I'll say one positive thing about the Bush/GOP era we are living under: it sure provides plenty of opportunities for learning how to read and understand plea deals and court filings. They just keep coming.
In fact the GOP is flooding the zone with scandals. Some are big, some are small, some are news and others are waiting to break wide open.
One of the big scandals waiting in the wings is how Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and the GOP worked to protect defend sweatshops, forced labor, forced prostitution, forced abortions and human trafficking on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) a US Territory in the Pacific.
I have been following these crimes since 1998 and recently somebody sent me copies of some documents related to Abramoff's work on behalf of the Hong Kong-based sweatshop owners of CNMI.
Over the weekend I used one of those documents to highlight the history of Jack's "victories" on behalf of his Chinese patrons. The Diary, Jack Abramoff explains how the GOP protected sweatshops, used his own words (from a pitch letter he sent in January 2001 to get CNMI to hire his new lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig) to lay out the crimes he committed with DeLay and many others in the GOP.
Based on the plea agreements to date, The Public Integrity Section of the US DOJ has the same documents I have (and much, much more). That spells real trouble for the GOP and for far more Republicans than just "Representative #1" or "Representative #2". When the dust settles we may be up to "Representative #29", plus a good number of lobbyist, Congressional Aides, Administration officials, GOP think tank members (Bye Grover) and PR flacks (so long Ralph).
The Volz plea builds upon the others and adds more details. Including this hidden gem about the Things of Value handed out by Jack and his co-conspirators (emphasis added):
The things of value corruptly given to Volz and other public officials included, but were not limited to, repeated travel, golf fees, frequent restaurant meals, entertainment, election support for candidates for government office, and employment for relatives of officials other than Volz.
Election support? Looks like all those campaign donations from Abramoff and his co-conspirators (DeLay, Buckham and all their PACS) may not just be tainted; they may also be evidence of crimes. And it looks like Team Abramoff is talking. And that talk is leading to Saipan, sweatshops and Enron.
The trail starts with the Michael Scanlon plea from last November. On page 13 under the section on Corruption of Public Officials, Scanlon admits to providing things of value to public officials in exchange for a series of official acts and influence. One of those things was:
All-expenses-paid trips, including a trip the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ("CNMI") in 2000
Scanlon was very familiar with CNMI. As Walter F. Roche reported, Mike took a trip there in 1999 to fix a local election:
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...
The other fella on the trip was Ed Buckham (Lobbyist B in the Tony Rudy plea), but the next plea was the big man himself, Jack Abramoff.
Now Jack's Plea was filled with the obvious, well known stuff. From press reports and the work of the Senate's Indian Affairs Committee the DOJ had plenty to use to get Jack to start talking. But they also dropped some clues to the direction of the investigation into the plea agreement. Like the Scanlon Plea it added a CNMI reference as one of the ways Jack corrupted public officials:
Travel by a senior staff member of Representative #1 with others in January 2000 to CNMI for the purpose of assisting Abramoff, his firm and others in obtaining and maintaining lobbying clients
When Tony Rudy copped a plea in late March, more details were added. The timeline of the criminal conspiracy was increased. The crimes were taking place between 1997 and 2004. Up until the end of 2000 Tony worked for DeLay and the Plea lays out some facts of the criminal conspiracy:
Beginning at least as early as 1997 through December 2000, Abramoff and others sought and received Rudy's agreement to perform a series of official acts [snip] including, but not limited to the following:
a. In January 2000, Rudy agreed to arrange for another staff member to travel to CNMI with Scanlon and others to assist Abramoff, his firm, and Lobbyist B with their lobbying businesses;
b. In 2000, Rudy worked with others to secure certain appropriations projects for the CNMI which he knew would help Abramoff's lobbying business and that had been sought by Abramoff and Lobbyist B;
Now point "b." is important. This widens the circle. The DOJ is on the trail of millions of dollars sent to CNMI as bribes and payoffs to support the Abramoff/GOP slush fund. Sweatshops were involved. And so was Enron. More on that in a moment.
First, both the Rudy and the Volz plea indicate that one of the payoffs to Abramoff by "Representative #1" was (from the Volz plea):
in March 2001, Representative #1 agreed to support legislation which would have permitted manufacturers in the CNMI to attach "Made in the USA" labels to their goods while exempting the manufacturers from compliance with federal labor standards applicable to manufacturers operating inside the fifty states;
If this means that supporting Abramoff's efforts to block legislation ending the abuse on CNMI was a crime for "Representative #1," then most of the GOP Caucus is in big trouble. It will be interesting to see who Ney's fellow travelers were on this one.
So back to sweatshops and Enron: January 2000 was an important month for both issues on CNMI. In 1998, there was a change in the local CNMI Government and Jack had lost his lobbying contract with CNMI. The money still flowed as the Tan Family kept the support flowing through the Saipan Garment Manufacture Association and a money laundering front they called the Western Pacific Economic Council. It was getting harder and harder to for Jack to deal with the locals on CNMI, so it was time to change the Government.
The ideal candidate was Benigno (Ben) R. Fitial. Back in the 1980s he was a member of the first CNMI Legislators and he pushed though laws that allowed foreign investment on CNMI. That opened the doors for the Hong Kong based Tan Family to move to the Islands and start opening sweatshops. Of course Ben left government and became an executive with the Tan Family. A position he held for 11 years overseeing a corporation with more labor abuse violations than any other in the history of the United States. So obviously he was the man the GOP wanted to put in charge of CNMI Legislation.
But of course in a fair election Fitial would never get the votes to become CNMI's Speaker of the House. So in late 1999, Jack, Tom and the gang sent Ed Buckham and Mike Scanlon over to CNMI to twist some arms and make some deals.
And it worked! (emphasis added):
Incumbent Rep. Alejo M. Mendiola from Rota and newly elected representative from Tinian Norman S. Palacios yesterday officially withdrew their support for Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider for speakership of the House of Representatives in favor of closest rival, former Speaker Benigno R. Fitial.
In a letter addressed to Republican Party chairman Francisco DLG. Camacho and dated Dec. 15, the two legislators said they split from the group backing Mr. Hofschneider "after seriously considering the extenuating circumstances surrounding the speakership issue" for the 12th Legislature.
"We sincerely believe that under the leadership of Representative-elect Benigno R. Fitial, the people of the CNMI, especially Tinian and Rota will greatly benefit from such leadership," they said in a letter. [snip]
Members of the 18-seat chamber are expected to choose leaders of the House and chair of the various committees when they convene on the inaugural day on Jan. 10.
So all plea agreements mention that in January 2000, Scanlon, Volz and others traveled to CNMI. They were there to seal the deal and ensure Fitial election. This was important to Abramoff and his sweatshop clients. And Fitial would deliver the goods for Jack. By July 2000 he had pushed through legislation that basically ordered the CNMI Government to rehire Abramoff. And they did.
But the Volz plea mentions that the January 2000 travel was to "in part to assist Scanlon and others with their lobbying businesses" and the Rudy Plea stated that (emphasis added):
In 2000, Rudy worked with others to secure certain appropriations projects for the CNMI which he knew would help Abramoff's lobbying business and that had been sought by Abramoff and Lobbyist B;
Lobbyist B is Ed Buckham. In late 1999 Mike Scanlon was still on DeLay's staff when he traveled to CNMI with Buckham to fix the CNMI election. By the time Mike took the January trip he was working for Abramoff, Buckham and himself. According to Scanlons final financial disclosure form as a Hill staffer, he was paid $10,000 by Buckham for work done "during a break in service". Back in 1999 Buckham's lobbying firm only had one client doing business on CNMI. That was Enron. They wanted to land the contract to build a power plant on the islands to help run all those sweatshops. By the end of 1999 they were losing the bid.
In January 2000 they lost the bid. By March, Fitial had pushed through legislation that reopened the bidding and forced awarding Enron the contract. Then, of course, Enron imploded and the power plant on CNMI was never built.
And the payoffs to CNMI flowed through the GOP controlled Congress (and later the Bush White House as well). As Jack explained in his pitch letter:
Working on behalf of the Western Pacific Economic Council, our team not only stopped all anti-CNMI legislation from being enacted, we helped to secure $1.4 million in extra CNMI appropriations for infrastructure improvements in Tinian and Rota.
And that was not all. Millions flowed through the Appropriation process to CNMI. Jack, Tom and the gang had many willing participants in the process. Folks like Doolittle, Pombo, Taylor, Rohrabacher, Young, Burton, Burns and a host of others have plenty to worry about. And they should worry, because they have committed a horrible crime.
They used their office to protect abuse and promote injustice. They put the Government of the United States of America in the business of supporting sweatshops, human trafficking, force prostitution and forced abortion. And they did it for money and power.
We need to talk about this. We need to make this an issue for 2006.
The more we talk about it the less likely it is that the Bush political appointees will be able to sweep the abuse under the rug (once again).
Every member of the GOP Caucus who worked to block legislation extending US labor, immigration and custom laws to CNMI should be put on the defensive.
The crimes were real and the evidence has been presented to Congress since before 1994.
It is time to hold these folks accountable: both as co-conspirators and at the ballot box.
2006 is now. Let's take our Country back!
