Pombo + Doolittle + Abramoff = Corruption

Pombo gets unlikely donation
John Upton
Tracy Press

The nation’s largest textiles union donated $5,000 to Congressman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, during a primary campaign that saw Pombo attacked for blocking legislation that some lawmakers said would end textile-worker sweatshop conditions in the Northern Marianas Islands.

The UNITE HERE union, which represents 450,000 of the nation’s lowest-paid workers, including 350 employees at two Northern Marianas Islands hotels, made the donation through its To Insure Progress political action committee in May.

Joe McLaughlin, president of Sacramento Local 49 and the Californian State Council, said the donation was a reward for Pombo’s support of the casino, hotel and restaurant industries, which keep his members employed.

McLaughlin said Pombo had long been “a friend” of Local 49, which represents roughly 2,600 hospitality workers, including 1,100 in Indian casinos.

“We get a lot of legislative help from him — and he’s actually talked John Doolittle into (supporting) us,” he said. “He’s doing a good job, and we want to keep it that way; so we give him money.”

Doolittle, a Republican who represents a Californian congressional district that includes Roseville, has been under scrutiny for his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Political Director Tom Snyder said the union’s support for Pombo carried over from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, which merged with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees in 2004 to create UNITE HERE.

“Richard Pombo has always been a supporter of our efforts to organize workers in California,” he said. “Right from the beginning, when he ran for office, he’s moved events out of restaurants and hotels where we had members on strike.”
Snyder said political donations were decided in consultation with local officials and that membership dues were not used for political donations. He said it would be illegal to use dues for this purpose.

Pombo had raised more than $1.4 million when the union’s $5,000 donation nearly doubled his contributions from labor during this campaign cycle to $12,000.

Pombo — who is chairman of the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over tribal affairs and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands — ignored fellow lawmakers’ pleas to investigate labor abuses there, said a spokeswoman for Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez.

Pombo’s committee spokesman did not return phone calls.

Abramoff was hired to lobby for the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association and the Northern Marianas Island’s government. He organized a 2004 trip to the Marianas for Pombo and other congressmen, and Pombo later returned $7,000 in campaign donations from the lobbyist, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for fraud.

As an American protectorate, clothes from the Northern Marianas Islands are stamped “Made in the USA.” However, many nonresident textile workers in the 25 to 30 factories there are paid less than the minimum wage of $3.10 per hour, which is set by the Federal Government, according to UNITE HERE’s Pacific Island organizer Morris Luka.

The Marianas Islands was listed in UNITE HERE’s Sweatshop Files — a publication of its Behind the Label program.

The union took each garment factory to court for labor violations, Luka said.
When UNITE HERE, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union broke away from the AFL-CIO last year, they were critical of the umbrella group for donating too much to Democrats who gave too little in return.

UNITE HERE’s political action committee divided $24,000 among 10 Republican congressional incumbents this year, election filings show.
Pombo and Frank LoBiondo, R-New Jersey, were given $5,000 each. Donations of up to $4,000 went to John Sweeney and James Walsh from New York; Ray LaHood, Jerry Weller, Judy Biggert and John Shimkus from Illinois; Nancy Johnson from Connecticut and Tom Davis from Virginia.

All these representatives, except Johnson, sided with the Democrats in a failed June bid to force the Federal Aviation Authority back to the negotiating table with airline unions that are unaffiliated with UNITE HERE.

UNITE HERE also divided $4,500 between three Republican senators this year — Lincoln Chafee from Rhode Island, Sam Brownback from Kansas and Tim Johnson from Illinois.

The union gave about $200,000 to 60 Democratic candidates this year.

• To reach reporter John Upton, call 830-4274 or e-mail jupton@tracypress.com.