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Doolittle was made aware of sweatshops, sex
slavery, forced abortions and anti-religion abuses on the
Northern Mariana Islands in 1997 in three letters from Wendy
Doromal: one to Doolittle,
one to Rep.
Don Young (then Chairman of the House Resources Committee),
and one to Rep.
Nancy Johnson (then Chairman of the House Ethics Committee).
As a member of the House Resources Committee
Doolittle also was privy to a Department of the Interior report chronicling
human rights abuses in the CNMI.
Instead of investigating these accusations,
Doolittle, at the behest of "good
friend" and convicted congressional
briber, Jack Abramoff, furthered his support for
the local government tolerating and fostering these abuses.
In fact, Abramoff referred to Doolittle as a “hero
for the CNMI” in an email to
a CNMI government official.
Convicted congressional briber Jack Abramoff
began lobbying for (CNMI) in 1995. Abramoff collected over
$7 million in fees from the CNMI to keep Congress from imposing
the federal minimum wage and for other issues. His initial
contract with CNMI ended in 1998. He was reinstated
as CNMI’s chief lobbyist in 2000 — after help
from DeLay, Doolittle and
prominent congressional staffers got the contract reinstated.
Billing records from Abramoff's lobbying firm
in 2001 show Doolittle spoke and met several times each month
with members of Team Abramoff to discuss federal appropriations
and the concerns of the CNMI government. (“Lobbyist
Donated Cash to Doolittle — Congressman Received $14,000,
Helped Abramoff Win Contract,” 8/5/06
Sacramento Bee)
Doolittle secured at least $400,000 of federal
money for a CNMI study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
on possible “improvements
to the CNMI's water infrastructure.”
Doolittle signed "Dear Colleague" letters
praising the islands. The
Saipan Tribune reported about one such letter, “Mr.
Doolittle's letter is like a whiff of fresh air for CNMI
lobbyists in Washington DC.”
Doolittle met a number of times with Marianas
officials, particularly Benigne Fitial, a close Abramoff
associate who as Speaker of the House of the CNMI lobbied
hard to reinstate Abramoff as the CNMI’s lobbyist.
Doolittle visited the islands in February of 1999 as part
of a congressional delegation. At least twice, in April of
2000 and April of 2001, he met with Fitial in Washington
D.C. And in August of 2001, he endorsed Fitial in his run
for governor. (8/20/01
Saipan Tribune)
After the damning ABC News’ 20/20 story, “The
Shame of Saipan,” — exposing CNMI’s
culture of sweatshops, sex slavery, forced prostitution — Doolittle
wrote a “Dear
Colleague” letter attacking the ABC news report
and defending the corrupt practices of the Island. He
called the report a “ratings grab” and argued
the problems on the Marianas were really no worse than “any
other city on the mainland.”
Another letter, sent in March of 2001, about
the findings of a report by the U.S. Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) was apparently written by
former Doolittle Legislative Director and Abramoff employee, Kevin
Ring. Records from Abramoff's firm show that Kevin Ring
billed the islands on March 12, 2001 for “work with
Rep. Doolittle office regarding letter on OSHA report.” Doolittle's
letter went out the next day according to press reports in
The Saipan Tribune.
In May 2001, Doolittle wrote a letter
to Ben Fitial, expressing his eagerness to earmark
money for the islands.
Twenty-Nine times. That's how many bills
have been proposed to fix things on the CNMI, and that's
how many times John Doolittle has stood against addressing
the sweatshop, forced abortion, and sex slavery problem on
the CNMI.
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