the sort. What she had said was that there have been two administration changes since the SBE projects and that, not having reviewed the files, she was unable to comment on the deliverables of SBE’s work. The following is a quote from Ms. Brown’s e-mail to SBE on May 1, 2005:
“While I did say [to the Times reporter], ‘I had not figured out what the deliverables were,’ you are correct in also stating that I did indicate that I had not reviewed the files. I have now reviewed the files and spoken with attorneys familiar with your contract work and simply think that if OPA (Office of the Public Attorney) reviewed it and found it passed scrutiny, then I will not get involved.”
Letter from Former Acting Attorney General of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
“To Whom It May Concern:
From September 1996 to June 1998, I was the Acting Attorney General of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
…
David Lapin and his team from Applied Business Ethics, Inc. [sic] (ABEI) [SBE was formerly known as Applied Business Ethics International] were engaged to assist with the re-writing of the labor and immigration code and restructuring of the Department of Labor and Immigration. It is my recollection that they were hired because of their prior experience with multi-cultural environments like the CNMI. I specifically recall attending a week long conference run by Mr. Lapin dealing with the cultural issues involved in labor and immigration reform. The purpose of the conference was to help identify ways to streamline the guest worker system (approval of entry and resolution of disputes between guest workers and their employers) and to remove from the system those procedural elements which could be abused (i.e. graft). In short, ABEI was hired to address real or perceived problems with CNMI labor and immigration raised by Rep. George Miller and the Washington Post.
…
It is my understanding through recent press articles (New York Times) that the current Attorney General Pam Brown has stated that she has no knowledge of ABEI or David Lapin’s work. This is understandable since General Brown was not working for the administration at the time. My recollection is she was either counsel for the CNMI Senate, which was not a friendly body to the Froilan Tenorio administration or in a private law practice which included numerous suits against the Froilan Tenorio administration; specifically his efforts to reorganize the government. Notably, Froilan Tenorio, who initiated the agreements with ABEI, is currently running against Juan Babauta for Governor. General Brown was appointed by Governor Babauta.
While General Brown would have no first hand knowledge of the work of ABEI or David Lapin, I would be very surprised to learn that she did not know of the administration’s efforts to address accusations of labor and immigration abuse and specifically that a new labor and immigration code had been drafted and introduced in the legislature. It was widely reported in local papers and, if she were Senate Counsel, would presumable [sic] be aware of its introduction as a bill.”
SAIPAN TRIBUNE
Saipan Tribune Comments on David Lapin’s Pro-Labor Stance in His Draft Comprehensive Labor Reform Act (CLRA) of 1997
One of the important outcomes of SBE’s 19-month project to improve the morale, ethics, and efficiency of the Department of Labor and Immigration (DLI) of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in 1996 and 1997 was the Comprehensive Labor Reform Act of 1997 (CRLA).
Nancy Gottfried, who was the CNMI Assistant Attorney General in the DLI, described the CRLA as “neither pro-business nor pro-employee. The bill balances the interests of business, resident workers and guest workers.” An article in the September 24, 1997 edition of the Saipan Tribune noted that the bill was “drafted by a South African-based consulting firm retained by the local government.”
The CRLA instituted significant increases in the minimum wage for workers in the CNMI, a U.S. territory, and guaranteed other protections, including overtime pay, fair housing, and limits on the use of foreign guest workers as a way to undercut local residents. The legislation was passed over the objections of some in the business community who criticized it for being too pro-labor.
A team of specialists headed by David Lapin, SBE’s CEO, drafted this act. In addition to SBE consultants, Lapin’s team comprised specialists in Federal and Commonwealth Labor Law as well as professionals from the Civil Service. Included in the team were Ms. Gottfried (who was primarily responsible for drafting the legislation); Douglas Muir, the Governor’s Legislative Counsel; and Richard Coutns and Maya Kara, both Legislative Counsels for the House of Representatives.
The team that drafted the Comprehensive Labor Reform Act based its work on a series of workshops that SBE held with the DLI. The bill also drew on existing CNMI Labor Legislation, U.S. Federal Labor Law, Guam’s Labor Law, and House Bill 10-85. SBE led numerous workshops and discussion groups with the private sector and a four-day workshop presentation with the House sub-committee responsible for labor issues. Their input was included in the bill’s final version that was subsequently enacted by the Legislature as a substitute for HB 10-85.
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE DELIVERABLES OF THE CONTRACT:
The restructuring and reorganization of the Department of Labor and Immigration (DLI).
Clarification of roles and responsibilities for every position in the DLI.
New and pioneering Labor Law Legislation drafted by a team headed by David Lapin in collaboration with Administration lawyers and Labor and Immigration professionals. The CNMI Legislature adopted parts of this draft legislation with minor modifications.
The introduction of performance measurement into the department and the restructuring of salaries to reflect contribution, rather than tenure and family connection.
Improved efficiency in the processing of work permits by the DLI. Whereas permit applications were taking six to 12 months prior to the project and were often lost in the process, the processing time was reduced to a maximum of 30 days. This eliminated abuse and corruption, which had plagued the department for years.
Documented improvements in DLI morale and public service standards.
An improved work ethic in the DLI, including innovative ways to eliminate the then widespread practice of nepotism.
A series of reports and recommendations, many of which the government adopted. Some were implemented before the change in the Tenorio Administration; others were not adopted before the election and were never implemented by the succeeding administration.
Bush needs to stick it to MacCain one last time and pardon Abramoff.
Who would want to kill Wendy Doromal? No one takes her seriously but herself. She is persona non grata in Rota. True there are abuses in the Marianas, but there are everywhere. She is literally destroying a culture for her own self-agrandizement. Even the Filipinos who she thinks she is protecting know her real number. Nobody hates Wendy and she is no heroine. We know she means well. She is simply barking up the wrong tree. She knows nothing of the culture of the Marianas and the history of colonnization. She needs to put her efforts in the right place.
As usual, someone from outside Saipan seems to think they have a ll the answers and sadly got most of them wrong. The Federal Government is to blame for putting “Made in the USA” on garments in the CNMI- NOT Jack Abramoff. All he did was slow down the takeover of Saipan’s immigration and Labor agencies.
As for the forced abortions-this is one of Wendy’s sensationalized rallying points to get folks upset and involved- we all love Wendy for her work in helping right many wrongs – however, there is not ONE piece of factual evidence or sworn statement made by any contract worker that there were “Forced Abortions”. Granted, alot of a terrible things happened as the CNMI Govt. let the garment factories do what they wanted for years… but, when the abuses started to come to light- they started working on a program to bring the factories in line-albeit, it was a rather slow process and it was thick with corruption- but they did respond.
Thank you, Paul, for resurrecting this years old and never particularly highly commented upon post! Now, who’s up for discussing the crimes of the government of the Mariana Islands during the Bush Administration? This will be a good refresher course for everyone.
One of the things that puts the Marianas in the same category of the Marshall islands and the corrupt handling of the monies for Natives Americans is this: Uncle Sam just threw money around for years without ever making sure the Islands knew how to manage their money or put any checks and balances in place to make sure the money was spent wisely, i.e. on infrastructure and education. Only after years of just sending checks they stepped in asked “So, how have you used all this money”? They set up the garment industry knowing full well that any garment industry is fraught with labor abuses and the like and ignored the issue until massive abuses came to light- had they done their job and been proactive from the start- none of this would have happened. It was basically like giving a kid a $20 bill in a store and expecting him to NOT come back with armloads of Candy. The FED has never admitted or even recognized their fault in the way they’ve run the show in the territories, etc…. They came into Saipan-set up ONE industry and left the islands to their own devices…..
I think that one ought to be able to give a kid a $20 bill in a store and expect him not to come back with armfuls of girls forced into involuntary prostitution.