by Peter Flaherty
Is there any corner of the globe that is safe from Clinton Administration corruption? The answer is no if a controversy over the actions of certain Interior Department officials toward the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is any guide.
A part of the United States, CNMI is a chain of three islands, the largest being Saipan, located in Micronesia north of Guam. If this tropical paradise is known at all to people on the mainland, it is usually in the context of World War II. U.S. Marines swept Japanese from the islands in brutal fighting. The U.S. then established an air base to facilitate the bombing of Japan, including the dropping of the atomic bomb.
Trouble in Paradise
Today, CNMI has a prosperous economy, fueled by the its free market
economic policies. I had the distinct pleasure to visit CNMI two
years ago, but found the islands under siege from Clinton Administration
bureaucrats tens of thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C.
CNMI is what's known as a U.S. Commonwealth. Its citizens voted to become part of the U.S., but it retains certain rights for itself, including control of labor and immigration laws. One of its biggest industries is assembling clothing using guest workers from a variety of countries.
This is troubling to the AFL-CIO and its United Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), which make the unsupported claim that CNMI garment industry costs American jobs. At the behest of Big Labor, the Labor Department and the Interior Department were turned loose on CNMI. This campaign has now blossomed into full-blown criminality, and the perpetrators have been caught red-handed.
Stayman Plays Politics
Using government time and resources for partisan political activities
violates the Hatch Act, and it is a crime. But that did not stop
two Interior Department officials, Allen Stayman and David North, from
seeking to aid candidates against several House Republicans, including
Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.) and Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
Stayman was the Interior Department's Director of Insular Affairs. As such, he was responsible for coordination of federal policy in Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands and CNMI. It appears, however, that Stayman instead coordinated partisan attacks on political foes.
Memos retrieved from the computers in Stayman's office detail efforts by David North, Insular Affairs' public affairs officer, to influence the1998 elections. A memo to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) with a blind copy to Stayman requests the names and numbers of Democratic challengers to Republican House members. North wrote, "As a one-time candidate...I understand the utility to all hands of Administration-candidate communications on such matters."
Stayman recently resigned his Interior Department post, but still holds a government job at the State Department. North "retired" and no longer holds a government job. And, this is only one of several scandals currently plaguing the Interior Department under Bruce Babbit, who was almost one of Clinton's Supreme Court nominees.
The House Resources Committee under Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) is currently investigating Stayman. For his illegal on-the-job politics, Stayman was recently inducted into NLPC's Ethics Hall of Shame.
Part of Big Labor's assault on CNMI has been a smear campaign, centered around allegations of "sweatshops." During my own visit to these facilities, I found modern, well-lit plants. The biggest complaint from the guest workers, who were making far more than they could at home, seemed to be that they were forced to take a day off each week.
More Hypocrisy
If you think that Clinton's anti-CNMI campaign has anything to do with
"sweatshops" or workers' rights, consider that in 1996 Clinton-Gore fund
raisers successfully shook down neighboring Guam. Guam and its business
community coughed up $382,000 for Clinton and Gore's campaign and $510,000
in soft money for the Democratic Party. A month after the election,
the Clinton Administration allowed Guam greater control over labor and
immigration matters, the same things that the Administration found so objectionable
in CNMI.
It has been said that every policy of the Clinton administration has a fund raising dimension. It seems that the more noble-sounding the initiative, the more likely it is a cover for sleaze. Don't expect Janet Reno to go after Stayman, but the House Resources Committee is hot on his trail. Let's hope that this House Committee can get to the truth.
EW