I’ve researched and posted about the Abramoff/GOP scandal for some time now. Some Diaries make the recommended list, some do not. Many have led to great tips and exchanges of information with others seeking to untangle the Republican web of corruption. These connections are great, useful and fun (for example, recently I’ve spent a lot of time helping mbw on a DOI research project).
Now my Diaries have been pretty hard on the folks connected to abuse and crimes tied to Abramoff and DeLay. I’ve given a lot of attention to the GOP protected system of human trafficking, forced sex, sweatshops, labor abuse and money laundering on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
Take this Diary, Team Bush: Joking about forced sex and labor abuse..., in it I was pretty rough on David Cohen, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Department for Insular Affairs for a joke he recently told the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.
Who knew he was a Daily Kos reader...
Sometimes surprising things come from a Diary posted at Daily Kos. I have my share, but the other day something pretty interesting happened.
I noticed that there were some new comments on a Diary I posted back on January 8, so I decided to take a look. This isn’t unusual. My Diaries often go into detail about some aspect of the Abramoff scandal and the connection to the politicians, lobbyists and weasels that made it all possible. Often, days after a post went up, somebody will leave a tip or comment that has been very helpful in my research. This is what I expected to find.
This is what I found:
From David Cohen (0 / 0)
I would like to dispel any notion that I was "joking about forced sex and labor abuse" or "making light of the history of abuse". I did not do that, have never done that, and would not do that. Not in public, not in private.
If anyone is interested in what I actually said, the full text is available on our website at www.doi.gov/oia/press/2007/01052007.html. Many of you may have passionate, principled disagreements with what I actually said, and I can certainly respect that. I'd rather, however, be judged on what I actually said, and not on what someone who does not know me insists that I "really meant."
The one line that you will not find in the "official" text is my spontaneous remark about Ms. Magazine, which was reported in the press and in this diary. The remark ("nobody reads Ms. Magazine") was admittedly snarky and not in good form, but it was not motivated by anger at Ms. Magazine's having exposed labor abuses. Indeed, my office (particularly the Federal Ombudsman's Office within Interior's Office of Insular Affairs) has done much to expose the labor problems that remain in the CNMI, and we have worked very hard to make the situation better. You can get a balanced picture of labor problems in the CNMI by reading the 2006 Federal Ombudsman's Report on our website.
Federal Ombudsman Jim Benedetto, by the way, provided a great deal of information and several good leads to the Ms. Magazine reporter, with my full knowledge and support. My problem with Ms. Magazine is not that they expose sexual and labor abuse--more power to them for that. My problem is that the piece on the CNMI was not, in my opinion on the basis on an extensive knowledge of the situation, fair. It presented a picture of the CNMI that may have been accurate in 1997, but did not reflect the significant progress that had been made by 2006. My opinion could be wrong, but that is what I believe and that is what motivated my remark. [snip]
The fact is that there is a healthy diversity of opinion in the CNMI. Some are passionately pro-federalization, some are passionately against it, and many are somewhere in the middle. Intelligent, reasonable arguments are being made by people from all of these different perspectives. I have yet to meet someone from the CNMI, however, who believes that the people of the islands should be shut out of the important Federal decisions that will shape their future.
Can we at least agree on that?
Cheers,
David B. Cohen
I’ve linked to the full comment (which could have been a Diary in its own right) and I would suggest taking a look if you are interested in this issue. He followed that with another comment providing links to some of the documents he mentioned.
Years ago, I published an alternative newspaper in Athens, Georgia. I would write about local politics and some of the battles were pretty heated. I could slam somebody in my column and then run into them on the street or at a meeting. I made an effort to listen to their point of view and their critique of my presentation of their efforts. I got along with some of these folks. Others were jerks. As time went on, I tried to be fair, open and considerate. I could be wrong. Sometimes I was. Often, I would find that we shared areas of deep agreement, but were divided by tactics, habit and dogma. I learned that we could work together, if we were willing to treat each other with a wee bit of humanity.
My five-year old daughter calls this kind of negotiation and learning turning somebody’s heart. And that always gets me thinking about one of my early heroes, Senator Phil Hart of Michigan. He wasn’t afraid to listen and he wouldn’t back down on principle. Civil rights legislation and many other efforts passed because Phil Hart had the ability to turn the hearts of his colleagues.
So with these thoughts in mind, I decided to respond:
Thanks for the reply (0 / 0)
It was a pleasant surprise.
I will review your comments and reference them in a future post. There is a great deal of diversity of opinion on the CNMI. Some of it is quite hopeful.
The Chamber is not a source of hope and its leaders are a big part of the problem. I accept your explanation and that your "Ms. Magazine" joke was not intended to make light of the abuse, but it did cater to the baser impulses of your chamber audience. Some have been active participants in the 20 plus year history of abuse.
It is my hope that we are ultimately on the same side. It is my hope that we both want justice for the people on the CNMI—both natives and guest workers. I hope we both want a functional sustainable economy that works for the people and the environment. And that we both want the CNMI to be a full part of America living under our laws and with representation in the US Congress.
Perhaps you would like to meet the next time you are in DC to discuss this post and other issues related to the Marianas Islands.
email me at dengre (at) toadmail (dot) com
Cheers
Well, he got in touch and we met today for coffee in DC. I’ll get to that later, but first I wanted to focus on one of the more interesting things going on in this exchange of comments and on the CNMI.
Secretary Cohen mentioned the diversity of opinion growing on the Marianas Islands. He is correct. Just as the netroots have sparked a movement to reform the Democratic Party and take Our Country back, there is a growing movement afoot to reform the CNMI from within. Much of this is being led by a new generation disgusted by the corruption, abuse and environmental destruction allowed to fester in a system twisted to serve the desires of Chinese entrepreneurs and corrupt politicians on the CNMI and in Washington DC.
Following my reply, Cohen added another comment:
I noted in my comment that Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo had expressed the points that I was trying to make in my Saipan Chamber speech, but more eloquently and effectively than I ever could have. I have now come across an Open Letter to the U.S. Senate from Angelo Villagomez, a young Chamorro environmental activist and a staunch Democrat. He, too, has expressed the points that I was trying to make in my speech more eloquently and effectively than I ever could have. Since this is the second time that this has happened to me in the last week, it occurs to me that I should stop trying to write my own speeches and hire a Democrat to write my speeches for me.
David, if you want to write speeches like that, you should leave the dark side and become a Democrat. It is the Party of hope and opportunity. Many former Republicans have made the leap (some have recently been elected to the House and Senate), but I digress.
Angelo Villagomez is a blogger, writing at The Saipan Blog as The Saipan Blogger. The letter Cohen mentioned in his final comment was posted on his blog. It is a plea for the 110th Congress to consider the situation on the CNMI as needed reforms are considered:
An Open Letter to the US Senate
Posted by The Saipan Blogger
Hafa Adai Senator!
I am writing to you in the hopes that you consider my comments in regards to pending legislation that would affect the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Before doing so, however, please allow me to give you a little background as to who I am and what I represent:
My name is Angelo Villagomez and for the last 10 months I have lived on the island of Saipan. I recently returned to the islands of my forefathers after having lived in the US, England, and Japan for 24 years. Although I have only been back for a short time, I plan on making this island my home for many years to come, so I am very concerned with our future and our relationship with the US.
I received all of my education, from kindergarten on, in America, first in Massachusetts and then later in Florida and Virginia. College lead me towards a career in the environmental field, and like most environmentalists, I identify with the principles of the Democratic Party. As such, I understand many of the concerns that the Democratic Party has about the CNMI.
I am not writing this letter to defend the CNMI; I am writing this letter to ask that you consider the people in the CNMI, such as myself, with no political or economic power when you draft legislation that would affect all of us living here. [snip]
I faithfully believe that a Democratically led House and Senate are in the best interests of America and the CNMI. One thing that sets the Democratic Party apart from the Republican Party is that we do not insist that America act unilaterally. We understand that working together produces more meaningful results.
With this understanding, I humbly request that you make it a priority to educate yourself about the situation in the CNMI before drawing up any legislation or before casting a vote that would have a profound effect on our economy and our livelihoods.
The people involved in the Jack Abramoff scandals deserve no leniency, but for the sake of the rest of the American citizens living in the CNMI, I humbly request that, before moving forward with any legislation, the US Senate commission economic studies exploring the effects of raising the minimum wage on our economy, consider sending representatives to the CNMI on a site visit, and in the mean time help us come up with industries to replace the dying garment factories, which most people expect to be gone by the end of 2007 with or without a change in the minimum wage.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. Please provide me with a response.
Si Yu'us Mase,
Angelo Villagomez
www.thesaipanblogger.com
As one who has studied this for a long time, I appreciate the complexity of the issue. And I encourage you to link to Angelo’s blog and read the full letter. Still, I think the minimum wage needs to be apply to the CNMI and that US immigration and custom laws need to be extended to the Territory. But that is just a step and it is not enough. By itself, and without consideration for the mess twenty years of corruption have created, these changes could just create new problems and a new set of abuses.
What is needed is a new partnership between US Citizens on the mainland and our fellow Citizens on the CNMI (and the other Territories).
Change is coming to the CNMI. It is long overdue and it needs to be done in a way that replaces the dark nightmare of the Abramoff/DeLay/Bush Petri dish of Capitalism with the rule of law to create a just and sustainable economy on these far flung Pacific Islands. Imagine replacing the sweatshops with cooperatively owned factories producing Fair Trade garments. Imagine switching the international reputation from abuse to a model of hope. It can be done.
This will take a lot of work, questioning and soul searching—on the Mainland and on the Islands. Fortunately I think we have an opportunity to listen, learn, work together and turn a few hearts.
Another effort Angelo is involved in is Beautify CNMI (and it also has a blog he maintains). This is a collective effort to get Citizens involved in taking control of their environment by taking action to clean up the physical garbage that has piled up during the last twenty years of corruption and neglect. This simple act of cleaning is teaching people that they can take action to change the Commonwealth.
One of the leaders of the effort is a young woman named Tina Sablan. She is the Division of Environmental Quality Waste Reduction and Recycling coordinator. She is also a voice for change.
Some weeks ago she published a manifesto about the current state of affairs on the CNMI. It was published in all the local papers and magazines. Please take a moment and read her ‘Call for Action’, here is an excerpt:
The U.S. House of Representatives has recently passed a bill extending the federal minimum wage hike to the Northern Mariana Islands in increments over time. There is also talk that U.S. Congress is seeking to federalize our immigration and labor system. In the midst of all this political tumult, we find ourselves in the throes of an economic crisis.
If there was ever a time to be brutally honest with ourselves and each other, that time is now. And the truth is, we are all responsible for the mess we are in. Mr. Cohen of the Department of Interior has said the problem is that U.S. Congress doesn’t know who we are. That is only part of the problem. From the 24 questions they’ve asked Mr. Cohen to answer, it’s clear that they do in fact have a very good idea of what is happening here. Moreover, even if U.S. Congress does have a distorted or incomplete perception of who we are -- the fact is that it is our own fault for earning that image in the first place. For years our government and business leaders have made misguided and outright corrupt decisions that have hurt all of us, and for years, we have allowed them to. It is time to own up to the mess we have all played a part in creating. [snip]
It is time we finally admitted, as a community, that all this political and economic turbulence has been years in the making. I fear, however, that our political and business leaders continue to react to the problems we face with the same old attitudes and non-solutions that created this chaos to begin with. I fear that they will receive this letter with the same reactionary, defensive positions that they have taken with previous challenges to the status quo. I also fear that the rest of us will simply allow them to do so, as we have always done in the past. [snip]
This letter is a call for action.
Change begins with honesty. How did we get here? Failed leadership has been a major part of the problem -- namely, in the chronic refusal of our elected officials to accept responsibility for their mistakes; in their widespread and continuing abuse of the public trust; and in their habitual lowering of standards for positions that are critical to the economic wellbeing of the Commonwealth, in favor of unqualified but politically well-connected individuals. [snip]
But just as our leaders have been part of the problem, so have we, the people of this Commonwealth, because we have allowed them to be. We vote them into office, and then we are silent when they misrepresent us. Our silence implies our consent of all the foolishness, crimes, and absurdities that have been committed in our names. [snip]
Then there is the problem of our silence in the midst of crisis. Our silence is perhaps the single greatest threat to the future of the Commonwealth. Why have we been so quiet in the face of blatant corruption and failed leadership? I can think of at least three reasons: fear, cynicism, and an unquestioning acceptance of what we are told. [snip]
Another example is the issue of the impact that a minimum wage hike would have on our economy. The Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the garment industry, and our elected leaders for years have been saying that raising the minimum wage too much, too quickly, or at all would destroy the economy and the garment industry, and that we needed the garment factories in order to survive. They said these things even when the economy was flourishing, and they are saying these things again today. We, for our part, have failed to question the facts and figures they have given us, even when their biases and motivations are obvious.
But what is so scary about raising the minimum wage? Why were our business leaders willing to swallow the overnight doubling of power rates, but have all these years been up in arms about raising the wages of their workers? If we move forward with a minimum wage increase, why should we make special exemptions for the garment industry, or any industry, as the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and the Administration have proposed? If an industry is failing because it cannot compete with its counterparts in other nations and cannot survive under the minimum conditions required of all other industries in the Commonwealth -- is this really an industry we want to continue to accommodate? [snip]
And what about our house workers, nannies, and farmers (many of whom make $300 a month and work 12 or more hours a day) -- what if we lose them with a minimum wage hike? Is it really such a scary prospect to clean our own homes, raise our own children, and grow our own food? Is it possible that $300 per month per family can have a very positive effect on the economy if it stays on-island -- creating new markets for professional daycare and housecleaning services, for example, or freeing up money for other goods and services? If it is more difficult to bring in large numbers of cheap foreign workers (especially if our immigration and labor system is also revamped), is it so frightening to imagine that businesses might be forced to hire and train residents and pay them a living wage? [snip]
The issue of federalization -- which has prompted this letter, which has triggered a panic among our business and political leaders, and thrown this entire Commonwealth into confusion -- raises yet another example of our failure to ask critical questions. U.S. Congress proposes to extend a federal minimum wage, and possibly a federal immigration and labor program, to the Commonwealth, and our immediate reaction is to beg them to reconsider, to create a federal wage review board to tell us how to implement a wage hike, to give us time to conduct more studies, and so on. But suppose we check their premises? Suppose we question the legality of imposing federal law on us without our consent, and when we lack representation in Congress? Suppose we go back to the Covenant, and the promises of self-government for the Northern Mariana Islands, and suspend the application of the federal minimum wage law in our Commonwealth, either through our own elected officials, or in a plebiscite? Is it possible that we could argue "No federalization without representation?"
Now, having said that, I should add that I am glad U.S. Congress has put such a spotlight on our wage, immigration, and labor problems, because for years our leaders have lied to them and to us and evaded responsibility for making the necessary reforms. I am glad that U.S. Congress has challenged our right to self-government, because we have not even proven to ourselves that we are capable of effectively managing our own affairs. Fighting for self-government is a battle that must be fought not just in the U.S. Capitol, but here in the Commonwealth as well. [snip]
This much is true: the status quo has failed us, and we have nothing to fear in challenging it. As citizens, as residents, as taxpayers of the Commonwealth, we have more power than we think -- far more power than we have ever exercised. We can do more than just complain in private about the decisions our elected officials make, and wait and hope for change in the next election. Elected officials only have as much power as we give them, and it is up to us to demand the representation we deserve. Protests, rallies, civil disobedience, letters, petitions, lawsuits, intelligent voting, participating in public hearings and legislative sessions, and even running for office -- these are just a few of the options we have for taking direct action to realize the changes that we want. [snip]
And so I put forth this call for action. The action that I propose begins with speaking up: let us begin holding public forums to fearlessly discuss the problems of the Commonwealth; to come up with constructive solutions and present them publicly and energetically; and to ask critical questions and demand accountability from our leaders, and especially those officials who have been exposed in the media for corruption and waste. Let us also publicize everything we discover through letters, rallies, signature drives, and other means, so that the greater community may be informed, and to ensure that our demands for change are actually heeded. Now more than ever we need to engage each other in honest dialogues about the changes we want, and to have the courage and the conscience to stand by our convictions. Together we can devise a plan of action that is truly representative of the people of this Commonwealth -- not merely a "unified position" of business interests and politicians. [snip]
I don’t expect anyone who reads this to accept and embrace everything that I have written here. In fact, I hope that this letter is questioned and criticized as much as anything else should be. But if others share my conviction that our community is in crisis, that we must abandon our fearfulness, and that the time to begin speaking up openly and bravely is now, please join me in fighting the good fight for our Commonwealth.
We have been silent long enough.
Much of that could be said about anyplace in America suffering under the stunning failure that is President Bush and his modern Republican Party. And Tina is correct, We have been silent long enough.
Including the CNMI in the minimum wage law is a first step. More important is the examination of where things are today and how to fix them. This needs to be a conversation between people of goodwill. As I told David Cohen we all want the same thing:
It is my hope that we are ultimately on the same side. It is my hope that we both want justice for the people on the CNMI—both natives and guest workers. I hope we both want a functional sustainable economy that works for the people and the environment. And that we both want the CNMI to be a full part of America living under our laws and with representation in the US Congress.
On February 8, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold a Hearing on the current state of affairs on the CNMI. That is part of an ongoing discussion of what legislative fixes are needed. And then there are the discussions underway on the CNMI about the possible changes. These are discussions we should join. Together we can make a difference.
I had an interesting meeting with Mr. Cohen today. There is much that we agree on. There are some areas of disagreement. Perhaps the biggest one is the fear of change. The powers that be on the CNMI are used to an economic system based on exploiting guest workers. They know the gig is up, but they want a slow and gradual transition that allows then to squeeze out just a bit more profit, or whatever. It is a very old argument, used over the centuries by those who build exploitation into their profit models. I do not have a lot of sympathy for their crocodile tears. For me, the long-term cost of injustice paid in ruined individual lives is more important than the temporary costs of moving away from a failed and corrupt economic system. But what do I know.
I’m expecting my conversation with Mr. Cohen to continue and I have to give him points for being willing to engage the progressive netroots in a conversation about the CNMI and the other Territories.
Boy is he toast when the wingnuts realize he has an open mind and is willing to listen to his critics.
Well, he can always leave the dark side and become a Democrat.
Cheers...