I've been working on some things, so I haven't posted a lot recently, but an
ABC News story got my blood boiling.
It wasn't the story by Brian Ross, which was quite good. It was DeLay's response to the report of his cozy relationship with Abramoff. Following the proto-reporting of the Netroots (see Talking Points Memo for just one example), ABC reported on Abramoff paying for DeLay's trips to Scotland and to Saipan. DeLay ran to Fox for some damage control:
I've hired lawyers that look through everything that we've done, my relationship with Jack Abramoff, every contact we made with him, everything. And they've given me a complete bill -- clean bill of health.
Wow, DeLay's GOP lawyers couldn't find anything wrong with his relationship with Abramoff. Perhaps they're trying to make GOP Corruption and GOP Incompetence interchangeable terms.
As for me I know DeLay is a BIG ASS LIAR. To the jump...
In some ways, this is way too easy. DeLay and Abramoff were and are connected. Their DNA has infected the entire GOP. If you dig at any dollar either of them touched over the 15 years (or 25 years) you will find another scandal
And of course DeLay would lie about their relationship. Lying has become a prerequisite for membership in the Grand Old Party (a small city could be powered by harnessing the energy of Lincoln spinning in his grave).
But this is more than an inside Washington corruption story. This is also about a GOP Culture of Corruption that sold their principles, honor, Party and Country for power. It is a story of Sex, forced abortions, prostitution, sweatshops and special favors for the worst Foreign Nationals on the World stage.
Most of the Abramoff scandal stories to date have focused on Tribal Casinos. That is only the surface and a lot of the reporting has served a GOP instinct to blame the victims of crimes committed by White guys. The Abramoff/GOP scandal is BIGGER. It is a rat's nest of corruption. Over the last seven days there has been a flood of details (here are a few, but I'm sure there are more, feel free to add links in the comments):
- The Boston Globe reported that Abramoff was working with some Russian Oligarchs to explore for oil in Israel.
- And just a few days earlier the Boston Globe went deep on Jack's ties to the same Russians through a variety of front companies that poured almost $4 million into the DeLay/GOP money machine.
- The NY Times highlighted the Conrad Buns/Jack Abramoff connection.
- Raw Story reported on Rep. John Linder (R-GA) and his travels to Puerto Rico on Jack's dime.
- The aforementioned Talking Points Memo and their Daily Muck have been breaking new scandal details everyday--bad news for Don Young and a host of GOP scoundrels.
- In a quick tutorialPacific Magazine detailed the links between Abramoff and Saipan.
- And then there is the story of former Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad paying Abramoff $1.2 million to arrange a meeting with GW Bush.
There are many other stories as well. Perhaps it was the Malaysian press that put the GOP culture of Corruption into a clear focus:
Dr Mahathir said today that the Government did not pay US$1.2 million to secure a meeting between him and Bush in 2002.
"It is true that someone paid the money but it was not the Government," he said.
"I did not touch the money at all. In the US, it is a practice that if you want to meet their leader, you have to go through a lobbyist and the lobbyist has to be paid... That is their system. It is not corruption at all and it is very open, but they don't reveal names."
See, it is not corruption; it is just the GOP way--a perversion of government created by Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and their gang. It is a way that they perfected protecting sweatshops and sexual slavery on the Commonwealth of the North Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US Territory in the South Pacific.
I've posted about Abramoff and CNMI for some time now. In fact it was while I was researching sweatshop on Saipan back in 1999 that I started following the career of Jack Abramoff.
Through it all, DeLay was Jack's man in Congress. This ABC video shows DeLay hugging Abramoff on a visit to Saipan. It was on this visit that DeLay made his famous Abramoff quote:
On his first night on the island, DeLay was invited to a reception at the posh, beachfront Pacific Islands Club hosted by Willie Tan, the powerful garment factory king. According to a promotional brochure, Tan Holdings Corp. owns the island's largest garment factories, several hotels, a bank, and businesses ranging from travel agencies to ice cream parlors.
"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 said, after thanking Tan for "that great introduction."
And what was in DeLay's "free-market success"?
Sweatshops, forced abortions, sexual slavery and wide spread abuse of US labor, immigration and custom laws. Last year a story in the Galveston Daily News put a sharp point on DeLay's lies about sex:
"Incredible lies" was the way House Majority Leader Tom DeLay described charges that some foreign workers on Saipan labored in sweatshops in the 1990s while others were forced into sex slavery.
Reporter Marty Schladen gave DeLay space to deny everything, but then presents facts to refute DeLay. And in the same article! It was a rare example of real journalism:
One woman told Miller that when she became pregnant, her employer gave her a choice: return to China or be fired. The woman said she was afraid that if she went back to China, she'd be forced to have a late-term abortion.
Other Chinese women told [Congressman George] Miller that the "restaurant" jobs they'd taken consisted of hanging out in karaoke bars, being forced to have sex with the patrons and then being shut out of the proceeds from their prostitution, his report said.
There are many other reports that back-up George Miller and refute DeLay. The prepared statement of Wendy L. Doromal before the Senate's Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 31, 1998 goes into great detail about the abuse on CNMI at the time of DeLay's visit. I couldn't find it online, but here are some excerpts:
Last month my husband, Boboy Doromal and I returned to the CNMI to access the situation and status of the estimated 42,000 foreign contract workers who make up a majority of the islands' population. We were struck by the overall severity of their suffering and shocked by the rapid deterioration in the workers' welfare and quality of life that has plunged them to the lowest levels we have witnessed to date. From 1984 until 1995 when our family left the islands, I watched the status of the workers decline each year. In 1995, when we left the CNMI, the status of the foreign contract workers was at crisis level. Now in 1998, it is beyond that. Immediate action is essential. [sinp]
An increase in the trafficking of minor girls and young women from the Philippines and the People's Republic of China who have been hired as waitresses or garment factory workers but forced to work as prostitutes and strippers in the ever-increasing number of karaoke bars, discos, beauty parlors, massage parlors and clubs; - The continuing problems with the garment industry including Chinese law being enforced on U.S. soil behind the barbed wire fences surrounding garment 'factories and barracks; the existence of shadow contracts that restrict religious freedom and other rights contrary to U.S. law, the flow of Chinese workers from the CNMI into Guam to seek asylum; pregnant Chinese women being forced by their employers to return to China to have an abortion or to have an abortion performed in the CNMI [snip]
To gather facts that would reflect the present situation in the CNMI, we conducted face-to-face interviews with private attorneys, government officials, private citizens, advocates, religious !eaSters, and about 250 Bangladeshi, 120 Filipinos, 30 Nepalese, 14 Chinese, and a representation of Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani and Thai foreign contract workers. We also visited work sites, abortion clinics, massage parlors, clubs and 32 different barracks and houses where workers live. We documented our findings with notes, workers' statements, copies of legal documents, current newspaper articles, video tapes, and photographs. [snip]
The girls at the club appeared as young as fifteen years old. The youngest said she works 7 days a week and receives pay only for "ladies drinks" which customers buy for $12.00 each in order to talk to and proposition the women. The workers get $6.00 for each ladies drink that is sold. The young girl said that she doesn't like her job, yet she has no choice but to work there. Another woman working at the club said that most of the nine women working there were originally hired to come to Saipan as factory workers. Instead they were forced to work in a club. The woman said she would give a massage for $70 and upon further questioning stated she would "make love" for $70.
The growing practice of recruiting young Chinese women for legitimate employment and forcing them into prostitution was further verified by a recent newspaper article in the Marianas Variety. It stated that a police complaint had recently been filed by two Chinese women who were forced by their employers to become prostitutes. The police report classified the case as "prostitution' and stated, "Appeared at DPS Central and reported two Chinese women were hired as waitresses instead they were told to work as prostitutes." [snip]
The face of Saipan has changed since we left two years ago. There has been a tremendous increase in the number of Karaoke bars, clubs and massage parlors in recent years. The major increase appears to be in Korean and Chinese owned clubs massage parlors, and beauty parlors that offer massage in back rooms. The majority of these establishments are fronts for prostitution. A U.S. Labor Investigator went to a beauty parlor for a haircut and was approached by the owner's wife who asked him if he wanted sex. The woman told him that all the clubs, bars and Karaoke clubs in Saipan would provide sex if the customer wants it and pays the woman up front. [snip]
The trafficking of minor girls from the Philippines and China to be used as prostitutes and to perform sex acts on stage is a widespread problem that local immigration appears to be ignoring entirely. Hundreds of girls have been brought into the CNMI with falsified papers and passports. [snip]
We spoke to garment factory workers who confirmed that Chinese women who became pregnant were forced to return to China to have an abortion or have one in one of the unlicensed clinics that operates in the Saipan. In the CNMI abortion is unconstitutional so there are no licensed hospitals, clinics or physicians who can legally perform the procedure. [snip]
Most of the Chinese women have abortions at one of the Saipan clinics which are disguised as acupuncture clinics, and clinics that offer massage and Chinese medicine. Two have been positively identified as abortion clinics. [snip]
It was a disappointment to learn that the new governor is going to retain the lobbying firm of' Preston, Gates. To me this action demonstrates that he also is not committed to reform. The very fact that this lobbying firm also represents the garment industry of the CNMI should send up red flags. As reported by the media, Willy Tan, James Lin and the garment industry are the true rulers of the CNMI. Press articles suggest that CNMI garment tycoons financially back candidates to gain political favors such as special deals on land leases, taxes, wage rollbacks for the garment industry, and other demonstrations of favoritism. It is no secret that CNMI and Federal officials in the CNMI who are not elected also have links to these individuals.
There are more details in Ms. Doromal's statement and it is important to point out that their research was going on while Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and the GOP were working to protect those who were profiting from labor and sexual abuse.
For more than a decade, the GOP has protected the abuse on CNMI and as Pacific Magazine pointed out last October, it continues to this day:
The recent closure of four garment factories on Saipan, leaving thousands of alien workers unemployed, has resulted in a "significant increase" in the number of prostitution cases in the Northern Marianas, according to commonwealth officials. Nearly all the prostitution-related arrests involved women from China. Other non-resident Chinese women are forced into prostitution after arriving on legitimate business visas for certain jobs only to find those jobs are non-existent. [snip]
On Aug. 19, Ming Yang Zheng was charged with one count of interstate travel for purposes of prostitution at the federal District Court. Zheng and her boyfriend, Liu Chang Da, own six legitimate businesses.
It's alleged she recruited six people from China and promised them legitimate jobs but that on arrival in Saipan, they were told to work as prostitutes. All six initially resisted, but were eventually forced into prostitution to pay back their recruitment fees in China and living expenses on Saipan, according to a lawsuit at the court. Zheng's trial was scheduled for Oct. 24th.
Today the economy on CNMI is in ruins. The Chinese owners of the sweatshops are moving the work to mainland China. Now the Tan Family is getting into the tourism business, flying Chinese and Japanese tourist to newly refurbished airports paid for by GOP earmarks and corruption. Their former sweatshop workers who can't pay for the return trip to China are getting new jobs in Saipan's growing sexual tourism sector of DeLay's "free-market success" (search for "Mariana" to find the Report).
And what is the cause of the crimes being visited on so many women and girls on Saipan?
That's right, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and a GOP Culture of Corruption that was all to eager to ignore sexual slavery if it helped them win elections back in the USA.
As another recent Pacific Magazine article made clear the problems are due to the GOP:
The Marianas Variety Online reports that former Office of Insular Affairs Director Allen Stayman attributes many of the CNMI's economic problems to its immigration and labor policies.
Stayman, who is now on the staff of U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M, said the CNMI's declining visitor arrival rate, environmental and labor problems are all related to its poor immigration control. Bingaman is the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the insular areas.
"I am one who believes that many of the CNMI's economic problems are a result of local immigration control and that an appropriately designed federal law is part of the solution," Stayman said. "More specifically, I believe the CNMI's poor performance in immigration control has degraded its desirability as a tourist destination." [snip]
He added, "Poorly controlled immigration has resulted in the overextension of the electrical, water and waste systems so that the once pristine beaches and waters of Saipan are now contaminated."
Stayman, who visited Saipan recently, said labor abuses in the CNMI still exist, especially involving migrant Asian women forced into prostitution.
He said local immigration policies are to blame.
"Unemployed and/or underpaid guest workers have contributed to an increase in crime and to an unseemly sex trade that is offensive to most tourists," Stayman said.
At the same time, he urged the CNMI government to "fully investigate its contracts" with disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. [snip]
The new governor, Benigno R. Fitial, credited Abramoff with "protecting" the CNMI's control over local labor and immigration policies.
Stayman is one of the heroes of the long and tragic story of the GOP protection of crimes on CNMI. Now he is involved in Senate hearings on CNMI and Abramoff. Oddly, the newly elected Governor of CNMI couldn't make it to the National Governors Association meeting:
CNMI Governor Benigno Fitial says he cannot attend two official events in the U.S. because the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands government cannot afford to pay for the trip.
Governor Fitial, who earlier traveled to Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines after he was sworn in on January 9, said he also has no spare personal funds to finance his trip to Washington, D.C.
Of course it might not have been the money. It might have been the request for Fitial to testify before the Senate:
Governor Fitial said he has asked Washington Rep. Pedro Tenorio to represent the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands at the National Governors Association meeting and at the March public hearing to be conducted by the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources regarding the economies and fiscal affairs of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. [snip]
"In particular, the committee asks that you provide testimony regarding the state of the economy and fiscal affairs in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In order to allow time for members to ask questions, please limit the oral summation of your written testimony to 5 minutes. Written testimony will be included in full in the committee's printed hearing record," Domenici said in a letter to Fitial.
Last month, Domenici's senior staff member, Josh Johnson, along with Sen. Jeff Bingaman's senior aide, Allen Stayman, were on Saipan
So I know DeLay is a liar. But it makes my blood boil that he feels that everything he did with Jack Abramoff was clean and leagal.
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.
It is way past time to take this country back. 2006 is now. Let's do it!