A Lot Missing In LA Times' Coverage Of Abramoff-Stayman Saga

On Sunday October 15, 2006, the Los Angeles Times published a 1488-word, front-page article entitled, "Displease a Lobbyist, Get Fired," by Times staffer Peter Wallsten. The gist of the piece (if you can't glean it from the title): Lobbyist Jack Abramoff "manipulated the system" and used his influence at the White House to get Allen Stayman, a State Department official who was working against the interests of Abramoff's clients, fired. Wallsten's lengthy piece portrays Stayman as an unwitting government official who was innocently bulldozed for standing in the way of Abramoff and his interests.

However, Wallsten's article left out a big chunk of the story. Wallsten failed to inform his readers that Mr. Stayman, back in the 1990's, resigned from President Clinton's Department of Interior. He stepped down after serious criminal investigations was conducted against him and his department for illegal political activity. Documents show that his office contacted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to "target" Republican lawmakers who were up for reelection in 1998. The bulk of this campaign activity resulted out of an issue on which Abramoff and Stayman clashed.

In 1997, President Clinton planned to impose federal minimum wage and immigration laws on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a territory of the United States. The local government of Saipan (on CNMI) and several Republican politicians strongly opposed these measures. Politicians, garment factory owners, and human rights groups bitterly clashed on the issue. Amidst all this, Jack Abramoff represented several garment factories on Saipan and its local government. This is where the story really starts.

Here's a rough timeline of the story that Wallsten omitted:

1. 1997: Allen Stayman, as the acting director of the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) at the Department of Interior (DOI), reportedly writes a letter to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In the letter, Stayman allegedly asks the head of the DCCC to "repudiate" Froilan Tenorio, the Democratic governor of the island of Saipan, for lobbying against Clinton's plans for Saipan. "Largely out of sight, there is a nominal Democrat, a Governor running for reelection, who scorns our President, who is in Washington this week playing footsie with the Republican House leadership, and who should be repudiated -- in writing -- by the Nation's Democrats," wrote Stayman ("Interior to probe on-job campaign," Washington Times, August 18, 1999). Accompanying the memo is a four-page document entitled, "Proposed DNC Press release" ("Senate Hires controversial Dem staffer," The Hill, July 8, 2003). (BTW, after his election, Gov. Tenorio switched parties. ("Interior to probe on-job campaign," Washington Times, August 18, 1999))

2. 1997: David North, working with Allen Stayman at the OIA, reportedly writes a letter to the DCCC asking for information on how to help Democratic candidates for the upcoming 1998 midterm elections. ("We have been asked for the names and phone numbers of the Democratic candidate [sic] for Congress in these district [sic] if they have been identified for 1998 ... Some friends have asked for this information because the incumbents ([Rep. Dick] Armey, [Rep. Tom] DeLay and [Rep. Dana] Rohrabacher) have been giving the Clinton Administration a hard time." (bold mine) ("Interior official hit for on-job politics," Washington Times, August 3, 1999). North's letter is perfectly clear that these politicians should be targeted because of their opposite positions on trade and immigration on the CNMI. (North: "My motivations are: to elect Democrats to the House and to punish the handful of obvious GOP sweatshop allies." ("Tactics of thugs at Interior," Washington Times commentary, August 20, 1999).)

3. March 13, 1998: Allen Stayman appears on an episode of ABC's 20/20 (link) about reported worker abuses on the island of Saipan. The piece is also a very unflattering portrait of Rep. Tom DeLay. The piece clearly implies that Rep. DeLay is turning his back on "sweatshop labor," "forced abortions," and "forced prostitution" on Saipan. (And here's the kicker: In his report, Brian Ross, the host of the 20/20 segment, says that DeLay was one of "more than 80 influential Congressmen and Congressional staff members" who were brought out from Washington to visit Saipan. "More than 80"? Why, then, the laser-beam focus only on DeLay?? No other Congressman is profiled in Ross' report!)

Are you with me so far? In 1997, Stayman and his cronies at his department clearly appear to be performing illegal campaign and lobbying activity against Republicans with the DNC and DCCC. Then, in 1998, Mr. Stayman appears on national television in a story plastering Rep. DeLay for his activities regarding the island of Saipan. There's more:

4. SUMMER 1999: The House Resources Committee begins an investigation into illegal activity at the OIA. The committee is chaired by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). The investigation looks into whether North and others at the OIA violated the Hatch Act, which forbids on-the-job campaign and lobbying activity at government offices. Stayman becomes the subject of a separate investigation by the Office of Special Counsel (OSG). (Stayman retains Washington lawyer Plato Cacheris, whose clients reportedly have included Monica Lewinsky and CIA spy Aldrich Ames. ("Congress to examine politics in the Pacific," Washington Times, September 14, 1999)) North and Stayman resign from their positions.

5. July 1999: Ferdinand Aranza, acting director of Insular Affairs (he succeeded Stayman), is issued a subpoena for failing to promptly provide documents and computer hard drives in the investigation into illegal activity at the OIA. ("Senior Interior official facing contempt charge over subpoena," Washington Times, July 20, 1999)

6. August 8, 1999: A Washington Times article reports that Sen. Rod Grams (R-MN) has asked for an investigation of Allen Stayman. In addition to looking into Stayman's on-the-job campaign activities, Sen. Grams wants to investigate a "purported threat" by Stayman. The allegation is that Stayman said he would "go after" Sen. Grams because of his position on CNMI. ("Interior official accused of threat," Washington Times, August 8, 1999).

7. August 24, 1999: The investigation into the activities at the DOI expands when Jeffrey Farrow, a senior official in the Intergovernmental Affairs Office at the White House, is served with a subpoena. ("Interior probe hits White House," Washington Times, August 25, 1999)

8. September 1999: Northern Mariana Governor Pedro T. Tenorio, Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan, and another CNMI official visit Washington to say that "federal interference in labor and immigration laws would create a burden on their economy" (quoting "Congress to examine politics in the Pacific," Washington Times, September 14, 1999) ... Speaking about allegations of labor abuses on Saipan, Rep. Don Young says, "If there are the problems some allege, we also want to know why our federal agencies on the islands haven't addressed them under existing federal law." ("Congress to examine politics in the Pacific," Washington Times, September 14, 1999) (For more reading concerning Young's particular issue, try here, here, and here.)

9. May 17, 2000: The Washington Times quotes Rep. Don Young as saying that subpoenaed records show that government officials "were actively engaged in partisan campaign activities using official time and resources in an attempt to assist the campaigns of their Democratic challengers." In addition, the actions by OIA officials "constitute probable violations of the Hatch Act prohibitions against campaign activities by federal employees on the job." ("Probe of improper campaigning targets insular affairs employees," Washington Times, May 17, 2000)

10. JULY 12, 2000: The inspector general of the Interior Department, Inspector General Earl E. Devaney, a Clinton appointee, recommends to a House panel that the U.S. Attorney General prosecute David North. However, the Justice Department (headed by Janet Reno) refuses to prosecute, citing, in part, a "lack of evidence of criminal intent." ("Interior IG wanted ex-official charged," Washington Times, July 13, 2000)

In addition, "Devaney testified that [Allen] Stayman had admitted to investigators that he contacted the Democratic Committee, and provided a memorandum and draft press release, urging them to intervene in a local election in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory overseen by OIA. Stayman denied the charges, although he acknowledged that the signature on the memorandum was his, explaining that he signed it without reading its contents." ("Revealed Improprieties at Interior Available to the Public," Northwest Mining Association, July/August 2000)

In his opening statement before the Committee, Rep. Young states (bold mine):

“We have found evidence of massive waste, fraud and abuse at OIA. This is what oversight is all about. OIA’s highly-questionable activities include:
• researching and writing political campaign press releases and candidate position papers for candidates;
• editing, researching and writing reports, for lobbying organizations; and
• hiring private investigators to collect information in foreign countries."

("Revealed Improprieties at Interior Available to the Public," Northwest Mining Association, July/August 2000)

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To almost no one's surprise, Stayman dodged formal charges.

In 2003, commenting on the investigations he once faced, Stayman said, “I really don’t want to make any comment about that. It happened and nothing ever really came of it, and I’d prefer that nothing come of it anymore. It concluded and there was no action taken. That was a nice way to end it, and I’d like to end it that way.”

Incidentally, according to this 2003 article in The Hill, "While at the Interior Department and during the CNMI debate, Stayman made frequent contributions to Democratic Party organizations totaling $6,850." (He gave $450 to Sen. McCain (R-AZ) in 1999 for his presidential bid.)

Now that Stayman's history is outlined, one can see why many Republicans took issue with Stayman landing a State Department position in the Bush administration. (BTW: A recent staff report by the House Government Reform Committee did not delve into Stayman's past history, either.)

Finally ... Wallsten's LA Times piece begins with the line, "For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay." Did he really wonder? The oppositional relationship of Stayman and Abramoff went back nearly a decade, and Stayman assumedly knew of Abramoff's contacts and lobbying efforts. It seems like a stretch that Stayman would find it a mystery who would want him to stop his efforts against influential Republicans during a Republican administration.

Jack Abramoff's business activities appear to have been quite shady, but this is no excuse for the Times painting only half of the picture in the Abramoff-Stayman saga.