I joined the Daily Kos community back on March 31, 2004. Since then I have posted quite a number of Diaries and with a few exceptions they have all focused on some aspect of the still expanding Jack Abramoff scandal.
While my interests are varied, I have tried to keep my work here focused on the GOP Culture of Corruption. I tend to think of my Abramoff research as taking and examining a core sample in a Republican glacier of sleaze. The layers tell a story about a connected and growing cancer on our Democracy.
I was glad that this work had an impact in November. We defeated 19 of the Abramoff 65 and some of the survivors will soon be gone. The Corruption Issue is not going away. Republicans should be very worried about 2008 as their connections to Abramoff (and other scandals) are exposed and solid candidates line up to take them on.
My ability to do this research and original reporting on the Abramoff scandal is because of my day job and I want to talk about that on the jump...
I am glad that this research has been useful and that many of you have been reading my work. According to jotter my impact for 2006 was ranked 29th. That is mighty humbling when I consider the depth and expertise on display in countless Diaries and comments on Daily Kos—my sincere thanks to all of you who have supported my research/writings with mojo and good wishes.
Like many here at Daily Kos, I post my Diaries using a screen name. Mine is dengre. I took that name as a homage to my older brother, an artist and poet in Detroit. He often signs his work maugre. Both are a mash-up of our first and last names. My name is Dennis Greenia and I grew up in Motown. In the 1980s I moved to Georgia and from 1987 to 1997 I published Flagpole Magazine, an alternative newsweekly, in Athens, GA. By 1998 life took me to Baltimore, Maryland.
I was looking for a meaningful job. I wanted to put my publishing experience in the service of solving the big problems facing our Country and the planet. I got lucky in my search and landed a job with Co-op America.
The nonprofit was formed in 1982 during the early Reagan years. Back then it was clear that political avenues for change were drying up, so a group of inspired folks decide to create an organization that would promote change through harnessing the economic power of consumers, investors and businesses through an innovative idea:
"Every time you spend or invest a dollar, it goes to work in the world. Too often, it goes to support institutions and corporations that perpetuate injustice, pollute the environment, and destroy communities. But we can change that. We can use economic power to push for socially and environmentally responsible businesses ... and put our society on a more sustainable path."
By 1998 the organization had been around for 15 years and I was very impressed by their mission, work and organization. I signed on as their Publications Director. We put out a number of publications. The first one I worked on was a 1998 issue of Co-op America Quarterly that focused on how to use your economic power to help end sweatshops. This was when I first learned about conditions for guest workers on the Marianas Islands.
Back at the end of the last century, the issue of sweatshops was getting a lot of mainstream attention. By 1999 corporations were reeling from consumer pressure and it was looking like Congress was going to take some action. There was also a lot of push-back from corporations and suppliers involved in exploiting workers to improve their bottom line. We decided to return to the topic in 1999 for another issue of the Quarterly.
I spent time researching the supply chain, the companies involved, the laws that made it possible and economic/consumer-based solutions. My research led me to take a closer look at the conditions of "guest" workers on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a territory of the United States in the Western Pacific roughly 40 miles north of Guam.
I was appalled. This was very close to modern slavery.
The workers from many impoverished countries were being used as expendable commodities to increase profits of the greedy. They effectively had no rights. Economic pressure and consumer/shareholder demand for corporate accountability could (and did) help. Co-op America and many other groups worked to promote change. There were some victories, but to solve the abuse on this rogue US Territory it would require action from the Federal government.
As we worked on the issue of the Co-op America Quarterly, it seemed that 1999 would be the year when Congressional action would lead to a law to end the abuse. Bills had passed the Senate and had more than enough sponsors to pass the House. Media reports about sweatshops and the abuse on the Mariana Islands seemed to be everywhere. I felt that there would be a major victory for the abused "guest" workers on the CNMI before the year was out.
It didn’t happen.
The effort died in the House of Representatives. It never came up for a vote.
I was stunned. I had been naively optimistic.
The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why.
On my lunch break or at the end of the day, I started heading to the Clerk of the House to look at Lobbying Disclosure forms (they were not online back then) and to the Library of Congress to look at newspaper reports from the Mariana Islands and stateside. I searched online (pre-Google) and used what research tools I could find.
I wanted to know how this happen and I found out.
I found Jack Abramoff.
As I dug into his background, clients, donations and connections to the leadership of the Republican Party and the larger conservative movement, I became amazed at the depth and breadth of, what to me, was a massive scandal.
Suddenly I had a new "hobby".
Over the last six years I found myself researching Jack Abramoff, the Marianas Islands and the Republican web of corruption. Whenever I had some time to give to my new recreational activity, I would pick up some scandal thread and unravel it to see where it might go. The research gave me comfort in the wake of the 2000 election and the following years of misrule. It became a place for my frustration and anger to be channeled into a more productive activity.
For many years I thought I was chasing windmills. I would try and talk about how corrupt Abramoff and his Republican allies were, but I could get no takers. Not even Jack’s role on the Bush/Cheney Transition Team (for the Department of the Interior) seemed to raise an eyebrow.
I remember telling the story of Jack and SunCruz at a party back in 2002 and feeling like my tin-foil hat was firmly in place.
Of course, over time, the truth will come out.
By February 2004 the Abramoff story broke in the Washington Post. As of today only a small part of the Abramoff scandal have been revealed. And yet this has been enough to make Jack and his story part of American pop culture—and a major factor in defeating the Corrupt Grand Old Party in November.
As I discovered Daily Kos, Jack’s world was starting to fall apart. My Diaries have mostly been focused on explaining and framing this scandal. This site has been very useful for working out the details in a way that allows me to use reporting and conjecture to explain what I think happened in this scandal. I’ve been right far more often than I’ve been wrong. Support from this community has kept me going, especially when my Abramoff "hobby" literally took on the hours of a second job (without the pay) in the months leading up to November.
This worked helped to define the issue of corruption in many races and shape National attitudes towards the Republican Congress. I was able to share research and information in ways that had a direct impact on a number of races Democrats won including Conrad Burns (Sen.-MT), John Sweeney (R-NY) and Richard Pombo (R-CA) and a number of races that were much closer than the GOP ever thought they would be.
I’m proud of this work, but i would not have been able to do this research/reporting if my day job was not so great. Co-op America is an organization that walks the talk. My co-workers and colleagues have been very supportive and understanding of my "hobby" leading up to the Election. More than that, they have been actively working on the solutions we need to build a just and sustainable Country, economy and planet.
In 2008, Co-op America will be 25 years old. We have a unique approach to solving problems:
- We focus on economic strategies—economic action to solve social and environmental problems.
- We mobilize people in their economic roles—as consumers, investors, workers, business leaders.
- We empower people to take personal and collective action
- We work on issues of social justice and environmental responsibility. We see these issues as completely linked in the quest for a sustainable world. It’s what we mean when we say "green."
- We work to stop abusive practices and to create healthy, just and sustainable practices.
This approach has our staff of about 40 working on a wide range of programs and actions. In addition to our publications, we provide other resources, campaigns and tools for changing the way America does business, such as:
And our many other programs, actions and publications contain tons of great work I am leaving on the cutting room floor (just check out the Year End Report and/or explore the many corners of our web site).
I am blessed to work with such a dedicated and talented group of people and at an organization that really "walks the talk".
Our revenue mostly comes from our members. We have 65,000 individual members and some 2,500 Green Business members. Please take a moment and join us if you like the work we are doing.
Co-op America does not do political/policy advocacy work. It is not in our mission. And yet, I would not be on the trail of Abramoff and the GOP web of corruption if I was not working at Co-op America. While we do not do political work, our research into economic solutions often exposes a need in the political system. My learning about the abuse on the Marianas Islands was an example. When Abramoff, DeLay and the rest of the GOP mob denied justice to the abused workers on the rogue US Territory I was outraged. Confronting their deeds would take a lot of work. The crimes were (and are) well hidden. This task was not within the mission of Co-op America.
I wanted to do something. I wanted to show that one individual could do something.
And so I started my "hobby".
With an understanding that our lives are more than our jobs, my colleagues and I at Co-op America are encouraged to follow our passions as citizens, family members and individuals. I am grateful for the freedom I have had to follow my research "hobby". And I am pleased when my two worlds collided. Over the course of time, some readers of my Dairies have deduced where I work and I thought that I would end the year by telling my story and introducing Co-op America to any of you who did not know about the organization and the work we do.
2006 ends on a positive note. I haven’t been able to say that about any year since 1999.
We have a lot of work to do in 2007. The Corruption Issue is not going away, neither is the climate crisis, the war, poverty and all manners of injustice. (And then there is preparing for the 2008 elections).
And yet, I am optimistic. We can do this. We can change things for the better. We stand on the shoulders of many, many heroes. Now it is our time.
Let’s do the work. Let’s take this Country back. The time is now.
Cheers and thanks for reading.