HavenWorks.com/world/northern-mariana-islands Northern Mariana Islands News

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Northern Mariana Islands News, Northern Mariana Islands capital: Saipan

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Criminal

Jack Abramoff

Tom DeLay

Bob Schaffer

Factory

Immigration

Human Rights

Textile

Northern Mariania Islands Background: "Under US administration as part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands decided in the 1970s not to seek independence but instead to forge closer links with the US. Negotiations for territorial status began in 1972. A covenant to establish a commonwealth in political union with the US was approved in 1975. A new government and constitution went into effect in 1978."

-Factbook

Northern Mariana Islands

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS News:

20080420

Don Young - Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Money - Politics - Mariana Islands - Chinese - Garment - Factory - Industry - Labor - Women - Abortion - Human Rights - Investigations - Government - Immigration - Law- History - US - Colorado - Alaska - "Records expose Young-Abramoff ties: MARIANA ISLANDS." ... "[Alaska Republican Represenative] Rep. Don Young has said he never allowed convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff to be an influential force over him in Congress." ... "But now a trove of old billing records from two of Abramoff's firms show that his team of lobbyists had more than 120 contacts with Young's personal and committee staffs over 25 months, including at least 10 with Young himself." ... "The available records cover a single Abramoff client, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. [United States] territory in the Pacific that Young oversaw when he chaired the House Resources Committee from 1995 to 2001." ... "The records show that one of the looming concerns of Abramoff and his fellow lobbyists at the time was a bill introduced by Young's fellow Alaskan, [Republican Senator] Sen. Frank Murkowski, to reform labor and immigration practices feeding the island's notorious Chinese-owned sweatshops. In 2000, Murkowski's bill passed the Senate unanimously, but Young stopped it cold in his committee, refusing to hold even a hearing." ... "Investigations by the government, media and human rights groups uncovered widespread abuses in the garment industry and among sex workers there starting in the mid-1990s, but Young asserted those investigations were bogus." ... "As a member of Young's Resources Committee, [Colorado Republican Representative and 2008 Election Colorado Senator Candidate Bob] Schaffer took a free trip to the Mariana Islands arranged by Abramoff's law firm, then played a central role in a 1989 committee hearing investigating Interior department officials in the [Democratic President Bill] Clinton administration who were trying to rein in the Saipan government [Saipan is the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands' capital]." ... "A growing number of reports spoke of near slave-labor conditions, with workers kept in sealed compounds, required to work seven days a week without overtime, and sometimes getting no paycheck at all. There were widespread reports of women coerced into getting abortions to keep their jobs. Some women hired abroad found themselves working not in garment factories at all, but sex clubs." -By Richard Mauer -ADN.com

20080412

Secret - Jack Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Money - Politician - Travel - Garment - Factories - Lawmaker - History - Colo - California - American - Northern Mariana Islands - Labor - Investigations - "Schaffer, lobbyist strategies meshed: The Coloradan's acts align with an Abramoff plot; he denies any link." ... "In early 1998, now-jailed [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff sent a secret memo to a textile tycoon on the Northern Mariana Islands, an American protectorate whose garment factories had been heavily criticized for squalid working conditions and abusive labor practices." ... "The lobbying plan focused on using congressional oversight hearings to change the subject from factory conditions to political shenanigans by the [Democratic President] Clinton administration. Abramoff's lobbying team would prepare questions and "factual backup" for friendly lawmakers. Trips to the island for congressmen and staff would be a key tool to "build permanent friends," the memo said." ... "The linchpin would be an attack on the Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), which was the lead agency pushing for reform." ... "Twenty months later, Republicans on the House Resources Committee, including [Colorado Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Colo., turned what was supposed to be an oversight hearing into an attack on OIA officials, suggesting that federal employees were paying workers to protest and providing them signs, cars and other resources." ... "Schaffer was one of the key players in the hearing, grilling a young worker who had been called before the committee to talk about the desperate conditions faced by some laborers, suggesting instead that he was agitating in exchange for money and came to Washington to seek political asylum." ... "The hearing provides a key context for a trip to the islands that Schaffer had taken a month before, partly arranged by Abramoff's lobbying firm and now an issue in Schaffer's campaign for the U.S. [United States] Senate." ... "By the time Schaffer had flown to the islands with his wife the month before, the protectorate's textile industry had been the subject of dozens of government and journalistic investigations, which documented abuses including debt servitude, coerced abortions and squalid living conditions." ... "Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, made the travel arrangements for Schaffer's August 1999 trip, according to a memo to Schaffer from his staff. The $13,000 trip was paid for by the Orange County[California]-based Traditional Values Coalition, which later investigations showed was often used by Abramoff in his lobbying operations." -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

20080410

Jack Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Criminal - Money - Politician - Vacation - Colorado - US - Mariana Islands - Textile - Factory - Immigration - Human Rights - Law - 2008 Election - "Abramoff ties cloud [Bob] Schaffer's '99 fact-finding trip." ... "Just before boarding a plane to the [Northern] Mariana Islands in 1999, [Colorado Republican Representative] then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate." ... "What he didn't say was that the trip was partly arranged by the firm of now-jailed [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented textile factory owners fighting congressional efforts to reform labor and immigration laws on the islands and who was being handsomely paid to keep the islands' cherished exemptions." ... "Schaffer and his wife stayed for free at a palm-studded beach resort and, besides factories, also toured historical sites and met with clients of Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, according to a copy of the trip's agenda archived in Schaffer's congressional papers." ... "In a recent interview with The Denver Post, the Republican candidate for Colorado's open Senate seat described the protectorate's guest-worker program as a "model" lawmakers could use as they overhaul the U.S. [United States] immigration system." ... "It has left Schaffer defending a guest-worker program criticized in more than a decade of government reports and journalistic exposés; and it links him to what Abramoff later boasted was an incredibly successful lobbying effort to quash reform by cashing in on ties to key House Republicans, including those on the House Resources Committee, on which Schaffer sat." ... ""Given that many Republican members, including Tom DeLay, Bob Ney and Conrad Burns, have lost their seat or gone to prison based on their association with this criminal, it's pretty remarkable that Schaffer seems to be proud of his association with these sleazy Abramoff-sponsored junkets," said Taylor West, a spokeswoman for Schaffer's [2008 Election] Democratic opponent, Mark Udall." ... "At heart of the issue is the islands' massive textile industry, which is exempted from the U.S. minimum wage as well as most American immigration laws. The Northern Marianas economy is built on thousands of workers from China, the Philippines and Bangladesh, some of whom pay labor recruiters as much as $7,000 to land a job on U.S. soil." ... "A class-action lawsuit filed the year Schaffer toured the islands alleged that many of those workers lived in slum conditions, housed seven to a room in barracks surrounded by barbed wire designed to keep the workers in. Workers in some factories labored 12 hours a day, seven days a week, the suit alleged — without pay if they fell behind set quotas." ... "A U.S. Interior Department investigation found that pregnant workers were forced to get illegal abortions or lose their jobs. Some were recruited for factories but forced into the sex trade instead." ... "Said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee: "The fact that (Schaffer) sided against the human rights of those workers, not just then, but still today, shows he was more interested in doing the bidding of the people who set up the trip than in actually investigating abuses."" -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

20080409

Bob Schaffer - Jack Abramoff - Criminal - Money - Politician - Abortion - Child - Labor - Female - Textile - Factory - Immigration - Human Rights - Law - History - US - Mariana Islands - 2008 Election - Colorado - Vacation - "Fashhhionating." ... "Earlier today we noted that the [2008 Election] Republican Senate candidate from Colorado, Bob Schaffer, told the Denver Post that America should adopt an immigration and guest labor policy modeled on that of the Mariana Islands (aka the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) -- whose guest worker program is notorious around the world for forced abortion, slavery, child prostitution, sex trafficking, beatings, female workers kept in shacks with no plumbing surrounded by barbed wire and other fun stuff [sarcasm]." ... "TPM Reader AK points out that the folks at ProgressNowAction have done a little digging. And it seems that that back in 1999, when Schaffer was serving in Congress, he went on one of those junkets to the Islands put together by none other than disgraced lobbyist and now-federal inmate Jack Abramoff." ... "Those of you with a clear recollection of the details of the Abramoff scandal will remember that one of Jack's biggest clients was the group of sharks who ran the Marianas sweat shops." ... "They had a great thing going because they were able to slap Made In The USA labels on clothes and other items made in Saipan [Northern Mariana Islands capital] by female guest workers imported from other parts of East Asia to work in sub-Third World labor conditions. That is, when the guest workers weren't busy getting beaten, raped or coerced into having abortions. Jack's job was to find politicians willing to travel with him on junkets to the Marianas, hang out at the casinos and come back to the states and say how well the labor conditions actually there seemed to be." ... "In any case, it was just one of these junkets with Abramoff that then US Rep. Bob Schaffer took back in 1999, which, as it happens, was a year after the release of the Department of Labor report that confirmed the 15 year old sex slave's account." -By Josh Marshall -TalkingPointsMemo.com
Watch TPMtv Video update: "... Colorado senate candidate Bob Schaffer (R) says we should remodel our national immigration policy on that of the Mariana Islands -- a program notorious for child prostitution, forced abortions, beatings, slavery, twelve hour days and sex trafficking. Now it turns out he went on a Jack Abramoff junket to the islands and came back saying it was A-OK!" -By Josh Marshall -Veracifier

20080407

Bob Schaffer - Corporate - Colorado - US - Foreign - Textile - Worker - Immigration - Mariana Islands - 2008 Election - "Tricky issue of immigration played down." ... "Calling America a country perfectly "capable of multitasking," [2008 Election] Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said the U.S. [United States] ought to be pursuing a guest- worker program at the same time it fortifies its borders." ... "He pointed to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. protectorate that imports tens of thousands of foreign textile workers, as a successful model for a guest-worker program that could be adapted nationally." ... ""The concept of prequalifying foreign workers in their home country under private- sector management is a system that works very well in one place in America," he said of the islands' program. "I think members of Congress ought to be looking at that model and be considering it as a possible basis for a nationwide program."" -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

Northern Mariana Islands Websites

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"Northern Mariana Islands."

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"Languages of Northern Mariana Islands" -Ethnologue

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Northern Mariana Islands Flag inset

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-Factbook

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20070719

John Doolittle - Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - US - Northern Mariana Islands - Calif - Money - Politics - "Marianas governor and Doolittle ally says cooperating in probe." ... "The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands said Thursday he's cooperating with the Justice Department's corruption investigation around jailed GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which is focused in part on GOP [California Republican Representative] Rep. John Doolittle of Rocklin, Calif." ... "The tiny U.S. commonwealth also is still trying to get back some of the millions it paid Abramoff's firms over the years, said [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Governor] Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, a one-time Abramoff ally who counted Doolittle among his congressional supporters." ... ""When I have a friend that friend always remains a friend," said Fitial, who became House speaker of the Marianas in 2000 after intervention from two former aides to former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. After becoming speaker Fitial pushed for Abramoff's contract to continue." -By Erica Werner -NCTimes.com

20061019

John E Sweeney

Jack Abramoff

Tony Rudy

Politician

Trip

Northern Mariana Islands

New York

Law

"Congressman Faces Questions Over Who Paid for Pacific Trip." ... "[New York Republican] Representative John E. Sweeney, an upstate Republican who is in a fierce fight to keep his seat, is facing questions about a trip he took to a western Pacific island with an associate of Jack Abramoff, the powerful Washington lobbyist at the center of an extensive corruption scandal." ... "The Times Union of Albany reported yesterday that Mr. Sweeney might have violated House ethics rules when he failed to disclose who paid for a trip that he made in January 2001 to one of the Northern Mariana Islands with Tony Rudy, who worked for Mr. Abramoff." ... "Mr. Sweeney made the trip to deliver a speech to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory of the United States. Mr. Rudy was lobbying on behalf of the commonwealth." ... "The newspaper reported that the Chamber of Commerce says it paid for Mr. Sweeney’s visit. But Mr. Sweeney failed to report that the chamber paid for the trip, despite Congressional rules requiring full disclosure of privately financed travel, according to the newspaper." -By Raymond Hernandez

-NYTimes

20061007

Rove - Abramoff - Ralston - Sports - Entertainment - Money - Government - Intelligence - Northern Mariana Islands - E-Mail - Safavian - "Rove Aide Linked To Abramoff Resigns: Scandal Claims Its First West Wing Job." ... "A top aide to White House strategist Karl Rove resigned yesterday after disclosures that she accepted gifts from and passed information to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, becoming the first official in the West Wing to lose a job in the influence-peddling scandal." ... "Susan B. Ralston submitted her resignation to avoid causing political damage to President Bush a month before the midterm elections, officials said. "She did not want to be a distraction to the White House at this important time," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino." ... "A congressional report showed last week that Ralston accepted sometimes-pricey tickets to nine sports and entertainment events from Abramoff while she provided him with inside White House information. The bipartisan report said there is no evidence that Rove knew of or approved of Ralston's actions, and sources said yesterday that the White House was surprised by the report's revelations." ... "The only other White House official caught up in the probe has been David H. Safavian, the procurement chief for the Office of Management and Budget, who was convicted in June of lying about his ties to Abramoff." ... "As a former Abramoff assistant, Ralston played intermediary between the lobbyist and Rove. The congressional report found 66 Abramoff contacts with the White House, more than half of them with Ralston. In addition, Abramoff's lobbying colleagues contacted Ralston 69 times." ... "On Oct. 21, 2001, Ralston e-mailed Abramoff that Rove had read an Abramoff memo about a political endorsement in the Mariana Islands governor's race, a little-noticed election but one important to Abramoff because he had lucrative clients there. Ralston reported to Abramoff that Rove had agreed, writing the next day: "You win :)."" (1, 2) -By Peter Baker and James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost

20061011

Abramoff - Pombo - Money - Lawmakers - History - US - Northern Mariana Islands - Garment - Labor - California - "AP Exclusive: Records suggest Abramoff, Pombo lobbying contacts." ... "California [Republican] Rep. Richard Pombo has insisted he was never lobbied by [Republican lobbyist] Jack Abramoff. Records show the disgraced lobbyist billed a client for at least two contacts with Pombo a decade ago." ... "The lobbying records released by the Northern Mariana Islands show that Abramoff billed once for calls to Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, and a second time for a discussion with him, while lobbying in 1996." ... "On more than two dozen other occasions from 1996 through 2001, Abramoff associates called or met with members of Pombo's staff, including his chief of staff, the records indicate. As the contacts picked up, Pombo voted Abramoff's way on a bill important to Abramoff's clients." ... "The Northern Mariana Islands, a chain of 14 islands near Guam, became a U.S. commonwealth in 1986. Residents have nonvoting citizenship but the islands are exempt from many federal labor laws." ... "Democrats, complaining about reported abuses at low-paying garment factories, have sought to end those exemptions and increase the minimum wage, now $3.05 an hour. The Marianas government hired Abramoff to block such moves." ... "On Sept. 10, 1996, Abramoff billed for a discussion with Pombo. Two days later he gave Pombo a $500 donation, the first of what would become $7,500 in campaign contributions. Pombo has since donated the money to charity. On Nov. 21, 1996, Abramoff reported putting in calls to Pombo and other lawmakers." -By Erica Werner -AP via -MercuryNews

20060928

Abramoff - Karl Rove - Ralph Reed - Money - Religion - Government - Mississippi - Northern Mariana Islands - "House Report Details 485 Contacts Between Abramoff Team and White House Officials." ... "A House committee has documented hundreds of contacts between top White House officials and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates, as well as tens of thousands of dollors worth of meals and tickets to sporting events and concerts that were offered to these officials during a three-year period starting in early 2001." ... "The Government Reform Committee report singled out two of President Bush’s top lieutenants, Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman, as having been offered expensive meals and exclusive tickets to premier sporting events and concerts by Abramoff and his associates." ... "In total, the committee was able to document 485 contacts between White House officials and Abramoff and his lobbying team at the firm Greenberg Traurig from January 2001 to March 2004, with 82 of those contacts occurring in Rove¹s office, including 10 with Rove personally. The panel also said that Abramoff billed his clients nearly $25,000 for meals and drinks with White House officials during that period." ... "Rove, Mehlman, and other White House officials have denied having any close relationship with Abramoff, despite the fact that Abramoff was a “Pioneer” who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Bush’s White House campaigns." ... "During the period examined by the committee, Bush administration officials repeatedly intervened on behalf of Abramoff’s clients, including helping a Mississippi Indian tribe obtain $16 million in federal funds for a jail the tribe wanted to build." ... "Abramoff was able to block the nomination of one Interior Department official using Christian conservative Ralph Reed as a go-between with Rove, according to e-mails between Abramoff and Reed." ... "Abramoff also tried to oust a State Department employee who interfered with their efforts on behalf of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one of Abramoff’s most lucrative clients." -By John Bresnahan and Paul Kane -RollCall.com

20060811

Abramoff - Political - Government - Money - Northern Mariana Islands - "Former Interior official pleads guilty in Abramoff probe." ... "A former Department of Interior employee pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge for failing to report gifts he received from influence-peddler Jack Abramoff." ... "Roger Stillwell told a federal magistrate that he had been given hundreds of dollars worth of football and concert tickets from Abramoff, who at the time was lobbying for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands." -AP via -USATODAY

20060707

Secret - Abramoff - Reed - Mark Zachares - Rove - Political - Money - Government- Mississippi - Alabama - Labor - Northern Mariana Islands - "Reed In The Rough." ... "Just days before [Republican President] George W. Bush took office in 2001, lobbyist Jack Abramoff was busily working with Ralph Reed, his longtime friend, political sidekick, and business associate, to place a key ally in the Interior Department." ... "Reed, an elite "Pioneer" fundraiser for the Bush campaign and a campaign adviser, had already helped Abramoff land his own plum slot on Bush's Interior transition team. Abramoff coveted the slot because Interior was overseeing the lobbyist's two biggest clients at the time -- the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians." ... "Now Abramoff, who had hired Reed in 1999 and 2000 to run anti-gambling drives in Alabama to fend off threats to the Choctaws' casino profits, was looking for more help. This time, Abramoff was trying to secure a job at Interior for Mark Zachares, a former secretary of labor in the Marianas government." ... "On January 11, 2001, Abramoff e-mailed Reed. "I was thinking about this appointment" to the Office of Insular Affairs at Interior, Abramoff wrote. "I know it is perhaps a bizarre request, but considering how quickly I was named to the transition advisory team thanks to your request, perhaps it would be possible to ask Karl [Rove, the president's chief political adviser]... that they should appoint Mark Zachares to head the Office of Insular Affairs.... Do you think we could get this favor from Karl? It would be my big ask for sure."" ... "Reed replied quickly: "It never hurts to ask. What's the next move?" Later that day, Reed sounded even more eager. "Just let me know who to call, when to call, and what to say. And while you're at it get me another client! NOW!"" ... "On March 6, Abramoff met with Rove for about half an hour and pushed for Zachares, according to Abramoff's former lobbying colleagues at the firm Greenberg Traurig and to Secret Service logs released earlier this year." -By Peter H. Stone -NationalJournal

20051215

Richard Pombo - Abramoff - Money - Lawmaker - California - Massachusetts - US - Northern Mariana Islands - "Miller presses Pombo to investigate Abramoff." ... "Rep. George Miller (D-Calif. [Democrat-California]) continues to petition House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif. [Republican-California]) for an investigation into indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s activities on behalf of the Northern Mariana Islands." ... "Resources has sole jurisdiction over the Marianas, whose government hired Abramoff in the late 1990s to lobby Washington on its behalf." ... "Pombo has received more than $35,000 in contributions from Abramoff and Indian tribes he represented, including $27,000 from the Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts, which received federal recognition from a bill Pombo passed through the committee in 2004." -By Elana Schor -HillNews.com

20051206

Burns - Abramoff - Money - Government - Lawmaker - Montana - US - Northern Mariana Islands - Garment - Worker - Florida - Sports - 2006 Election - "Records Show Burns' Abramoff Meetings: Senate Panel Chairman Met Abramoff Team, Collected $12,000 in Donations While Helping Lobbying Client." ... "[Montana Republican Senator] Sen. Conrad Burns and his staff met Jack Abramoff's lobbying team on at least eight occasions and collected $12,000 in donations around the time that the lawmaker took legislative action favorable to Abramoff's clients in the Northern Mariana Islands, records show." ... "The 2001 donations to Burns, a Montana Republican, included money directly from Abramoff and a key garment company executive in the Pacific islands who was part of the coalition paying Abramoff's firm to fend off stronger U.S. [worker] regulations on the islands." ... "In addition, two Burns staffers had accepted a trip arranged by Abramoff to attend the Super Bowl in Florida earlier that year." ... "At the time, Burns served on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that was considering legislation the Marianas opposed. He also ran a Senate appropriations subcommittee that controlled spending for the Interior Department, which regulates U.S. territories including the islands." ... "Burns, who is up for re-election to a fourth term in 2006, received about $150,000 in donations from Abramoff, his firm and his clients between 2001 and 2004." (1, 2, 3) -By Mary Clare Jalonick -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20050929

Tom DeLay - Texas - Business - Labor - Politics - "DeLay Indictment May Be Overshadowed by Looming Abramoff Probe." ... "The larger legal challenge for [Texas Republican Tom] DeLay may center on a task force led by the U.S. Justice Department that's investigating Jack Abramoff, the indicted lobbyist who boasted of his relationship with DeLay." ... "Delay, 58, who stepped down temporarily as House majority leader after being indicted, once called Abramoff ``one of my closest and dearest friends.'' He has traveled to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an Abramoff client, on trips organized by Abramoff's law firm and has blocked efforts to apply U.S. minimum wage and labor laws to the commonwealth." ... "He also sided with another Abramoff client, Tyco International Inc., in opposing efforts to stop federal contracts from going to the Bermuda-based company and other firms that have incorporated overseas to cut their tax bills while maintaining their business in the U.S." -By Jonathan D. Salant -Bloomberg

20050608

Doc Hastings

Jack Abramoff

Tom DeLay

Money

Politics

Federal

Law

Investigation

Clothing

Factories

Workers

Human Rights

Seattle

Washington

Texas

Northern Mariana Islands

"House Ethics Chief Is Tied to Lobby Figures." ... "Newly disclosed lobbying records and other documents show that the chairman of the House ethics committee, [Washington Republican Representative] Doc Hastings, a Washington State Republican, has had a close relationship for years with lobbyists at the Seattle[ Washington]-based law firm that is at the center of ethics accusations involving [Texas Republican Representative] Tom DeLay, the House majority leader." ... "The records from the law firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, show that the firm's former star lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, a close friend of Mr. DeLay who is now the focus of a federal corruption investigation, boasted to a client in the mid-1990's that the firm had "excellent" ties to Mr. Hastings. The firm repeatedly billed the client for meetings and telephone conversations between Mr. Abramoff's lobbying team and Mr. Hastings's staff." ... "... Preston Gates pressed Mr. Hastings and his staff several years ago for help on behalf of Mr. Abramoff's most important lobbying client at the time, the government of the Northern Mariana Islands, a small American commonwealth in the Pacific, in blocking the imposition of the federal minimum wage on the islands' clothing factories; human rights groups have long described the factories as sweatshops." ... "Federal Election Commission records show that the firm and its partners have been consistent campaign contributors to Mr. Hastings, donating more than $14,000 since he entered Congress a decade ago, $1,000 of that from Mr. Abramoff." ... "The firm's billing records show that after lobbying contacts on behalf of the Northern Marianas in 1996, Mr. Hastings placed statements in The Congressional Record in opposition to the minimum-wage proposal; he praised the islands' government for "moving in the right direction toward self-sufficiency."" (1, 2) -By Philip Shenon

-NYTimes

20050407

Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - Northern Mariana Islands - Immigration - Garment - Labor - Law - Politics - Intelligence- History - "Jack Abramoff: The friend Tom DeLay can't shake." ... "Where to begin examining the extraordinary career of Jack Abramoff? His work trying to secure a visa for the great Zairian kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko, perhaps, or the bilking of an estimated $66 million out of Native American tribes, clients he described as "monkeys," "troglodytes," and "idiots"? Or his leadership of a 1980s think tank financed, unbeknownst to him apparently, by the intelligence arm of South Africa's apartheid regime?" ... "No, the chapter of our man's story that matters most at the moment begins with a toast given by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay during a New Year's trip they both took to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in 1997. "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 before an audience of Abramoff's clients in the islands' garment industry—whom, upon his return to Washington, he helped win an extended exemption from federal immigration and labor laws." -By James Harding -Slate

20050406

- Tom DeLay - "DeLay's Lavish Island Getaway: Embattled Lobbyist Arranged DeLay Trip." ... "A Washington lobbyist under federal investigation for his lobbying activities arranged a lavish overseas trip to the island of Saipan for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, over the New Year's holiday in 1997." ... "DeLay, his wife and daughter, and several aides, stayed for free at a beachfront resort." ... "The DeLay trip to the South Pacific island, originally reported by a "20/20" investigation, was part of an effort by former aide Jack Abramoff to stop legislation aimed at cracking down on sweatshops and sex shops in the American territory, which is known as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands." (1, 2) -By Brian Ross -ABCNEWS.com

20050321

Tom DeLay - - - - "DeLay And Company: The G.O.P. leader's troubles mount, with new questions about his dealings with the former aide who helped build his political machine." ... "Ed Buckham's name was one you didn't hear much outside the secluded corridor where he worked on the first floor of the Capitol." ... "Thanks to an unusually close and trusting relationship with his boss, Tom DeLay's chief of staff quietly became one of the most powerful people in Washington " ... "Buckham shared not only DeLay's religious faith but also his audacious vision for harnessing the financial and political clout of business and conservative interests to carry out the G.O.P. agenda and increase its majority in Congress. DeLay offered lobbyists the best seats they had ever had at the table, a say in legislative and political strategy, on the understanding that they in return would pour millions into DeLay's favored causes and candidates. In addition, he threatened to shut out lobbying shops that employed Democrats. In Washington that seamless coordination between his office and the lobbying corridor of K Street has become known as DeLay Inc. It developed the muscle to push or block pretty much everything DeLay asked for, from protecting tax breaks for low-wage garment manufacturers on the Northern Mariana Islands (where DeLay spent New Year's Day 1998 with his wife and Buckham) to creating a Medicare prescription-drug plan that critics say is a better deal for pharmaceutical companies than it is for seniors." -By Karen Tumulty -TIME.com

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Northern Mariana Islands Notes:

From the World Factbook:

Northern Mariana Islands Country name:

conventional long form: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
conventional short form: Northern Mariana Islands
former: Mariana Islands District (Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)

Northern Mariana Islands Dependency status: commonwealth in political union with the US; federal funds to the Commonwealth administered by the US Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs
Northern Mariana Islands Government type: commonwealth; self-governing with locally elected governor, lieutenant governor, and legislature
Northern Mariana Islands Capital: Saipan
Northern Mariana Islands Background: "Under US administration as part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands decided in the 1970s not to seek independence but instead to forge closer links with the US. Negotiations for territorial status began in 1972. A covenant to establish a commonwealth in political union with the US was approved in 1975. A new government and constitution went into effect in 1978."
Northern Mariana Islands Economy - overview: "The economy benefits substantially from financial assistance from the US. The rate of funding has declined as locally generated government revenues have grown. The key tourist industry employs about 50% of the work force and accounts for roughly one-fourth of GDP. Japanese tourists predominate. Annual tourist entries have exceeded one-half million in recent years, but financial difficulties in Japan have caused a temporary slowdown. The agricultural sector is made up of cattle ranches and small farms producing coconuts, breadfruit, tomatoes, and melons. Garment production is by far the most important industry with the employment of 17,500 mostly Chinese workers and sizable shipments to the US under duty and quota exemptions."
Northern Mariana Islands Population: 82,459 (July 2006 est.)
Northern Mariana Islands GDP - per capita (PPP): $12,500 (2000 est.)
Northern Mariana Islands Labor force: 44,470 total indigenous labor force; 2,699 unemployed; 28,717 foreign workers (2000)

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS NEWS NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS CAPITAL SAIPAN | HavenWorks.com/world/northern-mariana-islands capital: Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, formerly: Mariana Islands District (Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)

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