CNN / May 9, 2005
The real scandal of Tom DeLay
By Mark Shields

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Forget the freebie trips across the Atlantic and
the Pacific. Forget the casinos and the allegedly illicit contributions
-- they represent only degrees of avarice.

To grasp the moral bankruptcy of the public Tom DeLay, the House
majority leader, you only have to know about Frank Murkowski and
Saipan.

Today, Frank Murkowki is the governor of Alaska, but from 1980 to 2002,
he was a conservative Republican senator from Alaska.

How conservative? His voting record earned him zero ratings from
organized labor's AFL-CIO and the liberal Americans for Democratic
Action, and perfect 100s from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the
American Conservative Union.

But as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,
Frank Murkowski became furious at the abusive sweatshop conditions
endured by workers, overwhelmingly immigrants, in the U.S. territory of
the Northern Mariana Islands, of which Saipan is the capital.

Because they were produced in a territory of the United States,
garments traveled tariff-free and quota-free to the profitable U.S.
market and were entitled to display the coveted "Made in the USA"
label.

Among the manufacturers that had profited from the un-free labor market
on the island were Tommy Hilfiger USA, Gap, Calvin Klein and Liz
Claiborne.

Moved by the sworn testimony of U.S. officials and human-rights
advocates that the 91 percent of the workforce who were immigrants --
from China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- were being
paid barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage and were forced to live
behind barbed wire in squalid shacks minus plumbing, work 12 hours a
day, often seven days a week, without any of the legal protections U.S.
workers are guaranteed, Murkowski wrote a bill to extend the protection
of U.S. labor and minimum-wage laws to the workers in the U.S.
territory of the Northern Marianas.

So compelling was the case for change the Alaska Republican marshaled
that in early 2000, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Murkowski
worker reform bill.

But one man primarily stopped the U.S. House from even considering that
worker-reform bill: then-House Republican Whip Tom DeLay.

According to law firm records recently made public, lobbyist Jack
Abramoff, paid millions to stop reform and keep the status quo, met
personally at least two dozen times with DeLay on the subject in one
two-year period. The DeLay staff was often in daily contact with
Abramoff.

DeLay traveled with his family and staff over New Year's of 1997 on an
Abramoff scholarship endowed by his client, the government of the
territory, to the Marianas, where golf and snorkeling were enjoyed.

DeLay fully approved of the working and living conditions. The Texan's
salute to the owners and Abramoff's government clients was recorded by
ABC-TV News: "You are a shining light for what is happening to the
Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what
we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the free-market
system"

Later, DeLay would tell The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin that the
low-wage, anti-union conditions of the Marianas constituted "a perfect
petri dish of capitalism. It's like my Galapagos Island."

Contrast that with what then-Sen. Murkowski told me in a 1998
interview: "The last time we heard a justification that economic
advances would be jeopardized if workers were treated properly was
shortly before Appomattox."

The "Made in the USA" label means standards of quality and standards of
conduct.

But more important than how a product is made is how the people who
make that product are treated -- as human beings with innate dignity --
who are free to organize and entitled to a living wage.

Did somebody say something about moral values?

CNN / May 9, 2005
The real scandal of Tom DeLay
By Mark Shields

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Forget the freebie trips across the Atlantic and
the Pacific. Forget the casinos and the allegedly illicit contributions
-- they represent only degrees of avarice.

To grasp the moral bankruptcy of the public Tom DeLay, the House
majority leader, you only have to know about Frank Murkowski and
Saipan.

Today, Frank Murkowki is the governor of Alaska, but from 1980 to 2002,
he was a conservative Republican senator from Alaska.

How conservative? His voting record earned him zero ratings from
organized labor's AFL-CIO and the liberal Americans for Democratic
Action, and perfect 100s from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the
American Conservative Union.

But as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,
Frank Murkowski became furious at the abusive sweatshop conditions
endured by workers, overwhelmingly immigrants, in the U.S. territory of
the Northern Mariana Islands, of which Saipan is the capital.

Because they were produced in a territory of the United States,
garments traveled tariff-free and quota-free to the profitable U.S.
market and were entitled to display the coveted "Made in the USA"
label.

Among the manufacturers that had profited from the un-free labor market
on the island were Tommy Hilfiger USA, Gap, Calvin Klein and Liz
Claiborne.

Moved by the sworn testimony of U.S. officials and human-rights
advocates that the 91 percent of the workforce who were immigrants --
from China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- were being
paid barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage and were forced to live
behind barbed wire in squalid shacks minus plumbing, work 12 hours a
day, often seven days a week, without any of the legal protections U.S.
workers are guaranteed, Murkowski wrote a bill to extend the protection
of U.S. labor and minimum-wage laws to the workers in the U.S.
territory of the Northern Marianas.

So compelling was the case for change the Alaska Republican marshaled
that in early 2000, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Murkowski
worker reform bill.

But one man primarily stopped the U.S. House from even considering that
worker-reform bill: then-House Republican Whip Tom DeLay.

According to law firm records recently made public, lobbyist Jack
Abramoff, paid millions to stop reform and keep the status quo, met
personally at least two dozen times with DeLay on the subject in one
two-year period. The DeLay staff was often in daily contact with
Abramoff.

DeLay traveled with his family and staff over New Year's of 1997 on an
Abramoff scholarship endowed by his client, the government of the
territory, to the Marianas, where golf and snorkeling were enjoyed.

DeLay fully approved of the working and living conditions. The Texan's
salute to the owners and Abramoff's government clients was recorded by
ABC-TV News: "You are a shining light for what is happening to the
Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what
we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the free-market
system"

Later, DeLay would tell The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin that the
low-wage, anti-union conditions of the Marianas constituted "a perfect
petri dish of capitalism. It's like my Galapagos Island."

Contrast that with what then-Sen. Murkowski told me in a 1998
interview: "The last time we heard a justification that economic
advances would be jeopardized if workers were treated properly was
shortly before Appomattox."

The "Made in the USA" label means standards of quality and standards of
conduct.

But more important than how a product is made is how the people who
make that product are treated -- as human beings with innate dignity --
who are free to organize and entitled to a living wage.

Did somebody say something about moral values?

CNN / May 9, 2005
The real scandal of Tom DeLay
By Mark Shields

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Forget the freebie trips across the Atlantic and
the Pacific. Forget the casinos and the allegedly illicit

-- they represent only degrees of avarice.

To grasp the moral bankruptcy of the public Tom DeLay, the House
majority leader, you only have to know about Frank Murkowski and
Saipan.

Today, Frank Murkowki is the governor of Alaska, but from 1980 to

he was a conservative Republican senator from Alaska.

How conservative? His voting record earned him zero ratings from
organized labor's AFL-CIO and the liberal Americans for Democratic
Action, and perfect 100s from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the
American Conservative Union.

But as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,
Frank Murkowski became furious at the abusive sweatshop conditions
endured by workers, overwhelmingly immigrants, in the U.S. territory

the Northern Mariana Islands, of which Saipan is the capital.

Because they were produced in a territory of the United States,
garments traveled tariff-free and quota-free to the profitable U.S.
market and were entitled to display the coveted "Made in the USA"
label.

Among the manufacturers that had profited from the un-free labor

on the island were Tommy Hilfiger USA, Gap, Calvin Klein and Liz
Claiborne.

Moved by the sworn testimony of U.S. officials and human-rights
advocates that the 91 percent of the workforce who were immigrants --
from China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- were being
paid barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage and were forced to live
behind barbed wire in squalid shacks minus plumbing, work 12 hours a
day, often seven days a week, without any of the legal protections

workers are guaranteed, Murkowski wrote a bill to extend the

of U.S. labor and minimum-wage laws to the workers in the U.S.
territory of the Northern Marianas.

So compelling was the case for change the Alaska Republican marshaled
that in early 2000, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Murkowski
worker reform bill.

But one man primarily stopped the U.S. House from even considering

worker-reform bill: then-House Republican Whip Tom DeLay.

According to law firm records recently made public, lobbyist Jack
Abramoff, paid millions to stop reform and keep the status quo, met
personally at least two dozen times with DeLay on the subject in one
two-year period. The DeLay staff was often in daily contact with
Abramoff.

DeLay traveled with his family and staff over New Year's of 1997 on

Abramoff scholarship endowed by his client, the government of the
territory, to the Marianas, where golf and snorkeling were enjoyed.

DeLay fully approved of the working and living conditions. The

salute to the owners and Abramoff's government clients was recorded

ABC-TV News: "You are a shining light for what is happening to the
Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about

we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the

system"

Later, DeLay would tell The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin that

low-wage, anti-union conditions of the Marianas constituted "a

petri dish of capitalism. It's like my Galapagos Island."

Contrast that with what then-Sen. Murkowski told me in a 1998
interview: "The last time we heard a justification that economic
advances would be jeopardized if workers were treated properly was
shortly before Appomattox."

The "Made in the USA" label means standards of quality and standards

conduct.

But more important than how a product is made is how the people who
make that product are treated -- as human beings with innate dignity

who are free to organize and entitled to a living wage.

Did somebody say something about moral values?