Indian Tribes and foreign sweatshops pay Grauls way

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for Mark greens top aide, Mark Graul, it does.

As if taking AND requesting "gifts" from lobbyists in the form of Abramoff freebies wasn't enough.

Wait until you here about was who was funding the "gifts" to Graul.

Today's Milwaukee Journal sentinel (MJS) article only scratched the surface of this coming bombshell for Marky Mark.

As former Republican National Committee attorney Jan Witold Baran said, "It was exceptional even for prosperous lobbying groups to have skyboxes, observing: "Firms typically do not rent such suites because the price of tickets now regularly exceeds the limits on gifts to legislators."

So what did Abramoff do to entertain congressional Chief's of Staff like Mark Graul? He had clients like Indian tribes and foreign sweat shop interests pay for the luxury suites and then Abramoff and his associates gave out the freebies.

That's why the MJS story reports, "The firm last week disavowed that control of the skybox, issuing a statement indicating: "Mr. Abramoff leased and managed the MCI Center box in his personal capacity."

As the Washington Post reported last month in a story entitled, Tribal Money Linked to GOP Fundraising, Skybox Events Were Not Always Reported to FEC, "They used tribal money, records and interviews show, to pay for events that appeared to be designed more to help House Republicans' campaigns and Abramoff's overall lobbying effort than the Indians' legislative causes."

Another one of Abramoff's clients was the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association and the Northern Mariana Islands, who hired Abramoff to "stop legislation aimed at cracking down on sweatshops and sex shops in the American territory."

The funding for the sweat shop lobbying effort came from Luen Thai Holdings and its controlling shareholders, the Tan family.

As reported last week by The Standard, a Chinese business newspaper, "Abramoff billed Tan US$223,679 in 2000 toward the annual rental of skyboxes in three Washington-area stadiums and arenas."

So who does Graul have to thank for giving him the tickets? Abramoff.

But who does he have to thank for paying for the luxury suite that he enjoyed? Indian Tribes and sweat shop owners.

This seems to me to be in touch with those Wisconsin values Green and Graul are always talking about.

"The foundations of the company's profitable niche are loopholes in US law that allow free migration to the island, set its minimum wage below mainland US levels and allow clothing sewn there to carry the "Made in USA" label and be exempt from quotas and tariffs.

"Before the Tan family had friends in Washington, they made enemies. In 1991, the US Labor Department sued six Tan companies for paying 1,350 mainly Chinese workers less than Saipan's minimum wage and forcing them to work up to 90 hours a week without required overtime pay."

I hope you sleep well tonight Marky Mark.