I Was A 14 Year-Old Marianas Sex Slave -- ALL GOP Candidates Responsible!

[Dems Will Win]

Marianas Sex Slaves Are Called "Party Girls"

Here is testimony from an under-age Marianas Sex Slave from 1998 before the US Senate:

Statement of Female Minor
Before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Hearing on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
March 31, 1998

When I came to Saipan in 1995, 1 was 14. My passport said I was 21 and I was a tourist. My boss told me in the Philippines that I would be a dancer but not naked. The first day he forced us to dance naked. He said don't tell your age or that you are a tourist. I was shocked. He said if you don't follow me, the door is open. Buy your own ticket and pay back the $1,000 promotion fee. I had no choice. I had no money. I was so scared. I'm so young, I don't know what's going on.

I thought laws in America protect workers and treat people with respect. I thought I would make good money to send home to my family. But I was treated like an animal. Life was really hell in Saipan. I couldn't believe America would let bosses take away my childhood. I should have been in school, not working there naked. I was ashamed. I still have friends there who are suffering like I suffered. I'm not the only one. Many workers are in bad condition. I don't want this to happen to anybody else like happened to me.

When I started my job, I didn't want to take my clothes off. My boss was swearing at me. I was just crying. I took my clothes off and he made me do splits. It really hurt me. He said he would teach me to dance. He wanted me to be a star because I'm younger than everybody. What could I do? I learned how to use cough medicine so I don't know what I'm doing. When I learned how to drink, I'm always drunk and they took advantage of me. They put their fingers inside me but I can't do anything about it. My boss said the customer is always right. One customer bit my nipple so hard that I just slapped him. One time a customer punched me on my bare stomach. They try to push sex on me in front of everybody on stage. The customers at the bar were everybody, like local people. Some customers are crazy. My boss told me to light a cigarette from my mouth and put it in my vagina. He was so mad at me because I would not spread my legs. So many times I burned my legs. The customers would come up and light their cigarettes between my legs. I had to put my mouth on their private parts and sometimes they came inside me. Sometimes my boss told us girls to have sex together so the customers wouldn't get bored. They took videos of me many times on the stage doing "shower shows" and "cigarette shows" for commercials and to put in magazines.

My body hurt. My heart hurt. I cried a lot and I was scared. But I had no choice. I had no money to buy a ticket to go home. What could I do? When my boss said he was sending me to Hong Kong, I was really scared. My friend went there and they made her a prostitute.

Three years later I am still trying to get justice for what happened to me and the other girls. But nothing has changed. What happened to me was against the law. New laws can help other girls. It's too late for me.

I was born in Manila on June 9, 1981. My parents were squatters and they fought a lot. I quit school and ran away when I was 12.1 looked for a job. I met Kate Zamora and she got me a job in the Pambuli Club as a G.R.O. That means a guest reception officer. When I danced in Manila I gave my mother money. She knew where I worked and sometimes visited. Then the money became less and less.

The first time I met Kate's father, Eugene Zamora, he took videos and pictures of me in the club. It was my first time to dance naked. I didn't have any hair between my legs because I was young. I was ashamed and I didn't want to take off my clothes. His daughter started swearing at me and I was afraid so I did it. The first English words I learned were swear words.

The Zamoras asked me if I wanted to work in Saipan, America. They said I would make a lot of money because I was still young. They said I wouldn't have to pay anything, even board and lodging or promotion fees. They said I wouldn't have to dance without clothes. They were all lies.

My passport had lies too. It said I was born in 1974 and that I was going to Saipan to be a tourist. I told the Zamoras but they said not to worry because they faked the passport. There were five girls who went together. We got to Saipan on Nov. 14, 1995. When we first came we lived in the Club Kalesa, where we worked. We stayed there one month or more and we slept on the stage and sometimes on the chairs. Then we moved to the barracks. We couldn't leave the barracks unless we had to buy clothes or something like that. The guards from the bar had to go with us. After the bar closed they would check our beds and make sure the rooms were locked. There were rules on the wall ~ no noise, no gossiping, no visitors. It was like a prison.

I was supposed to get $4 an hour for dancing naked and doing special shows. But I never got that much. My bosses took out $50 for promotion fees, $50 for talent manager, $50 for board and lodging and more from every pay. They never really explained how much I was really earning per hour and how many hours I was working. After a few months they always paid us late. We had to work six days a week and sometimes they made me work on my day off too. That wasn't right. They didn't pay me for that day, only tips from "ladies drinks" that customers bought us. They kept our pay two times for a deposit for emergency funds. But when I asked for the fund because my dad was sick, they only gave me $50. What can I buy with $50? Not even medicine.

On Jan. 8, 1996, the Zamoras took us to Palau for one day so we could get entry permits to Saipan. My permit was for waitress, but they pushed me to dance.

In Saipan they taught girls to be prostitutes in Hong Kong. My friend worked at Club Kalesa. They sent her to Hong Kong in 1996 when she was 18. She told me she was in Saipan about three years already. She was 15 when she got to Saipan. In March 1996 my boss told me he was getting papers for me to go to Hong Kong. He told me when my visa arrived and ticket, I would just have to go. There would be no question, I would have to fly out.

In late October I went to the Philippine Consul General and later the Saipan Labor Department to complain. I told them I was only a minor and I came on a tourist visa. I told them I had to dance naked even if my permit was for a waitress. The U.S. Department of Labor filed a civil case for me and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a criminal case. What happened to me was a crime. It is illegal. The Philippine Consul General and Filipino groups helped take me to the United States because my life was in danger. My life was threatened and my family too. People said if I didn't drop the case someone was going to set up my mom like she was a drug dealer, and my dad too.

Today I live in the United States in the foster care program and I am 16.1 have a good job and a home tutor. Many Americans have helped me and I thank them and the U.S. government for giving me a second chance in my life. But the other workers in Saipan won't get this chance. That is why it is important for me to speak for them.

Please change the laws to help the other girls and workers. Please change the laws to make bad bosses go to jail and have a lesson. That is the only way to change the CNMI. Otherwise human beings will still be treated like animals. Young girls like me will still dance naked in bars instead of go to school. They will still learn to be prostitutes. They will have no childhood.

Please give me and the others justice. Everybody is expecting justice from you because we have been waiting too long.

Thank you.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/20/92442/9536

Would you please tell your local Dem candidate to hit their GOP rival on the Marianas Sex Slavery and Forced Abortion that Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff and the rest of the GOP protect? Have them support Miller's Human Dignity Act and demand their GOP opponent do the same!

CA-4 Candidate Charlie Brown has radio ads devastating John Doolittle on forced abortions and sex slavery in the Marianas and it's working! Doolittle is down to 41% to Charlie's 39% (internal poll) and Charlie only has early name recognition! Forced abortion ads WORK!

Listen to the ad:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2174772&mesg_id=2174772

Remember to RECOMMEND if you are angry about Republicans condoning sex slavery and even taking trips there, where perhaps they got a piece of it?

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. K & R

[Cerridwen]

2. I don't need to add my $0.02...K & R....n/t

[Sapphire Blue]

3. Thank you for posting this! Here's a link to H.R. 5550 info:

DeLay and Abramoff OUT, Human Dignity Act IN
Congressman George Miller
http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/newmarianas.html

K & R!!!

[philosophie_en_rose]

4. Thank you for posting this. k & r

i keep thinking of the immigration and underage 'seduction' threads.

I have a cousin in the Phillipines that was tricked and exploited by traffickers, except she was sent to Japan.

[Frustratedlady]

5. What sickos. What a tragic story. K&R

[imfreaky]

6. how can you say this is a GOP issue

"Would you please tell your local Dem candidate to hit their GOP rival on the Marianas Sex Slavery and Forced Abortion that Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff and the rest of the GOP protect? Have them support Miller's Human Dignity Act and demand their GOP opponent do the same!"

I see this as an issue for everyone to tackle. Don't call me evil for pointing out these terrible actions took place with Clinton in office. We all need to participate in dealing with this. Much respect for sharing.

[Dems Will Win]

8. Please read the following history before you imply that Clinton and Dems

were somehow responsible for the Marianas. Clinton and the Dems like Miller tried to stop the Marianas Horror Show many times--but were stopped each time by Delay and Abramoff, and their corporatist buddies like Wal-Mart and The Gap.

In fact, GOP Rep. John Sweeney (NY-20) went to the Marianas to act as Abramoff's salesman just to get his law firm reinstated as lobbyist so the corruption could continue.

You can only blame Clinton if you ignore all the facts.

Here is a summary and a timeline of facts to ponder before you blame Clinton again:

Because abortion on Saipan is illegal, 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 (Wendy L. Doromal before the Senate's Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 31, 1998, Laura Myers, "Sen. Panel Hears of Marianas Abuses," Associated Press Online, 31 March 1998)

Charging the workers $7,000 to $10,000 for employment “fees”, they are forced into overtime and basically indentured servitude. Island sweatshops produce clothing and other goods worth $2 billion annually. Each item can be labeled “Made In The USA”, even though there are no minimum wage laws and workers cannot become US citizens. The Tan Family businesses together have more labor abuse violations that any other company in history. The Gap was the largest retailer making clothes in the Marianas, followed by Dayton-Hudson, May Department Stores, Wal-Mart and Jones Apparel, along with 13 other chains such as Nordstroms, J. Crew and The Limited.

Over the last decade, the Tan family and their companies have spent at least $200,000 on lobbying and contributions to Washington political campaigns. The Gap and Wal-Mart, for example, give campaign contributions to Congresspeople who protect their Marianas sweatshops, such as Rep. John Sweeney of New York. The Wal-Mart PAC alone gave Sweeney $13,500. More significantly, the commonwealth government and Saipan business associations invested more than US$11.5 million between 1995 and 2002 to lobby in Washington against changes to the islands' status.

Following numerous smaller cases brought by the Labor Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) against other plants, officials in Clinton's administration proposed curtailing Saipan's legal exemptions. The drive foundered on opposition by congressional Republicans, who were extensively wined and dined by the Tans. The Tans also gave A picture of family members with President George W Bush hangs above Tan's desk in Hong Kong.


1994 - Between 1994 and 2001, the Northern Mariana Islands paid $6.7 million to Jack Abramoff’s law firm, Preston Gates, for lobbying services.

1997 - Jack Abramoff arranges for lawmakers and aides to take trips to the Marianas and meet the local business leaders and be wined and dined by the Tans.

* 1997 – “Abramoff charged the Marianas for getting then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush to write a letter expressing support for the Pacific territory's school choice proposal, his billing records show.
"I hope you will keep my office informed on the progress of this initiative," Bush wrote in a July 18, 1997, letter praising the islands' school plan and copying in an Abramoff deputy.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-06-abramoff-bush_x.htm

1998 - According to a 1998 investigation by the Department of Interior Office of Insular Affairs, a number of Chinese garment workers reported that if they became pregnant, they were "forced to return to China to have an abortion, or forced to have an illegal abortion" in the Marianas. These days, many pregnant workers still feel they have little choice but to visit one of Saipan's underground abortion clinics -- or else lose their jobs. (http://www.alternet.org/story/35458/)

March 26, 1998 - "Beneath the American Flag: Labor and Human Rights Abuses in the CNMI," report by Congressman George Miller and Democratic Staff of the House Committee on Resources. Clinton Administration considers federal takeover of island labor and immigration.

1998-2004 – The FBI is now investigating what they call “The Wives Club”, in which corrupt GOP politicians let their wives and girlfriends with no previous experience take 10% to 15% of contributions off the top for “fund-raising”. Christine Delay, the wife of Tom Delay, received $115,000 in consulting fees from Ed Buckham’s Alexander Strategy Group for small task. Ed and Wendy Buckham pocketed over $1 million in fees from US Family Network charity, while Robert Abramoff, Jack’s brother, set up 100 phony companies and charities to launder money to make the Abramoffs rich, including Aenas Enterprises in CA. Abramoff meanwhile hired Julie Doolittle, with no previous experience, and gives her small tasks paid off with big money. Julie Doolitle also got 15% of any contributions to her husband’s Leadership Fund. Lisa Rudy, the wife of Delay aide Tom Rudy, was paid $50,000 for consulting in acknowledged corrupt scheme to influence votes of Delay. Rep. John Sweeney paid his fiancé and future wife Gayle, $42,570 to do fund-raising, at which she had no previous experience, like Julie Doolittle. Mrs. Sweeney got 10% of campaign contributions. Personal skimming off the top is apparently all part of the Republican “Pay To Play” Culture of Corruption over the last 12 years.

December 31, 1998 – In late 1998, “Marianas Islands' visitors included DeLay, his wife and daughter, and six of his aides. * During his 1998 New Year’s holiday trip, he told Saipan officials, as was later reported in The Dallas Observer, "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.”

At a New Year's Eve dinner on Saipan in 1998, Delay lavishly praised the CNMI governor -- a moment caught on camera by ABC's 20/20: "You are a shining light for what is happening in the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we're trying to do in America in leading the world in the free-market system."” Tom Delay then reportedly went off with a local official to attend a cockfight. http://www.alternet.org/story/35458/

1998 - In 1998, there was a change in the local CNMI Government and Abramoff had lost his lobbying contract with CNMI. The money still flowed as the Tan Family kept paying 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 Abramoff to deal with the locals on CNMI, so he decided it was time to change the Government.

September, October 1998 – In making his first run for Congress, John Sweeney receives contributions from The Gap PAC as well as the Wal-Mart PAC, companies who are in the top 5 running sweatshops in the Marianas, totaling $2,000. Sweeney also received $1,000 in October 1998 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas, as well as $5,000 from Tom Delay and his ARMPAC fund.

January 1999 – John Sweeney sworn in as US Representative.

* August 1999 – Ralph Reed’s firm sends out a mailer to Republican Evangelical Christians on the Marianas to block legislative reform, showing how the Religious Right uses terms like “radical left” and promises of Christian conversion to support outright sex slavery and forced abortion: "The radical left, the Big Labor Union Bosses, and Bill Clinton want to pass a law preventing Chinese from coming to work on the Marianas Islands," the mailer from said. The Chinese workers, it added, "are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ" while on the islands, and many "are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with Bibles in hand."

October 3, 1999 – “On Oct. 3, 1999, Rep. John Doolittle received a $1,000 contribution from Abramoff, the first from the star lobbyist. Three weeks later, Doolittle wrote a letter to Fitial praising his entry into the commonwealth's legislature race and endorsing his election. "I know that you are a legislator and businessman who cares deeply about the people of your community," Doolittle wrote. "Your hard work in previous legislatures has succeeded in improved relations with the U.S. government, and we need you in the House again to ensure continued success." Doolittle's letter, complete with the disclaimer that it was paid for by the John T. Doolittle for Congress committee in Roseville, Calif., was published in the Saipan Tribune on Nov. 2, four days before Fitial was elected.” http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15202122.htm

1999 - Edwin Buckham, evangelical minister, former chief of staff and an old family friend of House Majority Whip Rep. Tom DeLay, gets involved, along with former DeLay aide Mike Scanlon, in a 1999 effort by Abramoff to allegedly dangle U.S. tax dollars to influence a election for the speaker of the legislature in the Northern Mariana Islands. * Buckham was now a lobbyist who represented Enron, which wanted to build a power plant for the sweatshops (they lost the bid in 1999). They wanted Ben Fitial, Vice President of a Tan Family company and local garment association director, elected as Speaker of the CNMI House. So Ed Buckham and Mike Scanlon went to CNMI and promised two Representatives, (one from the island of Rota and the other from the island of Tinian) Federal projects if they switched their votes. Once in office, the new speaker pressed the island's governor to reinstate a lobbying pact with Jack Abramoff, and forced the legislature to award Enron the power contract for Buckham.

January 2000 – Abramoff and Scanlon and others pay for an illegal Congressional junket to the Marianas. This trip was allegedly to check on the situation there but in reality it was to play golf, relax and be treated luxuriously by Abramoff, the Tans and others.


2000 –Abramoff and his wife each contribute $1,000 to the 2000 Bush campaign fund.

2000 - The deal was struck and DeLay's Congress showered CNMI with millions of dollars. Most of it went through the Transportation Committee, especially the Aviation Subcommittee, which John Sweeney sits on. In 2000, there was $1.25 million for resurfacing the runways for the airport on Rota. Jack's Congressional partners also changed the way that Airport Improvement Project money was appropriated to insure that CNMI got a little bit out of every dollar spent.

DeLay also tried to muscle the local government power company to turn over the operation of the power company to Enron as part of their reward for helping the CNMI keep it immigration laws local.

“When the Marianas put out a call for bids for a new $120 million power plant, a Japanese company was awarded the contract. Enron, attracted by the island's lack of environmental rules, wanted in and complained to DeLay that they had not been given a fair shot at the contract for the power plant.

DeLay responded by calling in some chits from his friends in the Mariana administration - in particular Ben Fital, a conservative politician whom DeLay's former aides, Ed Buckham and Mike Scanlon, helped get elected as the island's representative in Congress.(The Washington Post reported that Buckham's lobbying firm, Alexander Strategies Group's representation of Enron's interests in the Marianas won him $50,000 in fees.)

Delay demanded that the power plant bidding be re-opened and that Enron's bid be given new consideration.

And so it came to pass. The bidding was re-opened and Enron was declared the winner. Apparently, free-market mechanisms like open bidding are only good when they favor the right player. Islanders say the bidding was rigged in Enron's favor.

"There were all kinds of political pushes from the top and the side and every way," Vincent Mesa, the island's former manger of the its power utilities, recalled later. "There were all kinds of political interference. They (government officials) didn't want to understand it. They said, 'Just do it! Give Enron the contract."

But, now with Enron in bankruptcy the power project has been left to rust in the Pacific sun and the islands are stuck with spotty electric power and lots of debt.”
http://www.alternet.org/story/13140/

2000 – A comprehensive study of Marianas sweatshops and violation lawsuits by unions is released. A copy of study can be found at http://www.american.edu/TED/saipan.htm#footnotes. The Gap was the largest retailer making clothes in the Marianas, followed by Dayton-Hudson, May Department Stores, Wal-Mart and Jones Apparel, along with 13 other chains such as Nordstroms, J. Crew and The Limited.

On the sex slavery, the report says, “Sex club owners, whose business mostly caters to Japanese tourists, maintain tight control over their employees through intimidation, physical and verbal abuse, confiscation of their passports, and strict monitoring of their movement. Without their passports, these indentured women cannot leave the island, and their fear of money lenders' and/or traffickers' retribution on them and their families as well as their shame stop them from reporting their plight. Fear and intimidation are common tactics used among CNMI employers. For example, it is not unusual for them to threaten to deport and harm or kill foreign workers and their families if they voice factories' abuses to the media, CNMI and federal government agents, and other foreigners.”


2000 - Abramoff funnels a lucrative $1.2 million no-bid Northern Marianas Islands government contract to Los Angeles businessman Rabbi David Lapin, to conduct ethics-in-government programs there. But near as anyone in the Marianas can determine today, David Lapin failed to provide any services.

2000 – Michael Scanlon and Abramoff partner together in getting money for and starting up several non-profit and for-profit entities. The non-profits did not spend money on their alleged missions but served as Abramoff’s personal bank for himself and to make hidden payments for the purpose of corrupting Republican members of Congress and their staff. * Their career partners in crime are Tom Delay and his aides, dozens of GOP congressmen and the right-wing political mavens Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist.

May 29, 2000 – Abramoff sends $1,000 contribution to John Doolittle.
October 30, 2000 – Abramoff sends $10,000 contribution to John Doolittle’s Superior California State Leadership Fund, through which Doolittle’s wife is able to skim personal cash at the rate of 15% off the top.,

November, December 2000 – Abramoff and his wife each personally contribute $5,000 to 2000 recount fund. Greenberg Traurig runs up $314,000 bill for the RNC effort in Bush vs. Gore, which the RNC never repays, making it an undeclared contribution in-kind to the Bush election effort. Rep. John Sweeney leads GOP “Brooks Brothers Riot” in Miami Courthouse and succeeds in stopping third recount of Miami vote. President Bush nicknames Sweeney “Congressmen Kick-Ass.”

January, 2001 – Jack Abramoff (the fox) is named by Bush to the Interior Department transition team (the henhouse), as Insular Affairs within Interior regulates the Marianas. He is able to name key appointments to the Marianas as well as place his own personal secretary Susan Ralston right into the White House as Karl Rove’s Assistant. Salon later reported that Ralston would call up Right-Wing String-Puller Grover Norquist to see if callers should be placed through to Rove or not. Abramoff now had a direct pipeline to the Oval Office.


Bush with Susan Ralston in the Oval Office

January, 2001 – Jack Abramoff switches law firms, from Preston Gates to Greenberg Traurig. He tries to bring his best clients with him, including those from the Marianas.

January 4, 2001 – Jack Abramoff sends a a pitch letter to the Governor of CNMI, Pedro P. Tenorio, making the case why CNMI should rehire him as their lobbyist for the coming Bush era. "Our standing with the new administration promises to be solid as several friends of the CNMI (islands) will soon be taking high-ranking positions in the Administration, including within the Interior Department," There was some hesitation on CNMI to spend more money on a Washington Lobbyist now that their GOP allies controlled everything. Abramoff needed somebody to travel to CNMI to make his case, to seal the deal. Since Doolittle and Delay had already done their part earlier to pitch Abramoff, John Sweeney, “Congressman Kick-Ass”, was chosen by Abramoff to be the salesman to the Marianas. Sweeney’s campaign later received $3,000 in contributions from Greenberg Traurig itself.

January 8 , 2001 – Rep. John Sweeney arrives in the Marianas to urge business and the government to continue to lobby Washington, even though the GOP now rules the entire government. Despite the many confirmed reports of abuse, sex slavery and forced abortions, he defends the Marianas violations, rejecting the idea of federal enforcement. Sweeney addresses the Saipan Chamber of Commerce (Saipan Times Jan 15, 2001):
““While there have been criticisms about alleged poor working conditions of garment workers in the Northern Marianas, Mr. Sweeney said the situation in the U.S. mainland is far worse as he joined enforcement agents in banging down doors of sweatshop establishments in New York.

"I think, we as members of the U.S. Congress need to build some flexibility in our understanding of the situation." In recognizing the contribution of the garment manufacturers on the island's economy, Mr. Sweeney said Washington should be made to understand that the departure of the industry will devastate the Northern Marianas. Meanwhile, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio said he agrees with Mr. Sweeney that CNMI must continue to lobby in Washington to protect the interests of the people of the Commonwealth.””
http://www.saipantribune.com/archives/newsstoryarch.aspx?newsID=11337&cat=1&archdte=1/15/2001%2012:00:00%20AM)

February, 2001 – Ted Kennedy introduces bill that raises the Marianas minimum wage. Harry Reid is a co-sponsor.


* February 22, 2001 - "Jack has a relationship with the President," Tom DeLay's former spokesman and Abramoff's business partner Michael Scanlon once said. "He doesn't have a bat phone or anything, but if he wanted an appointment, he would have one." New Times Broward-Palm Beach, 2/22/01

February – November 2001 – A new contract was signed with the Marianas and the New Team Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig goes to work blocking any efforts to end the system of abuse. Abramoff also effortlessly organizes to have his clients on CNMI showered with tens of millions of dollars from US taxpayers. Records show at least 195 contacts between Abramoff's Marianas lobbying team and the Bush administration from February through November 2001.

* USA TODAY: “The documents show his team also had extensive access to Bush administration officials, meeting with Cheney policy advisers Ron Christie and Stephen Ruhlen, Ashcroft at the Justice Department, White House intergovernmental affairs chief Ruben Barrales, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles and others.

Most of the contacts were handled by Abramoff's subordinates, who then reported back to him on the meetings. Abramoff met several times personally with top Interior officials, whose Office of Insular Affairs oversees the Mariana Islands and other U.S. territories.”
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/37/10932

April 6, 2001 – Just 3 days before meeting with Ben Fitial from CNMI, John Sweeney receives a $1,000 campaign contribution from Jack Abramoff’s law firm, Greenberg Traurig. This money has never been returned.

April 9, 2001 – Speaker Ben Fitial of the Marianas House meets with Doolittle and Sweeney of the House Appropriations Committee. Mr. Fitial: "I am very glad that the CNMI has friends in such powerful positions. Whether the issue is construction funding or Compact impact assistance, the Appropriations Committee will make the important decisions, and I am confident we will receive a fair hearing because of our friends that serve on that committee." http://www.saipantribune.com/archives/newsstorysearch.aspx?cat=1&newsID=12890&issID=617&archdte=4/9/2001%2012:00:00%20AM

* April, 2001 – Patrick Pizzella, part of Abramoff’s team on the Marianas, is appointed Deputy Undersecretary of Labor, ensuring no change on the Marianas’ $3.05 minimum wage.

* May 9, 2001 – Ben Fitial meets with Bush at White House event.


May 23, 2001 – “Senator Conrad Burns, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the chair of an appropriations subcommittee that controls spending for the Interior Department, meets Abramoff's lobbying team at least eight times in early 2001 and collects $12,000 in donations. Burns votes against a bill that would have ended a "guest worker" program in the Northern Mariana Islands' garment industry; in 1999, he had voted in favor of an identical bill.” (DKospedia)

2001 – Rep. John Doolittle wants more appropriations for Fitial. Sweeney, being on Appropriations and Aviation, must have helped. Around $28 Million in grants and earmarks flowed to CNMI from Congress and the Bush Administration in 2001. That is in addition to the usual $40 some million paid each year to support the US Territory. One of the reasons that so much money flowed to CNMI in 2001 was that it was an election year on CNMI and Fitial was running for Governor. The GOP in Washington was trying to buy him the election with pork for the Marianas.

April 26, 2001 - Indicted Delay aide Tony C. Rudy meets with appropriations staff of Rep. Sweeney's office.

May 4, 2001 - Indicted Delay aide Tony C. Rudy meets with Rep. Sweeney to discuss Appropriations request.

May 25, 2001 - Jack Abramoff Teamate Kevin A. Ring has phone conversation and correspondence with K. Kaloi (House Resources) regarding CNMI appropriations; sends talking points to same; phone conversation with Labor Department official regarding minimum wage; correspondence with staff of Rep. Sweeney regarding appropriations. All in all, with the help of Sweeney and Doolittle, $28 million in additional “earmark” funds were secured by Abramoff for the Marianas in 2001.

June 20, 2001 - Indicted Delay aide Tony C. Rudy meets with Rep. Sweeney regarding Marianas issues; discussions with L. Lamora (Watts) regarding upcoming minimum wage effort.

June 2001 -Sen. Conrad Burns supports a bill that urged the Interior Department to rescind a requirement that the Marianas provide the usual matching funds for a federal program subsidizing local construction projects, giving them the Aviation and other funds for free.

September 11, 2001 – Terror attack on World Trade Center. Tourism and manufacturing suffer greatly in the Marianas. Abramoff clients there can no longer afford him and tell him so.

October 2001 – Kevin Ring sends an e-mail to the Marianas and cc to Abramoff, noting the huge amount of federal money won for them in 2001: "We believe that this additional funding along with other funds we expect to secure by the end of the year will make clear to even our biggest critics that we pay for ourselves”.

Fall 2001 – LAT Aug 07, 2005: “ Black was also apparently less than popular with the island's immigrant-labor-driven textile businesses because he had started a post September 11th investigation into whether the island's loose immigration policies represented a security risk.

The acting U.S. attorney was a controversial official in Guam. At the time he was removed, Black was directing a long-term investigation into allegations of public corruption in the administration of then-Gov. Carl Gutierrez. The inquiry produced numerous indictments, including some of the governor's political associates and top aides.

Black also arranged for a security review in the aftermath of Sept. 11 that was seen as a potential threat to loose immigration rules favored by local business leaders. In fact, the study ordered by Black eventually cited substantial security risks in Guam and the Northern Marianas.”

October 1, 2001 – Abramoff warns his Marianas clients in an e-mail: “The other immediate (next two weeks) challenge is the Justice Department. Last week the bad guys who still work there (the ones who got that bad letter on Murkowski issued) started a drum beat that the CNMI had to be taken over, because it was a loophole in the federal immigration network, and that, as such, was a threat on terrorism. They have been spending a week or so telling everyone who will listen that the CNMI, if it is not taken over, will be a major entry point for terrorists. This, of course, is patently ridiculous, actually just the opposite, and we have been working to counter this, but they are not backing down.

We had the COS of the Justice Department in our box at today's Redskins game and it seems that there might be a classified document floating in the department which deals with this matter. Making it classified, if that is indeed the case, was a good idea by our opponents, since that means we cannot get it. Hopefully Babauta has some connections there and can get a copy (perhaps at least on a redacted version), which he can pass on to you to draft a response. If this is at a stage where it is gaining momentum, he will need to leak into the press that they are considering this and how it is exactly the opposite of what should be happening. This is a real potential threat. It will require some major action from the Hill and a press attack to get this back in the bottle. He should just follow the example we have used in the past, where we get the press out front carefully and push the Administration back.

I am supposed to see the Attorney General next week (the Thursday after Simchas Torah) and Kevin was slated to play basketball with him before then. We will both mention this to him. The AG will be fine, but the underlings are a worrisome matter.”

* October 1, 2001 – ““We have worked with WH Office of Presidential Personnel to ensure that CNMI-relevant positions at various agencies are not awarded to enemies of CNMI," Abramoff's team wrote the Marianas in an October 2001 report on its work for the year” (same email as above).
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-06-abramoff-bush_x.htm

October, December 2001 – John Sweeney receives $5,000 from Wal-Mart PAC.

February 2002 – Abramoff meets with then-Gov. Guttierez of the Marianas to win a new $1.3 million contract and conspires with him to get US Atttorney Black replaced. LA Times, July 1, 2006: Abramoff, the report said, told investigators that the two came up with a plan to smear Black by releasing copies of a letter Gutierrez had written in 1995 to President Clinton. The letter referred to Black as "a good Democrat" and recommended he be reappointed as U.S. attorney. Black was originally appointed as acting U.S. attorney by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. Saying he is a good Democrat will get him demoted is the theory. In one e-mail to Abramoff referred to Black as "a total commie…. We need to get this guy sniped out of there." In another e-mail, Abramoff wrote: "We are opposed to Black. He has been screwing us for years…. So this is good payback. I don't care if they appoint Bozo the clown, we need to get rid of Fred Black."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abramoff1jul01,1,6127387.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

2002 – LAT Aug 7 05: “In 2002, Abramoff was retained by the Superior Court in what was an unusual arrangement for a public agency. The Times reported in May that Abramoff was paid with a series of $9,000 checks funneled through a Laguna Beach lawyer to disguise the lobbyist's role working for the Guam court. No separate contract was authorized for Abramoff's work.

The auditor's office is reviewing Abramoff's payments totaling $324,000 in 36 separate checks for $9,000 paid through lawyer Howard Hills of Laguna Beach. Hills said he was a middleman.”

US Attorney Black starts a Grand Jury investigation of Abramoff for potential money laundering.

May 2002 – Classified Marianas Security Report is completed with US Attorney Black’s input: “If the present high risk environment is allowed to stand, it will continue to threaten Federal and public interests and seriously jeopardize the national security of the United States.
The lack of Federal jurisdiction over immigration, customs and financial matters coupled with a long history of deliberate territorial indifference to corrective action, creates an atmosphere which fosters criminal activity and public corruption, prevents Federal authorities from achieving optimum effectiveness in their enforcement of U.S. law, and produces critical security obstacles for Federal agencies.”

The report also describes the problem of corruption and money laundering. Every time Abramoff went to the Marianas, he went to Tinian, where the Tans have a casino-hotel. “Money laundering investigations and prosecutions are significantly handicapped by the political empowerment of both Guam and the C.N.M.I. as specified by the Covenants currently in place. Unfettered access into the C.N.M.L and the presence of an unregulated international gambling casino on Tinian, allow for the perfect venue to launder illegal funds, regardless of their source. This situation is further compounded by the lack of any civil or criminal revenue enforcement by the territorial government or sufficient Federal assets to continually scrutinize banking and money handling businesses.”

“The P.R.C. has built and currently operates a 600-room hotel and international gambling resort on the island of Tinian in the C.N.M.I. This facility has been in operation for approximately three years. Federal officials indicate that it has-never enjoyed more than a 20 percent occupancy rate and is believed to be a "marker" for mainland China with involvements in international money laundering operations. In March of 2002, this casino became the subject of investigation by Federal authorities because it received $3.5 million in fraudulent loans in connection with the Bank of Saipan fraud scheme cited earlier.”

This critical report is then covered up by the Bush Administration and the DoJ for 2 election cycles--to protect the CNMI/GOP connection and also to help the Tans with their labor abuse issues and possible regulation of their casino and other practices. In addition, new casinos are planned at this time--and Delay and Abramoff might have even been negotiating a piece of the action.

Late June 2002 – Abramoff’s e-mails show he illegally was given a copy of the classified Marianas Security Report. LA Times July 1, 2006: “Abramoff, according to e-mails cited by the inspector general, worried the FBI report would prompt Congress to restrict immigration in the Northern Marianas — cutting off a supply of low-wage labor for garment manufacturers who had hired Abramoff to protect their interests.

After seeing the FBI report, the lobbyist suggested an attack on Black. "We have to make sure that Black guy is smeared into the ground," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to his clients.””

October 29, 2002 – John Sweeney receives $1,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

* 2002 – Two Tan Family companies contribute $25,000 each to Republican Senatorial Committee.

Late 2002 – Abramoff learns from his pipeline to the White House—which includes Susan Ralston, who used to be his personal secretary and was now working directly with Karl Rove--of the impending nomination of Leonardo Rapadas to replace Frederick Black as US Attorney of the Marianas. Abramoff instructs his team to send out e-mails claiming credit for getting rid of Black who--as he said in an earlier e-mail--“has been screwing us for years”.

November 18, 2002 – Following the request of U.S. Attorney Black, a federal grand jury in Guam subpoenas the Guam Superior Court for records involving a lobbying contract with Jack Abramoff.

November 19, 2002 – The very next day, President George W. Bush demotes U.S. Attorney Black from the post of US Attorney. Black later accuses Bush of removing him to stop the investigation of Abramoff, which would be Obstruction of Justice. A DoJ Inspector General investigation of Black’s claim is started in 2005. Rep. John Conyers and CREW in Washington DC years later both say there should be a Special Prosecutor, not just an Inspector General investigation of the Black removal.

* Early 2003 – Marianas Republicans, through Fred Radewagen, a lobbyist, make their choice for Black’s replacement known to Karl Rove in person in Washington.

April 11, 2003 – John Sweeney begins paying a company called Creative Consulting for fund-raising. The company had been founded a day earlier by Gayle Ford. Between April 2003 and January 2004, Sweeney's campaign paid $42,570 to the firm. Sweeney proposed to Ford in September 2003 and married her in 2004, making her an official member of “The Wives’ Club”.
Sweeney spokeswoman Melissa Carlson said the congressman considers his wife "his best representative in the district when he's fund-raising." She said Ford, who had no previous fund-raising experience, receives a 10 percent commission on whatever she raises. Ford also works for Powers & Company, the lobbying firm of former state GOP Chairman William Powers, Sweeney's longtime political ally and onetime boss. (Source: Wikipedia)

* May, 2003 – Leonardo Rapadas appointed by Bush to US Attorney of Marianas. The prosecution of Abramoff and certain other Marianas scandals involving local high officials and the Tan family go by the wayside under the Rapadas term.

June 17, 2003 –John Sweeney receives $5,000 from Wal-Mart PAC.

* July 2003 – Abramoff raises at least $120,000 for Bush re-election, becoming a “Pioneer”. To this day, the Bush campaign refuses to return Abramoff’s bundled money.

July 7, 2003 –The Marianas aid package - H.J. Res. 63 with Richard Pombo as one of several co-sponsors is introduced. It promptly sailed through 3 House committees (Resources, Judiciary, and International Relations) by September 15, 2003, and the full House on a voice vote shortly thereafter. The bill also breezed through the Senate, whereupon it was signed into law by President Bush on December 17, 2003.

This “Compact-Impact” payments law committed US taxpayers to pay $600 million: $30 million per year for the next 20 years, with the Marianas allocated $5 million per year from the total.

* 2003 – Unite Here union is one of three parties in a phony lawsuit against the Marianas sweatshops. A $20 million settlement to “reform” the Marianas working conditions is accepted but to date little money has gone to workers and the main change has just been a few words in the “Made in USA” label. UNITE HERE helped continue the converup of the Marianas scandal with this settlement.

MS MAGAZINE: “Although it wasn’t part of the settlement agreement, the pressure generated by the lawsuits and legislative reform efforts led most of the companies that once labeled their garments “Made in USA” to change their labels to read “Made in Saipan (USA)” or “Made in Northern Mariana Islands (USA).”

The monitoring program, while an important effort, has had mixed results, according to a U.S. government source in the Marianas speaking on background. Inspections only take place twice a year and the results are kept confidential—even the retailers who pay for the program don’t see them. The monitoring board has discretion to put factories on probation, but that has occurred only once. Moreover, the program will sunset in July 2007, and there are no other proposals on the table to replace it.”

* September 29, 2003 – Jack Abramoff personally contributes $5,000 to Rep. Pombo’s RICH PAC.

* September 30, 2003 – UNITE HERE gives $5,000 to Richard Pombo RICH PAC

November 4, 2003 – John Sweeney receives $1,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

* 2003-2004 – Donors from the Marianas donate $36,000 to the Bush re-election campaign, including Tan family members.

December 2003 – Roger Stillwell, from the Interior Department’s Insular Affairs, in charge of the island protectorate, “received four tickets from Jack Abramoff to a Washington Redskins game valued at $316 with an actual cost of $2,147… He also accepted two tickets to a 2003 Simon and Garfunkel concert worth $166”. (AP)

* January 2004 - Pombo and US Interior Secretary Gale Norton traveled to the CNMI and presented the first of twenty annual $5.1 million checks to come. Secretary Norton pointed out, “Without the support of the Congress, especially the House Resources Committee under Chairman Richard Pombo's leadership, none of this would have been possible.”

February 2004 – The Washington Post breaks the Abramoff Scandal, with $45 million paid by Indian tribes being funneled through phony charities and third parties for political bribery on casino matters.

March 1, 2004 – John Sweeney receives $5,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

March 2, 2004 - Abramoff leaves Greenberg Traurig. In a statement, the firm says Abramoff "disclosed to the firm for the first time personal transactions and related conduct which are unacceptable to the firm."

* April 21, 2004 – Richard Pombo receives $2,500 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

August 24, 2004 - John Sweeney receives $1,000 from Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s former law firm.

* May 18, 2004 - Richard Pombo's leadership PAC, RICHPAC, receives over $10,000 from Abramoff's Marianas' clients - at a fund raiser hosted by DeLay's former Chief of Staff, Susan Hirschmann.

* September 22, 2004 – Richard Pombo receives $2,500 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

September 30, 2004 – John Sweeney receives $1,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

October 20, 2004 – John Sweeney receives $1,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

March 28, 2005 - John Sweeney receives $1,000 from Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s former law firm.

May, 2005 – Tom Delay interview to Galveston Daily News on charges of sweatshops in the Marianas: “in interviewing these employees one-on-one, there was no evidence of any of that going on. No evidence of sweatshops as portrayed by the national media. It's a beautiful island with beautiful people who are happy about what's happening."

June to October, 2005 - Between June and October of 2005, Justice Department staffers pull financial disclosure reports on at least nine members of Congress and at least seven former congressional staffers, including Rep. John Sweeney.

September 23, 2005 - John Sweeney receives $1,000 from Wal-Mart PAC.

September 29-30, 2005 – John Sweeney receives $700 from Ed Buckham, of the corrupt Alexander Strategy Group, now closed due to the Abramoff Scandals.

October 5, 2005 - John Sweeney receives $497 in-kind contribution from Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s former law firm.

Oct. 6, 2005 - Rep. John Conyers, Jr. and Rep. George Miller called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the removal of Frederick Black as US Attorney for the Marianas by President Bush.

November 11, 2005 – John Sweeney receives $3,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

March 24, 2006 - John Sweeney receives $1,000 from Wal-Mart PAC.

May 2, 2006 – John Sweeney receives $3,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

* May 8, 2006 – Richard Pombo receives $5,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

* June 26, 2006 – Richard Pombo receives $5,000 from UNITE HERE, a hospitality workers union with members in the Marianas.

June 30, 2006 – Dept of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine releases report on the Black Removal from the Abramoff case and clears the Bush White House of Obstruction of Justice. Fine’s report says because Abramoff’s exact recommendation of a person to replace Black was not taken, even though the Abramoff case was not followed up by Rapadas; and because the decision to replace Black was made before Abramoff requested it--there was no Obstruction on November 19, 2002.

Yet this report ignores the very early Abramoff e-mail of Oct. 1, 2001, published in the press in 2005, in which he boasts that he and Kevin Ring will be meeting with John Ashcroft to talk about the Marianas Security Report and will bring up the problem of “underlings” trying to get the report out. It also ignores Abramoff’s e-mail of early 2002, in which he exclaimed: “I don't care if they appoint Bozo the Clown, we need to get rid of Fred Black”. Rep. John Conyers and Miller continue to demand a Special Prosecutor to look into possible Obstruction of Justice by Bush in the Black Removal.

June 2006 - Democrats propose H.R. 5550, the Human Dignity Act, to reform the Marianas. Despite the proof of forced labor, forced prostitution and forced abortion, John Sweeney and the Republicans refuse to support the Human Dignity Act.

[Blue_Tires]

15. great info there

thanks

[4_TN_TITANS]

24. So much for blaming Clinton!!!

Such a shame that DUers are so informed, deep down inside we all know it was somehow his fault...
:sarcasm:

[fooj]

39. What a WEALTH of info you have here. Thanks so much!!!!!

:hi:

[Raffi Ella]

9. riiight.

Welcome to DU,here's a link that will shed some light on WHY: http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/newmarianas.html



K&R Thanks for posting OP.I hope these sick fucks are exposed for the true scum they are and spend the rest of their lives in a jail cell.

[Lerkfish]

11. ok, I won't call you evil

:sarcasm:

[Raffi Ella]

19. lol

:patriot:

[ck4829]

13. Because it is a GOP issue

DeLay and his ilk actively tried to stop any investigations of the abuses that happened there.

BTW, what does bringing up Clinton have to do with this?

[Rex]

14. Sorry but no, this is a republican business and run by republicans

nice try in blaming Clinton, I'm sure he had time to check this out while being impeached. :eyes:

So pathetic.

[Tigress DEM]

58. NOT every Republican got a cut... about 70%, though.

70% of Republicans took money from Abrahmof. None was offered to the DEMS. Many rethugs took the jaunts to fauxify the investigation.

AND the reason I point this out is it STILL makes it a GOP issue since THEY have the power to make the change and do some real legislative work. Those that want to distance themselves from the *ush administration could seriously break from the party ranks and if all DEMS stay strong we could do one positive thing this year that might help a lot of people who are really suffering.

Oh, and Clinton did not get a victory on this issue, but he did "check it out" and tried to get legislation to block the flow. It's in a post about "before you blame Clinton". on edit (post #8)

[Tigress DEM]

64. KOS Story that shows ZERO DEMS took Abramhoff money.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/28/1655/0100

by dengre
Tue Dec 27, 2005 at 10:06:55 PM PDT
Just take a look at his listed donations on Open Secrets:

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=abramoff&txtState=DC&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2000=Y&txt1998=Y&Order=N

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?txtName=abramoff&txtState=DC&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2006=Y&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=&txt1998=&txt1996=&txt1994=&txt1992=&txt1990=&txtSoft=N&Order=N&Cycles=3&Cycle1=2006&Cycle2=2004&Cycle3=2002&Page=1

There isn't a Democrat on the list.

It is true that some employees of the large lobbying firms he worked at and some of his clients gave to Democrats as well the GOP. These are the Abramoff-connected donations that we read about in the press. They are always separated from Jack by two or more degrees and most often the connection is a single thread.

The same is not true for the GOP.

Jack was a 25-year GOP bagman. He collected and moved money around. He may cut a deal at any moment. This is a BIG problem for the GOP and they will try and tie Jack to Democrats. It's just bullshit and it won't work.

[Gormy Cuss]

25. How could it not be a GOP issue?

At the moment they control both houses of Congress and are the party in the White House. Without GOP support a bill sponsored by a Democratic will go nowhere.

In fact, the quote you repeated is asking for both Dem and GOP candidates/MOCs to be contacted in reference to this bill.

The history of this practice and others in the Marianas is a different discussion.

[Blue-Jay]

33. b-b-b-b-ut CLINTON!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

36. Simple.

Becuase.
It.
Is.

Post #8 explains it out.

[Tigress DEM]

56. 5 Words - Republican Controlled House AND Senate

AT THIS TIME, right now, if any GOP candidate wants to show that they are NOT part of the culture of corruption, they need to step up and get some real legislative work done. DEMs alone can only make a bold statement because we don't have the majority needed to get the job done. THAT makes it a GOP issue.

I don't think you are "evil" for pointing out when some of these actions took place, but you are missing the main points.

A - This stuff is still happening and the *ush gang is profiting from it.

B - Clinton was blocked from making progress on the issue, he wasn't ignoring it or getting a cut.


I see you are fairly new to DU - welcome.

I'm not someone who will support Clinton just because he's a DEM and I'm less fond of Hillary than I am of him because she took money from that FAUX news mogul and she dropped the Voting Rights Bill she had been championing with no reason given.

Still the FACTs surrounding the Clinton years are what I look at and I don't let the rethugs pick and choose which facts are relevant and which aren't.

Be careful of buying into this "theory" that Clinton was just as bad as *ush is... Not to anyone in the reality based community.

THE people who sell you that are the same group that will tell you that because Clinton got a bj in the White House and so now every kid in 2nd grade knows what a bj is makes him as bad as people profitting from sexual slavery in Saipan because they keep themselves buttoned up on the job and it's only the money that's dirty, but it's clean by the time they touch it... I just don't buy it.

[KingFlorez]

62. Did you read anything posted?

Probably not

[IronLionZion]

7. The Christian Coalition aggressively supports this

because of their Christian values and how they return to their home countries with bibles in hand to spread the true faith. This has absolutely nothing to do with Ralph Reed's investments on the islands.

[Tigress DEM]

57. Christians can get Bibles into Saipan w/o supporting sex slave rackets.

I am not sure what it is that you say the Christian Coalition supports, but if they are being manipulated by Reed and not being told the truth of what they are supporting, they need to know the truth and become part of the solution.

OP posted further down:

"* August 1999 – Ralph Reed’s firm sends out a mailer to Republican Evangelical Christians on the Marianas to block legislative reform, showing how the Religious Right uses terms like “radical left” and promises of Christian conversion to support outright sex slavery and forced abortion: "The radical left, the Big Labor Union Bosses, and Bill Clinton want to pass a law preventing Chinese from coming to work on the Marianas Islands," the mailer from said. The Chinese workers, it added, "are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ" while on the islands, and many "are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with Bibles in hand."

[IronLionZion]

66. That tidbit about Reed's mailer

is exactly what I was talking about. Reed doesn't want fair labor legislation because he profits from the cheap labor. And no, he doesn't tell his flock about the negative stuff that goes on.

[Straight Shooter]

10. A couple years ago bush mentioned sex slavery at the U.N.

It was a "WTF" moment for everyone listening. It came out of the blue. Turns out he was saying something to appease a major portion of his base. Just a little snippet in the news and then it was gone. He never did anything further but throw them a bone. I cannot remember the group, but I think it would help vastly to connect this with Focus on The Family. Whether they are part of this or not, make them pay attention to it and acknowledge it and do something about it, else they have to admit that it's only white American families who matter. It's time to make the faux Christians show their true color, which is yellow.

DeLay is vastly responsible for the Marianas situation continuing unabated, but you know he thinks by God's grace that we either live lives of luxury or we live lives of degradation. He, and many in the GOP, cannot accept their role as being a part of "God's plan," so they turn a blind eye.

As for Clinton being president during this, I may be wrong, but I believe we had a GOP-majority Congress which was vastly more concerned with conducting a witchhunt on Clinton than they were of taking care of anything actually important. The GOP's obsession with Clinton is the cause of much evil running unchecked in this world.

[Dems Will Win]

12. Actually Clinton and the Dems proposed taking over the Marianas

in the area of labor enforcement, to end the GOP abuses, but the GOP Congress defeated the effort (see timeline above).

[Straight Shooter]

18. Thank you for posting that.

I was still writing my post as you posted that excellent timeline synopsis. I did go back and read it.

It makes me wonder, though, where is the outrage? Why does America turn a blind eye to this and then we have to listen to bush prattle on about Saddam's "rape rooms"? It's disgusting.

[Dems Will Win]

30. It's because the Corporate Media does not report on this

They are too busy with GARYCONDITSHARKSJONBENETOJBENNIFERANDLOSTWHITEGIRLS.

[Tigress DEM]

59. OR "The Devil stood here - I still smell the sulfur"

Obviously *ush is the John the Baptist role to the Anti-Christ, NOT the Devil.

John went out into the desert and baptized people with water and promised one would follow who would baptize with fire - figuratively, not literally.

*ush is out in the desert screwing up this world so badly that the next politician who seems like he can actually solve real problems and hire competent people to do those jobs will be elected.

[area51]

16. "I thought laws in America protect workers and treat people with respect."

Unfortunately, American workers have very few rights in this pro-corporate, anti-worker country.

[Tigress DEM]

60. Your country is being controlled by the GOP, rule of law is so gauche.

Don't you know it's the Mid-Evil Renaissance? Back to peasants and Lords. What a grand time the Grand Old Party will have at the expense of others.

[ck4829]

17. Who is Eugene Zamora? I think that this is important.

[glitch]

20. I love that Charlie Brown is exposing Dirty Doolittle's slime for all his

"fine upstanding" supporters to see.
Baby Bush is actually coming to Doolittle's aid with a fundraiser. Yeah, that'll work. :rofl:

[cascadiance]

21. Reemphasize to CA50 that Bilbray was also in Marianas on Abramoff's dime!

... and he was an integral part of that trip's organization too I have heard others say too.

It's too bad we couldn't have made that more of an issue in June! They let that race only be about immigration instead of all of the other issues that he has tremendous warts with! Don't let this happen to your other races in the fall! I think that's a BIG reason that the Republicans stalled that bill in committee earlier in July, etc. They DID NOT want to have Bilbray forced to vote on this as one of his first votes in congress. It would have solidified complaints that he was an Abramoff tool, etc. to vote for their interests instead of those of the Marianas and the American people. Make sure that this story and others about the Marianas and don't let them obfuscate other Republicans' involvement in it too in November!

K&R!

[Dems Will Win]

31. Hmmm. Methinks I feel a Bilbray and the Abramoff Gang Timeline Coming On

Hmmmmmmmmmm

[me b zola]

22. k&r

:(

[upi402]

23. Jesus Republicans don't think brown people are humans

No cotton candy flowing in their veins.

kick
recommend

[brentspeak]

26. The issue of Saipan needs to reach the wider American public

Saipan should have its status as an American protectorate removed, pronto.

[upi402]

27. Do you think the US media will allow that?

I don't have much hope of that after watching the CNN propaganda after the Chavez speech.
They are 100% shocked that someone criticized the US President.
aaargh

[KamaAina]

49. Actually the American protectorate needs to be enforced, not removed

technically, CNMI has commonwealth status similar to Puerto Rico's. In practice, obviously, none of this egregiously criminal behavior would be tolerated for one minute in Puerto Rico, or anywhere else under the U.S. flag, not even if powerful repuke lobbying interests were behind it. :grr:

[Mabus]

28. I hit the Rethug incumbent with this and his ARMPAC money

First I asked why he has not returned the ARMPAC money and said no one has been convicted. Then I told him about what was going on and that his money came from girls forced into prostitution and forced to have abortions. I asked him "How can you, as a good Christian man, take money earned from girls forced into prostitution and forced to have abortions, he told me he didn't need to talk to me about the situation and walked away.

I told the Dem candidate about what was going on and what the incumbent said and she is pissed.

[Dems Will Win]

29. Good work, that's what we need more of!

We need Rosebud57 to make us a generic Marianas flyer as a PDF we can hang up in close races...

I'll DU mail Rosebud

[Mabus]

55. I'm writing letters to the local papers

with a brief synopsis of Marianas Islands/ARMPAC and his reaction. I'm including the part about his "good Christian" ethics too. Jim Ryun pretends to be a Christian but he gives them a bad name.

LOL, When I asked him about his sweetheart house deal he also told me if I wanted to know what was really going on I should stay away from those leftist sites and read The Weekly Standard. I almost laughed in his face.

[Joanne98]

32. "A perfect petri dish of capitalism", Tom Delay!

Give them HELL all the time. K&R!

[KamaAina]

45. Who, I ask you, would know more about what grows in a Petri dish

than Private Citizen DeLay?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

34. If This Happened 5 Years Before Mr.Bush Was In Office, How Is This A GOP

only problem? This sounds like a failure of everybody regardless of party, no?

[philosophie_en_rose]

35. See the posts above. The GOP actively blocked Dem efforts.

Not excusing anyone's complacency, but this is a situation where there was an active effort and active opposition.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

37. I Read Post #8 And Though Informative, Does Not Sway Me.

Since the first part of the timeline is 1997, and most in 2000 forward, I cannot use that post to justify why 1995 and prior this situation had not been taken care of.

[Dems Will Win]

43. I can answer that one. In 1994, the Republicans took over the House

and blocked the Democrats and Labor Unions from reforming the sweatshops and the islands' governance. So the corporations continued to save hundreds of millions of dollars on cheap labor and tax breaks on $2 billion worth of clothing.

Clinton did what he could in the face of a corrupt Republican Congress, appointing Frederick Black the US Attorney for the Marianas, sent in from the States to clean up the corruption.

Clinton and the Dems finally got fed up and actually proposed taking over the enforcement of labor and immigration law enforcement under the Marianas constitution as a US Protectorate.

This is why Abramoff, Delay, Bilbray, and Rohrbacher went to the Marianas in 1998 to attempt to milk the government there for Abramoff.

The Abramoff Gang eventually scuttled Clinton's takeover attempt!

Another thing is the sweatshop trade didn't get enormous until the mid-90s, and the sex trade took off around then.

[Dems Will Win]

44. 1994: Here's more

There were more than 500 labor complaints filed last year in 1996, according to the commonwealth government. Some are passed along to the U.S. Department of Labor to pursue. In 1994 the department successfully sued a Japanese company that owned several bars employing underage girls.

The lawsuit involving Katrina and her co-workers, filed in the U.S. District Court in Saipan, is not expected to go to trial until late this year. Defendants Eugene R. Zamora Sr. and Marylou "Malou" Zamora, whom Katrina said brought her to Saipan from the Philippines, are believed to have returned to their home country. Defendant Francisco Matsunaga, the Zamoras' partner at the Club Kalesa, where Katrina worked, died last November.

http://starbulletin.com/97/06/06/news/story3.html

That's Clinton's Labor Department - The Republican Revolution started in 1994 and Reagan and Bush ran the store before 1993. So Clinton only had 2 years with total power when the problem was smaller and not really on the radar.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

50. Was This Problem Existing Between 1987-1994 Or Did It Start In 1995?

Just honest questions. I consider the atrocities within the OP to be disgraceful and a sign of failure of the entire congress, not just a specific party. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not so easily going to jump on a 'it's only the republicans fault' bandwagon so easily without further reason to believe that even between 1987-1994 when we had control that we tried everything we could to squash this behavior or that the problem simply didn't exist back then.

Problems within society that are at a level of disgrace of 14 yr olds being forced into the acts listed in the OP are oftentimes a result of a complete administrative failure as opposed to any one party or person. I'm not going to undermine this issue for sake of politics unless there is truly indisputable reason to think so.

[Dems Will Win]

53. These are good questions. Here are the answers

The Marianas are overseen by the Interior Dept and the House Resource COmmittee. Reagan and Bush I thus had the real power, Republican power over the Marianas. Then Clinton took over in 1993 and had a tremendous disaster of 12 years of GOP rule to deal with. Nevertheless, Clinton brought down the weight of the Feds on the Marianas in 1994 with the Labor Dept and the Congress backed him up. There wasn't time for the Dems to clean it up, in short.

Unfortunately, then the GOP took the House and from 1995 to 2000 blocked nearly everything they could that Clinton and the Dems tried to do over there. THen the GOP used the sweatshop issue as an excuse for over 100 reps and staffers to visit the islands. They have no shame.

When Bush and Delay and Abramoff took full power in 2001, the GOP then went hog-wild.

[VOX]

38. Didn't Neil Bush receive "favors" from Asian prostitutes?

I'm at work and don't have time to do the research right now, but here's a starting point:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/25/bush.brother.reut/
CNN.com
Bush brother's divorce reveals sex romps
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 Posted: 10:15 PM EST (0315 GMT)
HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- Neil Bush, younger brother of President Bush, detailed lucrative business deals and admitted to engaging in sex romps with women in Asia in a deposition taken in March as part of his divorce from now ex-wife Sharon Bush.
<snip>
The Bush divorce, completed in April after 23 years of marriage, was prompted in part by Bush's relationship with another woman. He admitted in the deposition that he previously had sex with several other women while on trips to Thailand and Hong Kong at least five years ago.

The women, he said, simply knocked on the door of his hotel room, entered and had sex with him. He said he did not know if they were prostitutes because they never asked for money and he did not pay them.

"Mr. Bush, you have to admit it's a pretty remarkable thing for a man just to go to a hotel room door and open it and have a woman standing there and have sex with her," Brown said.

"It was very unusual," Bush said.

[Dems Will Win]

40. Yes and at one point Tom Delay got away from his wife and family

on the Marianas with the excuse that he had to attend a "cockfight".

Hmmm. Tom Delay losse on an island with sex slaves owned by the person taking him around town.

Hmmm.

This is how they do it.

[Canuckistanian]

42. "Hot Tub Tom"?

[Canuckistanian]

41. Further reading from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Abused in sex bar,teen finds haven here

Isle Filipino Coalition for Solidarity
is a godsend for exploited workers
By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin


Katrina turns 16 Monday, finally getting a taste of sweetness in her otherwise bitter dose of life.

Hawaii's Filipino Coalition for Solidarity has provided the teen-

age girl haven since March from her grim life on Saipan, where she said she had been sexually exploited in a barroom since she was 14.

The civil rights advocacy group hopes to find a way to keep her in the United States, far from threats from her former employers, who now face a federal lawsuit on Saipan for alleged violations of child labor and wage laws.

Katrina is the young girl's stage name. Her real name is being withheld to protect her identity in the eighth-grade classroom she now attends on Oahu.

Rest of story at link:
http://starbulletin.com/97/06/06/news/story3.html

[BeautifulLoser]

46. Do you have proof they went there and got a piece of it?

Do you?

Or is that bullshit?

[Dems Will Win]

51. I'm asking "perhaps they got a piece of it?"

There was a question mark. Why what have you heard?

There was over ONE HUNDRED GOP Reps, staffers and lobbyists who traveled all the way to the Marianas as guests of the Tans and Abramoff, and only Tom Delay's wife and family were ever mentioned as accompanying all those lonely fellows all the way out there on a rock all alone. Certainly those family values Republicans wouldn't let the Abramoff Gang let young Party Girls knock on their door, as Neil Bush enjoyed. We know Neil Bush admitted to getting a piece of sexual favors.

Nor would the upstanding Tan Family have their sex slaves entertain guests from the Congress, they are clearly far too moral for such things.

If the Republicans and Tom Delay had sex (after the alleged cockfight), then for some odd reason they did not enter that in the Congressional Record and the DoJ will stretch this investigation out until God knows when.

So we can only speculate why over 100 Republican Reps and Staffers flew so far for such a piddling matter of the Marianas.

Real Altruism? Golf? (nah-there are golf course everywhere) Money-laundering? (There's the Caribbean) or Party Girl Sex Slaves of the Filipino/Asian variety?

So we either have incredible altruism among 100 of the most corrupt of the Culture of Corruption or we have support of sex slavery because the Congressmen got to make use of the slaves!

Finally--and with this I rest my case for investigation of the GOP Marianas junkets on charges of child rape and prostitution--prostitutes are very much part of the current GOP Culture of Corruption as the confessed prostitutes in the Duke Cunningham/Wilkes Scandal revealed.

That's enough proof for me to ask the question: "perhaps they got a piece of it?"

[Bjorn Against]

52. There is plenty of proof that they took trips there

60 Minutes had a piece on this a few years back which features a man I am sure you respect named Tom DeLay praising what was happening in the Marianas. Read up on the Abramoff scandel and you will see it ultimately links back to GOP support for forced abortions and sex slaves. The corporate media generally leaves that part out, but read the full story and you will see the truth no matter how much that truth may hurt.

[Tigress DEM]

61. I have seen a list that shows which rethugs got money from Jack-A

That money was tainted with this corruption and other illegal activities as well. It can be proved that about 70% of the Republican party took money from Jack.

Now to my mind, the best way ANYONE rethug or DEM can show they are sincere is to fix the problem now and quit the political posturing.

However, DEMS weren't part of the Abramhoff money and didn't go and give faux reports of how wonderful it was to see all those Bible holding pole dancers prospering under US rule.

DEMS are the ones with the proposal on the table to get the problem resolved. Rethugs control the house. If enough rethugs break ranks and use this issue to distance themselves from the slime that oozes out of this administration, at least some good will come of it and some people will get their lives back.

What pray tell could you have against that?

[KingFlorez]

63. That's what we want found out

Something suspicious went on

[KamaAina]

47. Would you believe we once had a satellite center on Saipan?

It has since been spun off into its own independent center, but at one time, there was even talk of sending me out there to give training. My goodness, would I ever have been flummoxed when I went down to the hotel bar for a drink!

Sounds like it's time for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin to uncork one of its occasional investigative series, like the one titled "Broken Trust" that brought down the mighty Bishop Estate (which actually dropped the words "Bishop Estate" from its name, now simply "Kamehameha Schools"). Hardly anyone on the mainland would even know where Saipan is, let alone rush to cover news there.

Since abortion is apparently illegal in CNMI, that implies that U.S. court decisions such as Roe v. Wade do not apply there. I suppose that, rather than the humid, rainy climate and near-total lack of tourist attractions, is what attracted Abramoff, DeLay and their hangers-on out there in the first place. Proposal for CNMI motto: "Leave No Child Unexploited!" :grr:

[proud patriot]

48. We must protect those little girls

:mad:

[Danger Mouse]

54. This makes me

:puke:
I can't say how bad I feel for the girls exploited by those twisted fucks. And the fact that scum like DeLay know about this stuff, and how badly workers are treated, and PRAY TO JESUS TO ALLOW THEIR SCHEMES TO CONTINUE (no fucking joke, he actually did that), it makes me so angry.
I cannot BELIEVE how much slimy corporations like WalMart manage to get away with. How can people be so lacking in human decency?

[Greeby]

65. Dems, in particular George Miller of CA

Have put up bills to clean up the CNMI over and over and over again. I bet I could dig up the roll call votes. Each time it's been shot down by the Republican House. As a matter of fact, the purpose of the well-known Delay visit in 98 was so he could promise the sweatshop owners that he'd go back and kill an attempt to crack down.

[aikoaiko]

67. Thank you for posting but I wish the thread title was different.

It looks like the young woman from the Marianas is saying "ALL GOP Candidates Responsible" and she isn't.