Across the many pleas and court filings one point is clear. The USDOJ Public Integrity Section is very interested in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). They are perhaps best known for sweatshops producing clothing featuring a "Made in the USA" label. Protecting the Chinese owners of those sweatshops was a focus for Abramoff, DeLay and their GOP gang. They had some success, but by 1998 a new CNMI Governor took office and cut Jack off from his Saipan slush fund.
Sure, Willie Tan and the Tan Family stepped in to keep the money flowing through the Saipan Garment Manufactures Association and the Western Pacific Economic Council (formed as a way to flow funds to Jack), but money from CNMI ultimately was from US tax payers, so reinstating Jack's gravy train was important, very important.
It was so important that DeLay, his staff, and the GOP got involved in fixing the next CNMI election. That involvement included promises of payoffs, bribes and quid pro quos a plenty.
The Feds are circling. DeLay and his posse are going down. It is only a matter of who gives up whom, and when.
To the jump...
How those bribes were paid will put DeLay in the dock. And he'll have company from a good number of his caucus members. Connections to CNMI and the Tan Family are in almost every Abramoff scandal story. It is a rats nest of corruption that
I have been following since 1999. I smile as the noose tightens around these GOP scoundrels.
That DeLay was behind fixing the election on CNMI is widely known, especially in the South Pacific. Ruth L. Tighe is a CNMI print and online columnist who has lived on CNMI for over 23 years. Back in January 2000 she wrote about the DeLay takeover of CNMI (emphasis added and link is from a Google Cache):
Obscene. As in "offensive to accepted standards of decency." Is there any better word to describe the machinations of the unholy trio that is trying so hard to disrupt the normal, routine, civilized way the CNMI House of Representatives usually does business? [snip]
Adding to the obscenity of it all is the fact that one of the unholy trio behind all these machinations is an outsider. He doesn't live here, he's never lived here, he isn't registered to vote here, and so far as I know, he doesn't have any family or relatives here. But, it is said - and it appears obvious - that he has friends here, and even, so the rumors go, financial interests. As if that weren't bad enough, he is a member of the U.S. Congress.
Just what is a member of the U.S. Congress doing interfering with the internal politics of the CNMI? Sending his staff out to, in effect, bribe members of the House by promises of direct financial support from Congress (and Fitial has freely admitted that two aides to Congressman Tom Delay did indeed meet with Rota representative Alejo M. Mendiola and newly-elected representative from Tinian Norman S. Palacios)? Particularly when the CNMI is not a U.S. possession, is not under the control of the U.S. Congress - as is Washington, D.C. - but is a member of the U.S. family via a Covenant that in some cases allows the CNMI more freedom than the states?
Though perhaps hypocritical (or greedy, or duplicitous), rather than obscene, is the better word to use in regard to those CNMI legislators now so docilely feeding at the trough of the U.S. Congress despite their many protestations in the past that Congress has no right to interfere in matters internal to the CNMI.
That was one account of DeLay's hand in the election of Benigno (Ben) R. Fitial as CNMI Speaker of the House. There were many others, including in the Mainland media.
As Walter F. Roche reported:
Two former top aides to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay brokered a political deal here five years ago that helped land island government contracts worth $1.6 million for a Washington lobbyist now the target of a corruption probe.
Edwin Buckham and Michael Scanlon traveled to these Pacific islands in late 1999 to persuade two legislators to switch their votes for speaker of the 18-member House of Representatives in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. They succeeded. Once in office, the speaker pressed the island's governor to reinstate a lobbying pact with Jack Abramoff, now under grand jury and congressional investigation.
Within months of the visit, Abramoff's law firm had a contract paying $100,000 a month from the Marianas government, which it kept until 2002. Also, the island districts of the legislators who switched sides soon won benefits from Congress.
Today the Seatle Times had this gem in the many wrap-ups of Tony Rudy's guilty plea:
The case has Seattle ties. The plea agreement says Rudy, while working for DeLay in 2000, arranged for other House aides to travel to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and helped get Congress to pay for construction projects in the U.S. territory.
Rudy did this, in part, to help Abramoff and the Seattle-based law and lobbying firm Preston Gates & Ellis, where Abramoff worked at the time, according to the plea agreement.
The Marianas government was a client of Abramoff's and Preston Gates, which was hired to help keep Congress from imposing minimum-wage increases on the islands' garment factories.
The firm lost its lobbying contract there in late 1998. The contract was reinstated in August 2000. Two months later, the House Appropriations Committee, on which DeLay served, approved money for Marianas construction projects.
So we have convicted felons Jack Abramoff, Tony Rudy and Mike Scanlon tied to DeLay, Fitial and CNMI. Next on the hit parade will be Ed Buckham. Scanlon was on the trip when the a deal was struck with CNMI Legislators Alejo M. Mendiola (Rota) and Norman S. Palacios (Tinian) to switch their votes and elect Ben Fitial Speaker of the CNMI House. So was Buckham. Rudy was the pointman for DeLay in DC. And Tom delivered the payoff through the appropriation process.
So what earmarks did we pay for? How many extra US dollars went to CNMI to help the Abramoff/DeLay/GOP culture of corruption fix elections in the USA?
One good starting place to look is the Saipan Tribune. It is the newspaper owned by Willie Tan and his Family. They love to brag on themselves. Take this bit from a May 22, 2001 story that outlines the status of funding for various port projects:
House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial received a letter from US Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA) regarding the status of federal funding for the Rota and Tinian port projects.[snip]
"I look forward to working with Rep. Doolittle and all of our allies in Congress and the Administration to make certain these vital projects continue to receive needed federal assistance in the future," he added.
Last month, Mr. Fitial met with officials in the new Bush Administration and key leaders in Capitol Hill to discuss a myriad of issues that include the state of the CNMI economy, federal funding for capital improvement projects, and the application of certain environmental laws to the CNMI.
Mr. Fitial was also able to build support for his legislative agenda for the islands, emphasizing the success of the labor reform efforts that have occurred. [snip]
On Capitol Hill, Speaker Fitial met with long-term ally of the CNMI Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and new Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns (R-Montana) to discuss economic and labor reforms, federal takeover legislation, and appropriations for vital infrastructure projects.
During his meeting with Majority Whip DeLay, Mr. Fitial was assured of the continued support from the House leadership to defend the CNMI Covenant and the local government's power to control minimum wage and immigration.
And the Saipan Tribune has a wealth of stories that connect DeLay, Bush, Burns, Ney, Rohrabacher, Burns, Doolittle and others to Jack, Fitial, the Tan Family, sweatshops, China and pay-for-play. I think the USDOJ Public Integrity Section has a clipping service that has found some of these links.
And in a balls-out move, Willie Tan, Ben Fitial and Dana Rohrabacher all wrote letters to the Florida Judge asking him to go easy on his sentence of Jack Abramoff for his SunCruz crimes.
And has anybody mentioned that Tony Rudy worked for Dana Rohrabacher before he started working for DeLay? Dana and Jack go back to their work in the Iran-Contra scandal, I hope they can spend some time together in orange jumpsuits.
But I digress.
Ben Fitial is now Governor of CNMI. Back in December it was reported that Ben is cooperating with the Feds. In March he cancelled a trip to DC for the US Governor's conference to avoid testifying before a Senate panel. If Ben is truly cooperating, DeLay is toast. If not, Ben is toast. Either way things are very bad for DeLay.
From the day Fitial became Speaker of the CNMI House to today, CNMI has been lavished with attentions and appropriations. The islands of Rota and Tinian have new airports. The Tan Family is using those airports to shift their business on CNMI from sweatshops to tourism for the new rich of Chine (they can travel to CNMI without a visa, ya know). And the US Marines are leaving Okinawa, Japan and coming to Tinian. (I guess the displace sweatshop workers can find new work in the booming CNMI sex trade).
The bribes are hidden in the Bills and appropriations DeLay and his team pushed through Congress. The bribes are hidden in the work of the Bush White House to look the other way and wink at certain payoffs. The testimony and filings related to the trial of David Safavian will be very interesting.
My guess is that dozens of news organizations are digging into CNMI and the Abramoff scandal. There are dozens of rich leads and a dozen shocking stories could break without much overlap. I think they are on the way.
And remember this is more that a money scandal. One aspect is the GOP support for trafficking in women and minors to support Global Sex trade. I do not know how the GOP can talk about "values". DeLay's are quite vile.
I am outrage. I think it is time for the GOP to explain their support of sexual slavery. Sure it is only one of their many crimes, but I think an ad running in the fall featuring the victims of the GOP Saipan Sex Scandal might get some attention.
In fact it could be an honorable response to their Swiftboating.
And this is just one scandal thread. As I said before there are hundreds more. The important thing is to grab one and run it to ground. The CNMI threads will lead to an indictment of DeLay, but at least half of his caucus should join Tom.
It is way past time to take this country back. 2006 is now. Let's do it!