CA - 50: Bilbray and the Abramoff Gang TIMELINE on Marianas Corruption

[Dems Will Win]

"Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn't know me is almost certainly lying. This is not an age when you can run away from facts. I had to deal with my records, and others will have to deal with theirs." -Jack Abramoff

Background - The super-rich Tan Family from China acquired sweatshops, hotels, bars and golf courses in the Marianas, a US Territory in the South Pacific. Local officials looked the other way at labor violations and far worse. Workers are lured from foreign lands and then forced to work at menial labor for low wages with expenses taken out—and they are not allowed to leave. There are 42,000 foreign workers in the Marianas out of a population of 53,000.


Workers inside the RIFU garment factory, in Saipan.

Young women are forced into prostitution, really sex slavery, for the local sex tour industry for Asian businessmen. These women are called “Party Girls” and can be had for $70. When they inevitably become pregnant, they are forced to have abortions by their employers, often the Tan Family.



If Party Girls or Garment Workers Become Pregnant, They Are Forced To Have Abortions. “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)

Bilbray – Abramoff – Marianas Timeline

1994 to 2000 - Republican Congressman from California Brian Bilbray receives over $13,000 from Tom Delay’s PACs.

1995 - “Abramoff and his team were hired as lobbyists for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. At the time, the islands’ sweet deal was in trouble, as a decade’s worth of rumblings about labor conditions and immigration abuses there had finally led members of Congress and the Clinton administration to press for legislation to eliminate the island’s exemptions from U.S. minimum wage and immigration laws. But Abramoff, using his close ties to Republicans in the House, worked mightily to block such reforms.

Many of his efforts focused on the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. territories, including the Marianas. Although members of both houses of Congress and both political parties repeatedly pushed to bring the Marianas under federal immigration and minimum wage laws, not a single legislative attempt has succeeded—most killed in the House Resources Committee.”

http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2006/paradise_full.asp

Dec. 13, 1996 – Bilbray prepares to take a trip to the Marianas that will be illegally funded by Jack Abramoff, who at the time is NOT under contract to the Marianas government. Bilbray is warned by the House Committee on Conduct that a planned trip to the Marianas may only take place only if it is a government expense and not paid for by lobbyists. “He received the invitation from the governor of the islands, because the islands were struggling to come to grips with foreign guest workers who were giving birth to children while staying there and then claiming birthright citizenship for their children, Bilbray said. Before he went on the trip, he also requested that the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct give its approval for the trip, he said.

In a Dec. 13, 1996, letter to Bilbray, the committee approved his request ---- with qualifications.

"Assuming the Committee's understanding regarding payment of the costs of the trip is correct, you may participate in the trip under this provision," the letter stated.”

Despite the warning, Bilbray goes on the trip either knowing Abramoff paid for it--or not checking exactly who was paying the enormous bill.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/02/05/news/top_stories/23_05_292_4_06.txt

1996 – For New Year’s Eve, Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray flies to the Marianas and back in the same plane as Jack Abramoff, along with gang member Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), John Duncan (R-TN) and their wives. Abramoff invoices show that he paid for the trip, over $10,000 per Congressional couple. Once there, after a perfunctory sweatshop tour, it was golf, fun in the sun, and more golf (and who knows what else). All three Congressmen agreed that the Marianas were a “little experiment” in capitalism, from which Washington could learn a lot. Bilbray tells his Marianas audience “You’re the cutting edge, socially and economically…” He said the Marianas has a very “progressive approach to immigration issues. The Northern Marianas has a lot of answers for the rest of the American family.”

“Abramoff billed numerous trips to his personal credit card or the firm, the records state, and then pressed the islands to reimburse him to avoid violating the new ban on lobbyists giving gifts to House members”. - April 28, 2005 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

1997 – Bilbray does not disclose the Marianas trip on his financial disclosure forms as required, saying later he thought the Marianas government paid for the journey, making it a US government expense. After the Republican trip, the Marianas government re-hires Preston Gates and reimburses Abramoff for the plane and hotel bills.

1997 – Around 200 babies become US citizens per year in the Marianas, complicating matters for the crooked sweatshop owners and their partners in crime at Marianas immigration, who always threaten non-citizen workers in numerous ways. Bilbray writes a bill attempting to limit the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, so that babies born on US soil in the Marianas can become US citizens only if at least one of their parents is a US citizen—and only for the Marianas!

October 1997 – Bilbray, Rohrbacher, Royce and Duncan hold luncheon for Marianas Governor Tenorio to fight against Clinton’s attempt to repeal the islands’ “Made in USA” label status and take away local immigration authority unless reforms were made on the sweatshop, forced prostitution and forced abortion issues.

1997 – Led by Tom Delay, Bilbray and The Abramoff Gang in Congress votes against bill requiring Marianas sweatshop owners to raise the minimum wage past $3.05.

1998 – A girl who was a 14-year old sex slave in the Marianas testifies before the US Senate, telling how she was forced to dance naked and have sex with bar patrons even though “I was too young to have hair between my legs”.

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

1998 to 2000 – Bilbray receives $7,000 from Brent Wilkes or his entities. Wilkes is the corrupt phony defense contractor in the Duke Cunningham bribery case, the same one who allegedly organized the GOP Prostitute Poker Parties at the Watergate Hotel (according to fellow phony defense contractor and briber Mitchell Wade). Wilkes is now cooperating with prosecutors.

1999 - Tom Delay, a leader of The Abramoff Gang, raises $100,000 for the 49th District 2000 run in an attempt to get Bilbray re-elected. - WP 3/25/99, Roll Call 6/14/99

2000 - Bilbray loses to Democrat Susan Davis in the November election.

2001 – Three months after losing his House seat, Bilbray turns lobbyist, getting a job immediately from one of Jack Abramoff’s clients, the Viejas Indian Tribe. They pay him $20,000. Bilbray goes through a loophole in the 1-year hiatus on lobbying by focusing on immigration.



2006 – Running to replace convicted Republican Congresscrook Duke Cunningham, Bilbray denies he was friends with Jack Abramoff, despite all their ties and 20 hours on a plane together to the Marianas and back (convicted Republican David Safavian was also on that plane). "I assume I've run into him during the process," Bilbray said. "He was all over the Hill. But when I see him on TV, it's not someone I recognize."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060112/news_1mi12jenkins.html

2006 - Bilbray says his ties to Abramoff were “very tenuous”.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060306-9999-1n6bilbray.html

2006 - Bilbray said he doesn't remember ever having met Abramoff. However, "I assume I have run into him, but I never received any contributions from him," Bilbray said, adding that none of his staff members at the time remembered having met Abramoff.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/02/05/news/top_stories/23_05_292_4_06.txt

2006 – KPBS report on Bilbray and the illegal Marianas trip, paid for by Abramoff:

“BILBRAY: "Well it was paid for by the northern Marianas contrary to what people say, the united states government subdivision--the American government--paid for that and it was cleared ahead of time." Invoices show the trip was illegally paid for by Abramoff, who was later reimbursed by the Mariana Islands Government - which gets most of its funding from U.S. taxpayers. The lobby effort was considered successful, by the way, as the sweatshop reforms went nowhere.


Sources:

http://www.nationaldemocraticmessage.net/Corrupt/NDM%2004142006.pdf#search=%22The%20came%20they%20saw%20they%20golfed%22

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/1/14017/31603

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeoa6nx/

http://bilbraytheliberallobbyist.com/page2.htm

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO WIN CUNNINGHAM'S SEAT BACK FOR FRANCINE BUSBY, RECOMMEND!

and send some love to Busby:
http://www.busbyforcongress.com/contribute.php