Daily Sentinel, Rocky let Schaffer react to Post reports while not addressing some of their key points
Summary: The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction and the Rocky Mountain News published follow-up articles noting U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's (R) criticism of Denver Post reports about his "fact-finding" trip to the Northern Mariana Islands as a member of Congress in 1999. But neither the Daily Sentinel nor the Rocky reported anything about the substance of the series of Post articles or whether Schaffer addressed any of the issues they raised about his now-controversial visit.
In separate articles reporting on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's reaction to a series of Denver Post articles raising questions about his now-controversial 1999 "fact-finding" trip to the Northern Mariana Islands, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction and the Rocky Mountain News reported Schaffer's criticism of the Post but not whether he addressed the substantive points raised in its articles.
In an article published on the Daily Sentinel's website following an April 11 Schaffer fundraiser in Grand Junction, the newspaper reported that he "dismissed recent reports linking a trip he took to the North Marianas Islands in 1999 as 'character assassination' (sic) by The Denver Post," but did not report anything about the substance of the Post articles. Those reports followed an April 7 Post profile in which Schaffer "pointed" to the islands "as a successful model for a guest-worker program that could be adapted nationally," and they raised questions about Schaffer's trip and its purported connections to now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Similarly, in an article by Lynn Bartels that appeared online April 11 and in its print edition April 12 (accessed through the Nexis database), the Rocky Mountain News followed up on the controversy stemming from the April 7 report, noting that Schaffer "singled out the Mariana Islands' guest worker program." But while the News reported Schaffer's reactions to part of the Post's coverage, it did not raise one significant element of the Post's April 11 reporting on the controversy. Specifically, the News' article did not mention the Post's report that it had obtained copies of advertisements showing that then-U.S. Congressman Schaffer was "among several Republican U.S. lawmakers who stepped in to lend their support" at key junctures to "Benigno Fitial -- governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and a powerful former ally of now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff," whose lobbying firm had arranged Schaffer's 1999 trip.
On April 10, the Post reported that in advance of his 1999 Northern Mariana Islands trip, Schaffer issued a press release announcing that he would "get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate," and that "now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented textile factory owners fighting congressional efforts to reform labor and immigration laws," had helped organize the trip:
Just before boarding a plane to the Mariana Islands in 1999, then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate.
"I plan to walk right into those factories and living quarters to see for myself what conditions exist," Schaffer said in a news release in August of that year.
What he didn't say was that the trip was partly arranged by the firm of now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented textile factory owners fighting congressional efforts to reform labor and immigration laws on the islands and who was being handsomely paid to keep the islands' cherished exemptions.
Schaffer and his wife stayed for free at a palm-studded beach resort and, besides factories, also toured historical sites and met with clients of Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, according to a copy of the trip's agenda archived in Schaffer's congressional papers.
He left believing that allegations of widespread abuse were largely unfounded -- blaming them on Big Labor's efforts to shut down a booming textile industry allowed to use the "Made in USA" label but dependent on tens of thousands of imported workers.
In a recent interview with The Denver Post, the Republican candidate for Colorado's open Senate seat described the protectorate's guest-worker program as a "model" lawmakers could use as they overhaul the U.S. immigration system.
"At its base it is a union fight that has been taking place there," Schaffer said in a recent interview about what he found on the islands. "I insisted that it be a real investigation, which it was," he said, noting that he visited more than 20 factories and found serious problems in only one. [emphasis added]
In its April 11 report by Gary Harmon, the Daily Sentinel confined its reporting on Schaffer's response to the connections the Post drew between Schaffer's trip and Abramoff.
From the online article "Candidate: Democrats falling short," published April 11 by The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction:
He dismissed recent reports linking a trip he took to the North Marianas Islands in 1999 as "character assassination" by The Denver Post.
He was in control of his own agenda on the trip and said he wasn't aware that former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now serving a prison sentence in connection with his lobbying activities, had a hand in arranging for it.
At the time, he said, Abramoff's name wasn't linked to corruption and the trip addressed interests he had in education and natural resources. He served on both the Resources and Education committees at the time, he said.
But while it reported Schaffer's criticism of the Post, the Daily Sentinel's article did not compare its suggestion that Schaffer undertook the trip to satisfy "interests he had in education and natural resources" with the Post's April 10 report that Schaffer announced in advance of the trip he would investigate "repeated allegations of labor abuse." Further, the Daily Sentinel article did not address the Post's report that according to archived meeting agendas, "besides [touring] factories," Schaffer "met with clients of Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm." Specifically, according to the Post, agenda notes indicated a lunch meeting "with several current or former clients of the firm, including the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association and the Western Pacific Economic Council."
The Daily Sentinel article also failed to note the Post's April 11 reporting -- or whether Schaffer had any reaction to it -- stating that Schaffer supported Fitial, "a powerful former ally" of Abramoff, after the trip. The Post reported that "Schaffer was part of a concerted and public campaign by Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources to boost Fitial's public career when he became key to extending a multimillion-dollar lobbying contract for Abramoff from the island's government":
At two key moments in the political life of Benigno Fitial -- governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and a powerful former ally of now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- then-Congressman Bob Schaffer was among several Republican U.S lawmakers who stepped in to lend their support, according to a copy of advertisements posted on a national blog and another obtained by The Denver Post.
The first was in 1999, when Fitial, who supported the islands' garment industry, was preparing an underdog run for House speaker of the Commonwealth Legislature. The second came two years later, when Fitial was running for governor of the islands.
The two instances, in which Schaffer endorsed Fitial in ads in island newspapers, show that Schaffer has had close and enduring ties with key politicians on the American protectorate, extending relationships he developed while on a fact-finding mission there in August 1999. They also show that Schaffer was part of a concerted and public campaign by Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources to boost Fitial's public career when he became key to extending a multimillion-dollar lobbying contract for Abramoff from the island's government.
Schaffer's ties to the Northern Mariana Islands and Abramoff have been the subject of new scrutiny as he campaigns for Colorado's open U.S. Senate seat. [emphases added]
Unlike the Daily Sentinel, the News reported in its April 12 article that, according to Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams, "Schaffer visited the islands to see if reports about atrocious working conditions were true," and that Schaffer "did not know, does not know Jack Abramoff." However, although it noted that the Post's reporting stirred controversy over the trip, the News article did not address the Post's April 11 report on Schaffer's purported support for Fitial. It also did not address the Post's reporting that Schaffer met with clients of Preston-Gates during his trip.
From Lynn Bartels' Rocky Mountain News article "Schaffer says islands trip was fact-finding tour of sweatshops," published online April 11 and in the print edition April 12:
The 1999 trip to Mariana Islands, arranged in part by now disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's firm and a California-based religious group, received scant attention at the time.
But the trip has become an issue in Schaffer's U.S. Senate bid after the Fort Collins Republican held up the islands' guest-worker program as a potential model for Congress to consider as it studies immigration reform.
Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, said Schaffer visited the islands to see if reports about atrocious working conditions were true.
"Let me say as strongly and definitively as I can that Bob Schaffer did not know, does not know Jack Abramoff," Wadhams said.
But Democrats have ripped Schaffer for praising the program, despite documented abuses.
And they point to various newspaper reports and an internal Abramoff memo about an intense lobbying effort by the islands to make sure Congress didn't impose wage and labor laws on the islands. The islands hired Abramoff's firm to handle the lobbying.
Schaffer faces U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, in November.
Schaffer viewed a number of factories during his four-day free trip, which also included sight-seeing and parasailing with his wife.
He said he selected the factories he visited, and chose some places mentioned in human-rights reports.
"We found varying conditions," Schaffer said. "We found some unsafe working environments and some were very well run."
He said he was able to talk to some workers privately about their conditions.
Schaffer said he also met with one of the attorneys who filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging slum conditions and abuses in paying the thousands of foreign workers recruited to work in the textile industry.
A 1998 Department of the Interior report found that workers who thought they were coming to the United States, not a territory, were lured there with promises of high wages, but received little pay and and often worked and lived in substandard conditions.
The report also told about workers who said that if they became pregnant they were forced to get an abortion.
Schaffer said he discussed that issue with the Catholic bishop and other Catholic leaders.
"None of them could confirm any examples or episodes of this," he said.
Schaffer singled out the Mariana Islands' guest worker program in an interview in the Denver Post published Monday.
Bloggers and liberal groups responded by pointing out the territory's treatment of guest-worker programs and Abramoff's role.
—E.B.
