Press Coverage of Abramoff-White House Report

June 10, 2008

News travels fast. The media is flooded with stories about the Abramoff-White House-CNMI connection. Let's hope that this inspires people in power (Nancy? Harry? DOJ?) to take action to stop the greedy lobbying machine that has sent its corrupted poison tentacles into every branch of our democratic system.

It's not likely that both presidential candidates will speak out against the destructive lobbying machine since John McCain's campaign is run by a top DC lobbyist, Charlie Black. According to dengre of the Daily Kos, the senator is sitting on thousands of Abramoff documents. One of McCain's recently released advisors, Carlos Bonilla, was also implicated in the Abramoff-White House report according to TPM Muckraker. McCain received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from employees of Abramoff's firm Greenberg Taurig.

Representative Harry A. Waxman (D-CA) has posted the documents and links on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform website. There you can read depositions, check out the documents, and view the photos.

What the press is saying

Washington Post:
"The main action taken by the White House at Abramoff's request -- according to the report -- was to remove Alan Stayman from the State Department position that oversaw the relationship with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a major client of Abramoff and his Greenberg Traurig lobbying firm. Stayman had taken positions that were opposed by the island's government, the report says."

Associated Press:
"Fratto, the White House spokesman, called the House report "warmed-up leftovers. There is nothing significantly new in the report. If anything it confirms that Abramoff was decidedly unsuccessful in his attempts to influence administration policy."

The Hill:
"Allen Stayman, a State Department official, was targeted by Abramoff on behalf of his client, the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), because of his stance of establishing tough immigration controls to the islands in the Pacific Ocean.

In e-mails to White House officials, Abramoff and his lobbyists soon began calling for Stayman to be fired. In new e-mails and documents provided to the committee, White House aides weighed in with the State Department to speed his exit.

“We pulled the plug on him,” read one e-mail from an aide, according to the report. Then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and Rove were kept aware of Stayman’s firing as well.

“This just further documents that corrupt lobbyists were influencing decision-making at the White House, including personnel and policy,” said Stayman. “No one was asking why Abramoff was blocking these reforms.”

Stayman, now an aide to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has since worked on legislation that would extend U.S. immigration controls into the CNMI. Bush signed the bill into law this May."

Mother Jones:
"The latest findings strongly imply that Abramoff's success was at least partially due to his use of what one administration official referred to as "fruit": Gifts including meals and sports tickets. According to the White House documents and testimony, White House officials asked for or received tickets from Abramoff associates on 21 confirmed occasions."

The Washington Independent:
"At the start of the Bush administration, the Mariana Islands were a top client of Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm. The string of 15 islands between Hawaii and the Phillipines has been a part of the U.S. since World War II. The islands get to use the "Made in the USA" label, though the garment industry there, dependent on a female labor force, is notorious for sweatshops and human-rights abuses. Abramoff flew former House Majority Leader Tom Delay and some of Delay's staff to the islands to push for federal labor law exemptions for his client. The House enforcer and his staff had a tropical holiday in the process., snorkeling in the calm Pacific waters and playing golf at the four championship courses.

The Abramoff report released today by the House oversight committee lays out the astonishing extent of the disgraced lobbyist's influence on the islands. Abramoff was, in essence, human resources manager for the policy arm of the U.S. government on the islands -- the Dept. of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs -- that coordinates federal policy in the islands."

Pacific Magazine
"The House report also indicates that Abramoff and his team were successful in getting the White House not to endorse Juan Babauta, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in 2001, who was running against a third party candidate favored by Abramoff.

According to the Greenberg Traurig documents, on October 26, 2001, Abramoff sent a memo to and called a White House official arguing against an endorsement, and received an e-mail back from another White House official saying: "You win :). KR (Karl Rove) said no endorsement."

Babauta that year ran against then-House Speaker Benigno Fitial, who ran on the Covenant Party platform. Fitial is now the governor of the Northern Marianas. Fitial is a former executive of Tan Holdings, then one of the largest garment manufacturers on Saipan, an industry that relied on Abramoff to run interference for it in Washington.

Fitial has in the past referred to Abramoff as his "friend." Fitial played a key role earlier in convincing then-Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to keep the Northern Marianas' contract with Abramoff's lobbying firm."

TPM Muckraker:
"John McCain's campaign has taken down a web page that listed lobbyist Carlos Bonilla as an economic advisor.

Bonilla, a former special assistant to the president for economic policy, was included in today's report about White House ties with Jack Abramoff as one of the White House officials who received tickets from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's firm.

A McCain aide said Bonilla was dropped from the campaign a few weeks ago when McCain implemented a tougher conflict-of-interest policy barring most active lobbyists from his team. Bonilla is a senior vice president with the Washington Group."