Doolittle crossed path of Abramoff conspirator

Man who pleaded guilty was a Marianas witness at 1999 House hearing.

WASHINGTON -- They both were in their ascendancy, blind to the troubles ahead. And both were involved in an issue that helped a mutual friend, superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, and one of his lucrative clients, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Tuesday, Mark D. Zachares pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court in connection with his association with Abramoff, while Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, awaited the next move from the Department of Justice after agents raided his Virginia home on April 13.

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The hearing ostensibly was to look into reports of worker abuse in garment factories in the commonwealth. Critics, including the Clinton administration, said lax federal immigration policies had permitted Asian-owned companies to open low-wage plants there using immigrant labor and to sell their goods in the United States under a "Made in the USA" label.

The critics said fundamental immigration and labor reforms were necessary because the plants had become prison-like sweatshops. Reports of worker abuses alarmed human rights organizations.

But Republican leaders believed what was going on in the commonwealth was, as former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said in its defense, a Petri dish for capitalism.

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