Far away, some 9,000 miles from Washington DC, there are a series of islands in the Western Pacific. Separated by roughly 40 miles, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are part of that chain of islands. Both are territories of the United States.
Twenty-five years ago, the economy of the CNMI was based on tourism. They sold a tropical "paradise" with great scuba diving and snorkeling. Then, they allowed foreign investors, mostly Chinese, to set up "businesses" on the CNMI. These "entrepreneurs" created a shadow economy rooted in garment factories, nightclubs, poker machines and money laundering. The economic expansion was based on importing "guest workers" to work in the factories, shops, clubs, brothels, farms and homes of the citizens and elites of the territory.
Almost immediately the CNMI became a hub of the hidden economy. A system of human trafficking, forced prostitution, sweatshops, labor abuse and money laundering attracted pirates and scoundrels from across the globe—including Jack Abramoff and the Republican Party.
Finally there is a chance to end the abuse, but we need your help...
I have been writing about this issue for some time.
Recently, the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the CNMI. The 110th Congress has made it clear that they intend to try and finally shut down the system of abuse on the CNMI. Legislation is coming. I have been exploring where this CNMI legislation is heading in several Diaries: CNMI Hearing Report #1, CNMI Hearing Report #2, and CNMI Hearing Report #3.
Consider this the fourth in the series.
Legislation to impact the CNMI is on a fast track. Right out of the gate, the 110th Congress included the CNMI in the increase to the minimum wage. And the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is drafting Legislation to resolve the other issues.
As always, the devil will be in the details. And this is where you come in.
It was the protection of Jack Abramoff and the modern Republican that allowed the system of abuse on the CNMI to survive every attempt to end the abuse since January 1995. While Abramoff is gone and the GOP is weakened, they are still exerting influence on the process. It is possible that a Democratic Congress could allow the system of abuse to continue. There are some red flags on the field.
We may need to mobilize the netroots on this issue and I wanted to give folks a heads up in a Paul Revere kind of way. It is clear that as events and legislation are moving, I may need help in demanding justice for the CNMI.
There are a number of issues in play and it looks like we are talking about two pieces of legislation. The first is HR 2, the Minimum Wage Bill. The second, which should be introduced within a few weeks, is a bill to extend US labor, immigration and custom laws to the CNMI.
Both the House and the Senate have passed a Minimum Wage Bill. Both included extending the minimum wage to the CNMI. The Senate bill also included some tax cuts, so the bill will have to go to a conference Committee. I thought the extension of the Minimum Wage to the CNMI was safe, but it might be in jeopardy.
Recently, a delegation led by Energy and Natural Resources Committee staffer Al Stayman visited the CNMI to gather more details to inform possible legislation. The news reports from this visit were mostly encouraging:
These were hopeful signs of quick action and progress. Then we had some other stories. Like this one in the Marianas Variety, Stayman hopes Bush will OK federalization:
THE visiting U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources senior staffer in charge of insular issues yesterday said the CNMI immigration federalization bill will not be introduced unless there is bipartisan support, and he expressed hope that the Bush administration will also back the measure.
And this one, Broad support eyed in drafting immigration bill, in the Saipan Tribune:
In a press conference at the Hyatt Regency Saipan yesterday, Stayman expressed hope that there would be enough feedback from concerned groups to make an initial draft bill within the next two weeks. These groups include the bipartisan committee in the U.S. Senate, the federal and local governments, the local business community, and long-term alien workers in the CNMI. [snip]
He added that bipartisan backing from the U.S. Congress and support from the Bush administration are necessary. "It may be qualified, but I wouldn't want to do it if we can't have that at the minimum," he said.
It almost sounded like the Republican in Congress and the Bush Administration (and, by extension, their Chinese donors operating out of Saipan), were being handed a way to block legislation even as it was being drafted.
That would be a very bad thing.
But then the same article added this bit from Mr. Stayman:
"My hope is we can soon get a draft bill for introduction that has initial support [from all of these sectors]. That will be great if we can introduce a bill with that breadth of support. But we're going to make a cut, like a certain number of weeks. We can't let this drag out too far," he said.
He also said that absolute agreement among the groups is not necessary in the beginning. The bill, he said, can be introduced with a qualified support or any statement from any group that is not entirely negative.
The politics of this are dicey. The Bush Gang and the Republican Party can block any effort to extend justice to the CNMI. We have to watch for that effort and be ready to push back. (Already John Doolittle is telling anybody who will listen that the CNMI should be exempt from US laws). Perhaps this tossing the legislative ball to the GOP is an effort to force the Republican Party to take a stand for or against human trafficking. The votes could set up quite a few problems for the GOP come 2008. And beyond the politics, the CNMI has real long-term problems that need to be fixed. Stayman is a long time veteran of the fight to bring justice to the CNMI and I am willing to cut him some slack, but there are red lines.
It is way, way past time to end the system of abuse on the CNMI.
It has to happen now. The 110th Congress should lead the way and if the effort fails, the blame needs to be entirely owned by the GOP. The "bi-partisan" rhetoric is a problem. It can be used by the Republican Party to hide their ownership of the CNMI problem. It is a concern.
Another concern surfaced yesterday. Both papers had a version of this story, Wage review board possible for CNMI:
The federal bill boosting wages nationwide may still be amended to provide for an American Samoa-type of wage system for the Commonwealth.
Former Insular Affairs director and now U.S. congressional staffer Allen Stayman, who just concluded a four-day visit to Saipan, pledged to meet with individuals behind the wage hike bill to caution them of the impact the legislation could have on the CNMI.
"As soon as I get back, I want to sit down with the minimum wage people and tell them that we've confirmed that the situation in the CNMI is a real challenge. We want them to be very sensitive to the impact it will have on an already difficult situation," Stayman said in a press conference shortly before he flew back to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday afternoon.
He hinted support for a wage system similar to that in place in American Samoa, where a federal special industry committee determines the minimum wage. [snip]
Stephen Sander, the U.S. Office of Insular Affairs' congressional liaison who came to the CNMI with Stayman and fellow congressional staffer John Johnson, repeated Stayman's statements yesterday. [snip]
"The idea is to raise the minimum to the U.S. level as quickly as possible without substantially harming the industries involved and therefore their employment," Sander said.
But whether the U.S. Congress will accept this proposal remains a question, he stressed.
Whether we will accept this proposal should also be a factor.
I will get into this later, but a Wage Review Board for the CNMI is fraught with problems. I do not think this should be an amendment to the Minimum Wage Bill. If considered at all, it should be part of new legislation designed to end the abuse on the CNMI.
Still, Washington being what it is, I can see how the most vulnerable workers in America could be sold out. We need to prevent that from happening.
As long as safeguards are in place, a Wage Review Board on the CNMI might be fine. The devil is in the details. At a bare minimum any CNMI Wage Review Board would at least need to include the following principles:
- Removing the current CNMI government and Chamber of Commerce crowd from control of the process by giving them no more than one seat between them on any Wage Review Board (a voice yes, but control no).
- The make-up of a Wage Review Board should include at least one human rights worker with knowledge of the long-term pathology of abuse on the CNMI.
- Certain classifications of workers, like maids and domestic workers, need to be paid the Federal Minimum Wage and be exempt from Wage Review Board oversight (I mean, if you can’t afford to pay a maid at least $5.50 an hour, you don’t need one—why not learn how to pick up after yourself).
- A fixed sunset date for the Wage Review Board needs to be established—a date certain for all wages on the CNMI to be at or above the Federal Minimum Wage. This should be within years, not decades.
I’m sure there are points I am forgetting, but the important thing is that the process to increase wages, whether it is the already passed extension of the Federal Minimum Wage to the CNMI or an amendment to establish a CNMI Wage Review Board, must raise wages for all the workers on the CNMI as quickly as possible.
Regardless of the path, the only hope for increasing wages is to take control of the process out of the hands of the pirates who run the CNMI Government, Chamber of Commerce and other local "business groups". These folks can not be trusted any farther than a child could throw Dick Cheney.
In the aftermath of Stayman’s visit, the Pirates of Saipan have regrouped. They have a unified position: things are fine, give us money and let us keep on doing what we have been doing—nothing needs to be changed.
Today’s Marianas Variety presented the Pirates of Saipan talking points:
Administration: No to wage, immigration federalization
THE Fitial administration is willing to accept "partial federalization" but will insist on continued local control over labor and immigration, according to Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr.
He said the administration agrees there is a need for federal border control, but not the extension of federal immigration law to the islands.
"There is a political phobia about giving permanent residency to (foreign) workers," Reyes said. "There is a fear that local people would be disenfranchised." [snip]
According to Reyes, the administration and the Saipan Economic Development Council, a local business group, will present their joint position paper to the U.S. Senate where the measure to federalize local immigration is expected to be introduced this spring.
In a statement, SEDC co-chairwoman Marian Aldan-Pierce said: "As we understand from our meetings, the federal government has offered to partner with the CNMI to draft legislation that would bring the CNMI borders under U.S. immigration and federal jurisdiction but allow the CNMI to continue to exercise our Covenant-provided authority to continue control of those tools." [snip]
SEDC co-chairman Bob Jones, for his part, said: "With the terrorist activity in the world today, we welcome the federal government’s help in controlling our borders around the 13 or so islands....But we must at least maintain the labor and immigration tools locally that we need to grow our economy out of the mess it’s in today."
In the face of a new effort to extend US laws to the CNMI, the pirates are circling the wagons and reverting to form. They have even formed yet another "local business group", the SEDC. (I’m sure it is funded by the Tan Family and that they already have an unregistered DC lobbyist on the payroll and working the halls of Congress). Their unified message is that nothing should change.
Sure, the US can extend control of the borders and send Coast Guard ships to circle the islands, but that’s it. The pirates want any new legislation to continue the Abramoff/DeLay/Republican policy of overlooking their economic system based on human trafficking, forced sex, sweatshops, labor abuse and money laundering. As long as we let the Pirates continue to bring in folks from around the world to enjoy the gambling (i.e. money washing) facilities—without the hassles of paperwork, Visas and US laws, customs and oversight—everything will be just fine.
More than anything else, they do not want to see any justice extended to "guest workers" who have been on the CNMI for 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years. They want these folks to be a permanent underclass, without rights and without justice. They are completely wrong.
The system of abuse will end when US rights, laws and privileges are extended to these long term "guest workers". Many have children who are US Citizens; they deserve a pathway to citizenship. Period. The pirates hate that idea and fear the majority population of "guest workers" living on the CNMI. The old guard of the CNMI will do everything they can to block reform.
We have to watch them like a hawk. And we have to watch the 110th Congress.
We may need to mobilize to ensure that the abuse end now. This year. Once and for all.
We owe something to the "guest workers’ of the CNMI. Their story and the connections to Jack Abramoff and the Republican Culture of Corruption, helped us win control of Congress in 2006. We defeated 20 of the Abramoff 65, a group of Republican candidates in 2006 I identified as having multiple connections to Jack Abramoff.
The Corruption Issue is not going away. The surviving Republicans should be very worried about 2008 as their connections to Abramoff (and other scandals) are exposed and Democrats recruit solid candidates to take them on. Even today, Abramoff had his sentencing for bribing Congressmen delayed because he is cooperating with ongoing investigations. And a few weeks ago, the FBI was on the CNMI investigating the Abramoff scandal.
In the scheme of things the problems of the CNMI are small. The total population of the islands could fit into a Big Ten football stadium. Their stories and the need for justice are not a narrative that everybody knows. Here on the mainland, their needs and story are overshadowed by other events.
It is hard to break through the cycle of other issues, events and Diaries. Ending the abuse on the CNMI is not nearly as attention getting as the latest dust-up on the campaign trail or meta Diary.
Sometimes these long CNMI Diaries of mine are read by many folks (and thanks for that), and other times just a handful of folks catch them as they scroll by (thanks for that as well). My quest to call attention to the Abramoff Scandal and by extension the troubles of this far away place is quixotic. And yet, I hope that we will pay attention.
I hope that new legislation will be passed and that it brings justice to the guest workers, a sustainable economy to the CNMI, protects the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Mariana Islands, extends US labor, immigration and custom laws to the CNMI, closes the money laundering shops and finally shuts down the networks for smuggling guns, drugs and people in place in this rogue US Territory in the Western Pacific.
It is time to stop feeding the dark underbelly of global capitalism (and the Republican Party) through the system of abuse operating on the CNMI.
This will only happen if we, the progressive netroots, get involved. We have the power to influence Congress and the news cycle.
In the coming weeks, reform legislation will be drafted. The Pirates of Saipan and their Republican allies will do what they can to delay and block meaningful reform. The effort will be slick and even a Democratic led Congress could buy into language that would continue the abuse.
We should not allow that to happen on our watch. It is way past time to end the abuse on the CNMI. We need a victory here.
And a few real victories would be great. We have massive problems. We have a Country to take back and a planet to save (literally, the Climate Crisis is real).
2007 is now. Let’s get to work.
Cheers.