Posted on 03/15/2006 7:46:44 PM PST by Jean S
You may remember news reports a few weeks ago about the nationwide reach of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fundraising network.
The nonpartisan website PoliticalMoneyLine reported that her biggest political action committee, Friends of Hillary, has raised more than $20 million since the beginning of 2005.
Some of that money came, as it does in any campaign, from donors who gave less than $200. Such contributions do not have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, and thus we have no information about them.
But of the more than $13 million that came from individuals whose contributions were reported, $5.63 million came from Mrs. Clinton’s “home” state, New York.
Donors in California gave $1.54 million. Washington, D.C., accounted for $603,360. And donors in Sen. Clinton’s actual “home” state, Illinois, gave $554,088.
The list goes on and on. Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan — until it gets to something called “MP.”
Do you know what “MP” is? Neither did I.
It stands for Marianas Protectorate, and it refers to the Northern Mariana Islands.
It turns out that Sen. Clinton has some big fans in Saipan. And most of them are in the family of one Willie Tan.
Last year, Tan gave $2,000 to Friends of Hillary. So did Raymond Tan, Siu Lin Tan and Josie Tan, all members of Willie Tan’s family.
FEC records indicate that the $2,000 checks from Willie, Raymond and Siu Lin were all received on Sept. 30, 2005, indicating they were sent together. The check from Josie was received Oct. 2.
Together, the Tan family’s $8,000 contribution to Friends of Hillary was more than the senator’s PAC received, separately, from residents of the entire states of Hawaii, Mississippi, Nebraska, Vermont, Utah, Kansas, Wyoming, Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota, Montana or North Dakota.
You might not have heard of Willie Tan, but he is quite well-known in the Northern Marianas as a garment-industry tycoon. Sometimes he’s also described as a sweatshop operator.
He is also well-known in the U.S. Congress, where some of Sen. Clinton’s fellow Democrats have denounced him and his factories, which pay subminimum wages, for years, mostly because of his tireless efforts to make sure those factories are never subjected to U.S. labor laws.
None of that has attracted much new coverage. But there is one reason you might have heard of Willie Tan. His name has popped up here and there in connection with a man with whom he’s done quite a bit of business over the years: Jack Abramoff.
Congressional investigators probing the Abramoff affair have run across Tan’s name in some of the disgraced lobbyists’ e-mails.
My colleague on this page, Josh Marshall, has posted some of those e-mails on his website, talkingpointsmemo.com. For example, in a March 28, 2000, note, Abramoff billed Willie Tan $223,679 for expenses relating to the sports skyboxes that Abramoff used in his lobbying.
Why was Willie Tan paying Abramoff? Because Abramoff could provide access to U.S. lawmakers. Last year, ABC News reported that Abramoff “arranged a lavish overseas trip to the island of Saipan for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [R-Texas] over the New Year’s holiday in 1997.”
Correspondent Brian Ross reported that DeLay met with Willie Tan during the trip, and ABC played a surreptitiously recorded tape in which Tan claimed that DeLay had promised to stop moves in Congress to reform the island’s garment factories.
Last year, National Journal reported that Tan also met with DeLay and Abramoff during DeLay’s 2000 trip to England and Scotland.
And a few months ago The Washington Post reported that “the owners of textile companies in the Mariana Islands” — that would include Willie Tan — contributed $500,000 to the U.S. Family Network, the big-money, secret-donor group linked to DeLay.
Now, normally one might expect Sen. Clinton to denounce someone like that — if only for his ties to all those terrible Republicans. (In 2000 and 2004, Willie Tan contributed to the Bush-Cheney campaigns.)
Just read what Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) said after the ABC report aired. “We have been trying for years to secure hearings to investigate reports of mistreatment of foreign workers in this U.S. territory,” Miller told reporters. “Now we apparently know why our requests have been denied — a very cozy relationship between the Republican leadership of the House and the major garment-industry tycoon in Saipan.”
Sen. Clinton might well join Rep. Miller, along with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who has also denounced Tan’s business practices.
But instead, she is accepting Tan’s generosity and support.
Of course, he’s an old friend. Several years ago, the Post reported that Mrs. Clinton met with Tan and other like-minded supporters during a quick fundraising visit to Guam in 1995.
But these days Sen. Clinton is being quiet about all that. A spokesman for Friends of Hillary did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the Willie Tan contributions.
But at some point in the coming campaign(s), perhaps she’ll be asked about her friend in Saipan.
York is a White House correspondent for National Review. His column appears in The Hill each week.
E-mail: byork@nationalreview.com
and of course this will be all over the news daily for the next 6 months - (sarc)
This is rich - it's as bad as Dukaksissss in the tank helmet - this should get plastered everywhere - she looks ridiculous
I wonder if Byron will go on Hairball with his friend Chrissy and tell this story???
Fat Face Hypocrite in a dunce hat.
Excuse me .. aren't these FOREIGN donations .. and aren't they illegal ..?? Or am I missing something ..??
All the Clintons have always looked like idiots-but no one seems to notice.
Looks like a cankle shade.
Hillary, tired of the miniscule results from ash tray hurling; tries out as the nose cone of a ballistic Weapon of Mass Destruction.
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