Reply #72: SURPRISE, SURPRISE. I thought they only raided R Congressmen. Kidding! [View All]

This was actually expected, and a long wait too. Many asked why Stevens was not a focus too when Rep. Young is discussed.
There is a lot more going on in Alaska, R corruption-wise, than so far revealed. This is the "Investigation to Somewhere!"

From DU May 5: Eleven Members of Congress Now Under Investigation, PLUS ten former members
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x831278

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Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and Rep. Don Young. Young stopped the bill cold

Jack Abramoff and Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 07:30:01 PM EST
http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/4/30/19301/6080

Given the recent developments with former Rep. Don Young (R-AK) aide Mark Zachares, the Anchorage Daily News decided to take a close look at Young's ties with Jack Abramoff. What they found is actually kind of startling.

I get the sense it may have surprised them a little, too:


The guilty plea last week by a former senior committee aide to Rep. Don Young
sheds new light on the circumstances surrounding Young's success seven years ago in blocking reforms of the sweatshop industry on the Mariana Islands.

But the plea also raises new questions about why Young, R-Alaska, took the actions he did.


Zachares worked for the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) from 1994-1998; Jack Abramoff was paid $11 million to lobby for the CNMI from 1994-2001. It was during these years that their paths intersected and they became personal and political friends. At the same time, efforts were afoot to institute labor reforms to CNMI garment manufacturers, who were running sweatshops under the legal label of "Made In the USA." Abramoff's chief task was to derail this reform legislation.

Enter Representative Don Young, chairman of the House Resources Committee, the committee of jurisdiction over the CNMI.


Young stopped the bill cold, saying it interfered with the commonwealth's right to self-rule.
He was supported by then Majority Whip Tom DeLay, who described the Marinas as "a perfect petri dish of capitalism."

"I'm not going to move anything," Young said ...........