Denny Hastert is in
lock down. He's not running a front porch campaign against
John Laesch as much as he's running a front hall closet campaign.
There are more reasons for it than just the Mark Foley Scandal.
Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff get most of the credit for converting Congress into a pay-for-play flea market of corruption, but it would be grossly unfair to overlook the deep involvement of Denny Hastert.
He was involved in this culture of corruption from day one. First as Tom DeLay's Chief Deputy Whip and then Speaker.
Tonight the John Laesch campaign has put up a Web site to introduce voters to The Real Denny Hastert.
One of the issues discussed is Denny Hastert's role to fund and protect the system of sweatshops, human trafficking, force prostitution and forced abortion on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
As one might imagine, I think it is a pretty interesting story.
To the jump...
Before we begin this tale, a quick reminder--we are less than a week away from Election Day.
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My adopted candidate tonight is John Laesch. Help him out. Spread the word.
Tell folks about The Real Denny Hastert.
Volunteer. Donate.
I think John Laesch has a solid chance to remove corruption's Traffic Manager from the the People's House.
Of course I'm talking about Denny Hastert.
Let's travel back eleven years to January 1995. It was a time of organization in Washington. The Republican Party began the 104th Congress in control of both the Senate and the House. Tom DeLay was running to become the third most powerful member of the GOP caucus. To win, he needed two key people on his team.
First Tom DeLay needed Jack Abramoff to raise money:
In 1994 Abramoff got behind DeLay's whip race. When DeLay won--after spending $700,000 on Republican House candidates' campaigns while Gingrich's candidate, Bob Walker, spent $1,000--Abramoff was a made man. "He's someone on our side," said Ed Buckham, DeLay's chief of staff at the time. "He has access to DeLay."
And second, Tom DeLay needed Denny Hastert to wrestle and cajole the Republican caucus to get behind DeLay's vision for the Party and the Country:
By carefully accumulating allies in the Republican caucus--in part by spreading around excess campaign cash to strapped junior members--DeLay handily defeated Walker 119-80. Among his key allies in the election for whip was ... Denny Hastert, who managed DeLay's whip campaign.
When DeLay was elected Majority Whip one of his first acts was to appoint Denny Hastert as his Chief Deputy Whip.
While DeLay and Hastert were organizing their power in the 104th Congress, the bi-partisan effort to end the abuse on the CNMI moved quickly to pass legislation.
As the mid-term elections approached in 1994, the Washington Post reported on the growing documentation of beatings, rapes, forced prostitution and other abuse on the CNMI and the bi-partisan agreement in Congress to solve the problem:
"Congress has got to send a very clear message that this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). He favors cutting the commonwealth's current annual federal grant of $ 28 million. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) wants U.S. immigration laws applied to curb the importation of "slave labor."
On January 20, 1995 the new Chairman of the House Resources Committee, Rep. Gallegly, introduced H.R. 602, the Omnibus Territories Act--a bill designed to end the abuse and extend US minimum wage laws to the CNMI. On January 31, 1995 the Native American and Insular Affairs Subcommittee heard testimony by Maria Echaveste, of the Department of Labor, she laid out the bi-partisan consensus and support for the Bill:
Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned at the outset, it appears there is widespread agreement that the minimum wage in the CNMI should move to the mainland minimum wage level as quickly as possible. The remaining issues then are how soon can the mainland minimum wage level be achieved, and what is the best mechanism to achieve that rate.
In March 1995 the abuse on the CNMI was so extreme that the Government of the Philippines placed a moratorium on granting Filipinos work permits for the Mariana Islands until US laws were extended to the rogue Commonwealth. Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-AK) introduced S.638, a bill--like H.R. 602--that was designed to end the abuse and extend US labor, custom and immigration laws to the CNMI.
By April, H.R. 602 was moving through Congress. In July, the Senate passed S. 638 and sent the bill to the House. An up or down vote in the House would have sent a final Bill to the President for his signature. Justice seemed certain to come to the Mariana Islands.
It didn't happen.
The reason was Jack Abramoff.
While DeLay and Hastert were consolidated their power in the new Congress, Jack Abramoff was establishing himself as a star Republican Lobbyist on K Street. The National Journal profiled the arrival of Abramoff in July 1995:
Many of his fellow activists took high-profile jobs on Capitol Hill. Instead, Abramoff chose K Street, joining the Washington office of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, a Seattle-based law firm, as a government affairs counselor ...
''Too many lawyers and lobbyists are not interested in the big picture, and Jack is,'' said Grover G. Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and a longtime buddy of Abramoff's. ''He knows that to move the entire agenda, you need to get more Republicans elected who support the free-market approach.'' ...
Like the most successful lobbyists, Abramoff can rely on web of connections to help his clients. He is more than welcome among the new Republican leaders on Capitol Hill. ''He is someone on our side,'' said Ed Buckham, the chief of staff to House Majority Whip Tom D. DeLay, R-Texas. ''He has access to DeLay.'' ...
But the GOP victories in 1994 transformed him into a valuable asset as law firms recruited activists with connections to the new Gingrich team. ''What the Republicans need is 50 Jack Abramoffs,'' Norquist said. ''Then this becomes a different town.''
By May 1995, the CNMI had hired Abramoff and Jack went to work with DeLay, Hastert and his other allies in Congress to stop the bi-partisan effort to end the abuse. Abramoff described the situation in a 2001 letter to the Governor of the CNMI:
In 1995, the situation looked bleak. A Senate bill to eliminate the minimum wage and immigration authorities granted in the CNMI Covenant had been approved by the U.S. Senate. Similar legislation was introduced in the House, and both bills enjoyed the full support of the Clinton Administration. Congress and the White House were extremely close to abrogating the Covenant, imposing federal control on local activities, and, as a result, destroying the CNMI's economy-
Our team was hired in 1995 and immediately turned the tide. With our strong ties to the new Republican majority in control of Congress, we launched an intense education and public relations effort that served and continues to serve the CNMI very well. In 1995 alone, we began educating Members of the House Resources Committee and committee staff. We actively lobbied the House leadership to prevent full House consideration of the Senate bill.
In 1995, Denny Hastert was part of the House Leadership. He was part of the effort to ensure that the Murkowski Bill never had an up or down vote in the House and Denny has been blocking CNMI reform legislation ever since.
Since Abramoff's began to work for his Hong Kong based sweatshop owning patrons and their allies in the CNMI government, every effort to extend US labor, immigration and custom laws to the Marianas Islands has been killed by the Republican House Leadership. H.R. 602 and S. 638 were the first of a long line of bills to die in the committee.
Abramoff's victories in Congress were won because of his close working relationship with the Majority Whip and his Whip team.
Throughout 1996, Abramoff and DeLay worked to build their base of power on Capitol Hill. In April, Jack started taking Congressional staffers on junkets to the Marianas Island. By the end of the year Congressmen were making the trip as well. Over a four year period, more than 100 would travel on Jack's dime.
In 1996 Abramoff continued his fight with Republican Elton Gallegly. In that summer, Gallegly twice introduced legislation to give the CNMI a non-voting Delegate to the US Congress. One bill Abramoff defeated in Committee, the other had to be killed by the House Leadership. It never came up for a floor vote.
In 1997, when the House Leadership organized the 105th Congress they gave the Abramoff/DeLay/Hastert political machine greater control of the Resources Committee. First, Elton Gallegly was removed as the Chairman and replaced with the more compliant Don Young. Next, the Leadership abolished the Native American and Insular Affairs Subcommittee of the House Resources Committee and moved all of its work to the full Resources Committee. This meant that any CNMI-related legislation would never get a hearing in the committee, unless Tom DeLay gave Don Young the green light.
Throughout the rest of Denny Hastert's service as Chief Deputy Whip he would line up the Republican caucus to support any vote or floor fight as directed by Tom DeLay. Their working relationship was so close that from 1995 to 1999, Hastert's long-time aide, Scott Palmer, served on both DeLay's Whip staff and Denny's staff. This facilitated very close communication between the two teams.
Jack Abramoff's billing records to the CNMI government illustrate the close working relationship between DeLay, Hastert and Abramoff.
By the late summer of 1997, the Republican leadership of the House had effectively shut down the committee system in their chamber as a route for any legislation that would end the abuse on the Mariana Islands, but they had not shut down the bi-partisan effort to end the abuse. Republicans and Democrats continued to introduce Legislation to end the abuse.
Abramoff's battle to end the reform in the Senate was difficult as Sen. Mukowski (R) and Sen. Akaka (D) had both introduced Legislation to end the abuse. They were also holding hearings which were leading to negative news stories.
Over in the House, the big problem for Abramoff was Rep. George Miller (D-CA) who kept introducing Legislation and conducting investigating to expose and end the abuse. In April he released a report detailing the abuse and the need for congressional action and he introduced H.R. 1450, the Insular Fair Wage and Human Rights Act of 1997.
The bi-partisan nature of the struggle to bring justice the Mariana Islands was also illustrated by H.CON.RES.80, it was introduced by Rep Franks, Bob (R-NJ) and would have prohibited clothing made on the Mariana Island from using the "Made in USA" label until and unless reforms were made. A majority of Congress, 228 Members became cosponsors. As Chief Deputy Whip, Denny Hastert, would know that this legislation would pass if it got an up or down vote.
DeLay, Hastert and the House leadership, with Abramoff's encouragement and assistance, could prevent any bill from having a hearing or a vote in committee, but they could not prevent a vote if the Miller or Franks bill was attached as an amendment to one of the Appropriations bills that had to be passed to keep the federal government from shutting down.
In August 1997 it was clear that Miller was going to try and attach his bill as an amendment to the Appropriations Bill for the Commerce and Justice Department.
Throughout August and September Abramoff and his team meet with the House Leadership and their staffs to prepare for the coming floor fight. Any attempt to attach the Miller or the Franks bills as amendments would have to be stopped with a procedural motion and tight management of the floor debate. Counting votes was extremely important. To win, DeLay needed his Chief Deputy Whip, Denny Hastert.
According to the Preston Gates billing records for the CNMI account, Jack Abramoff billed for discussions with Ed Buckham and Scott Palmer on August 6, 7, 8 and 11 in 1997 Tom DeLay joined in on three of those discussions. Here is one of those meetings:
The strategy they devised worked. On September 24, 1997 an attempt to attach Miller's bill to the Commerce and Justice Appropriations Bill was turned back on a procedural maneuver. The Hastert/DeLay Whip machine had delivered for Jack's sweatshop owning patrons.
In December 1997 Tom DeLay, joined Abramoff on a New Year's vacation to the Marianas Islands. John Feehery, then DeLay's Communications Director and later Hastert's Press Secretary (1999-2004), was also on this trip. It was on this trip that DeLay said:
"When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made."
DeLay and Abramoff returned to Washington and 1998 was more of the same.
Every effort to pass legislation to end the abuse was blocked by the House Leadership. This was done despite a growing wave of damning news stories, testimony and official reports.
In March the Washington Post wrote about a new report that found evidence of forced abortions and other abuse on the Mariana Islands:
Women working in the factories of Saipan are generally aware of what is expected of them with regard to not getting pregnant. Abortion appears to be a common practice as a means of birth control. The interviewed women recounted the pressures that management places upon them to have the procedure performed.
In March 1998, Rep. George Miller and Democratic staff of the House Committee on Resources release another report "Beneath the American Flag: Labor and Human Rights Abuses in the CNMI." detailing the many abuses on the CNMI.
Despite the release of these new reports confirming what they should already have known about conditions in the Marianas, the Republican leadership of the House would not hold hearings on extending US labor, custom ad immigration laws to the Mariana Islands.
Lou Dubose and Jan Reid, explained why in their book, "The Hammer Comes Down: The Nasty, Brutish and Shortened Political Life of Tom DeLay," (NY: PublicAffairs, 2006), pp. 192-93:
"Back in Washington [Rep. George] Miller was turned aside by the [House Resources] committee chairman, Don Young, an Alaska Republican. 'We were told in no uncertain terms that there were not going to be any hearings on Saipan,' said Miller. 'I told the chairman, 'Why not? They're having hearings in the Senate.' He said, 'Well, we're not going to have them in the House. This is above my pay grade. The Whip has said he's not going to let that happen.'" The Whip of course was Tom DeLay."
On November 1, 1998, a cash strapped CNMI Government terminated its contract with Jack Abramoff. His tab was quickly picked up the Tan Family who covered Jack's expenses until the CNMI government rehired him in 2000.
In the aftermath of a disastrous mid-term election, Newt Gingrich resigned as Speaker. Then, a sex scandal forced the heir apparent, Bob Livingston, to resign from Congress as well. Desperately in need of an uncontroversial candidate to replace Gingrich as Speaker in the midst of all this turmoil, the House Republican leadership turned to Hastert and told him he was simply going to have to take the job.
After that Hastert raked in the cash from Abramoff, his team and their clients. The word went out on K Street: you had to pay to be heard in Denny Hastert's Congress.
And they did pay.
As a result there are hundreds of scandals. All of them were either ignored or green lighted by the Speaker.
Now, the story of Denny Hastert's role in protecting the abuse on the CNMI is being told.
And, as with every scandal Denny's first impulse is to block investigations, defend his cohorts,protect the guilty, and deny any knowledge of involvement.
But Denny can not hide what he did to protect a system of sweatshops, abuse, exploitation, human trafficking, forced prostitution and forced abortions on the Northern Mariana Islands.
It is time for change. It is time for a Congressman who will never sell his values for money and power.
It is time for John Laesch.
It is way, way, way past time to take our country back.
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Unless we double our efforts and fight like hell, the GOP may win on November. We have to bring the fight to them everywhere.
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2006 is now. It is way past time to take our Country back.
Let's do this.
Cheers.