Report implicates Schorr to on-job politics

Some officials and employees of the Office of Insular Affairs, including its liaison officer in the CNMI Jeffrey Schorr, have conspired to discredit the Northern Marianas in their attempt to push legislation seeking federal takeover of the island’s labor and immigration, according to U.S. House Resources Committee chair.

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who heads the panel that has oversight of the CNMI and other insular areas, has uncovered partisan political activities and other improprieties engaged in by individuals employed at OIA and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

He said such activities violated federal laws and broke confidentiality clause on personal and business information, noting that some of these were information strictly between the Commonwealth government and its lobbying firm in Washington D.C. — Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds.

In a memorandum he issued to committee members last May 15, the lawmaker asked them to consider the findings of the inquiry he conducted on the issue in line their review of a pending bill, S. 1052, that seeks to extend federal immigration laws to the CNMI.

“I feel strongly that you… have a right to be aware that government officials have misused official resources in this horrendous fashion, primarily for the purposes of influencing the outcome of legislation now before this committee,” said Mr. Young.

“As we decide whether to consider this legislation, it is important to weigh any information or arguments made by the Clinton/Gore Administration or by others they may have influenced in the light of the deplorable and probably illegal methods that have been employed by administration officials in this matter,” he added.

There was no immediate reaction from Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio on the memo, but administration sources said he received a copy last Thursday. Mr. Schorr, when contacted last Friday, said he would not be able to give comment on the issue.

Preston Gates memo

Mr. Young in his memo cited some documents he received in response to subpoenas for files kept by OIA during the inquiry that began middle of last year, which he said showed the extent of the on-the-job political campaign.

One such document involved a confidential memo from Preston Gates addressed to the CNMI governor, which Mr. Schorr indicated he had received from “a source on the island” and then sent to then-OIA Director Allen P. Stayman in the nation’s capital.

This memo, containing details of the legislative, administrative and public relations strategy for Preston Gates and the CNMI, was then distributed by Mr. Stayman and other OIA officials all over Washington D.C., and throughout the press corps both here and in the capital, according to Mr. Young.

Mr. Stayman even issued a memo to his then deputy, Ferdinand Aranza, instructing him to spread the Preston Gates memo, along with statement critical of the lobbying firm to influence the members and journalists participating in a visit by Mr. Young and other members of his committee to the island in February 1999.

Likewise, OIA was found to have in its possession a second confidential memo from Preston Gates to the CNMI which similarly described their business strategy. This was improperly obtained and distributed by its officials, Mr. Young said.

He also disclosed that there were also notes taken by Mr. Schorr as he “surreptitiously reviewed” a third confidential Preston Gates memo to the CNMI describing internal strategy — notes that were then sent as part of a larger memo to his OIA superiors in Washington.

Mr. Young said many of these confidential information found their way outside the government as these federal officials distributed them in an apparent effort to smear their opponents.

“That officials from any government entity would collect such intrusive information about any lawful business is distressing and chilling, and ought to be an outrage to every member of this House and every American,” he explained. “Frustration against those who oppose you with legal lobbying efforts does not justify illegal federal lobbying.”

Federal lobbying

Mr. Young stressed the documents and others that he expects to disclose in the next few weeks pointed to “outright lobbying” campaigns by OIA officials to press federal takeover legislation in the Congress.

They even coordinated their activities closely with lobbying organizations, handed press releases and reports they themselves researched and wrote to these groups and media outlets in the mainland, using government time and resources, he said.

These OIA officials, added Mr. Young, intervened with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to allow a nonresident worker in the CNMI from Bangladesh to enter the U.S. to assist in their lobbying efforts in the mainland.

They hired activists to conduct research and produce a report damaging to the CNMI in support of the administration’s bill, he said.
He cited for instance a memo from retired OIA chief information officer David North to Steven Galster of the Global Survival Network, a special interest group, “editing heavily and partially re-writing” a report to push the bill.

Other evidences, such as press releases and illegal political articles, were drafted by OIA officials to attack Republican members of Congress, including House Majority Leader Richard Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and others who are opposed to the administration’s policies and legislation, Mr. Young said.

These were intended to back Democratic candidates in their respective districts since many of the materials were researched, written and sent to the House Democratic Caucus, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he said.

The Resources Committee is now looking at possible violation of Hatch Act prohibitions against campaign activities by federal employees on the job as well as misuse of government resources tantamount to theft.