This may actually be my first diary -- and I wanted to reach out to Kossacks on this one because Kos diarists have done such an excellent job connecting the dots on Abramoff's work with the Northern Marianas Islands. It's a complex story that I think has been tough for the MSM to get their hands around but I think this lays it out pretty cleanly:
President Bush, and now-Marianas Governor Beningo Repeki Fitial. Fitial was elected speaker of the Marianas House after a push by former DeLay aides and directed millions to Abramoff to keep U.S. minimum wage laws from being applied to the islands. How does Bush fit in? He appointed one of Abramoff's chief lieutenants, Patrick Pizzella, an Undersecretary of Labor in April 2001 -- just a month before Bush met Fitial. You can read more about Pizzella, Bush, and Abramoff's contacts with the Bush Administration here.
Excerpts from article on the photograph today:
On the heels of a Time Magazine article revealing the existence of photographs of President George W. Bush with fallen conservative superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, RAW STORY has found another photograph of Bush with a leading Abramoff client.
The President appears in a snapshot with Beningo Repeki Fitial, then-Speaker of the House for the Northern Marianas Islands. Fitial is vice president of Tan Holdings - the family conglomerate which owns numerous clothing factories on the islands that were a routine stop for Abramoff-flown lawmakers. Tan Holdings was one of the firms which made up the Saipan Garment Manufacturers' Association, an Abramoff client.
He was also, incidentally, chairman of the Bush for President Committee for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The photograph appears to have been taken the same day Bush met Raul Garza Sr., the former chairman of the Texas Kickapoo tribe who Time says was photographed with Bush. Abramoff, once the largest lobbyist in Washington, pled guilty to bribery charges earlier this month and his work has drawn new scrutiny to D.C.'s $4 billion lobbying business.
Full story at Raw Story here.