Exclusive: Gp Which Paid For Delay Trips-Lobbied For Abramoff Clients

Exclusive: Group which 'paid' for DeLay trips wrote
editorials favoring Abramoff clients... Evangelist,
Norquist tied to Marianas lobbying effort... Developing...

Washington nonprofit where Abramoff was director wrote articles favoring Abramoff clients
John Byrne
Published: March 8, 2006



Norquist, Traditional Values Coalition also lent support to Marianas measures

The Washington nonprofit whose president appeared before a Senate committee as a victim of fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s congressional bribery net wrote repeated articles that aligned with the positions of the lobbyist’s clients, suggesting possible coordination between the lobbyist and the group in violation of federal law.

In a series of editorials between 1999 and 2001, National Center for Public Policy Research president Amy Ridenour went to bat for the Commonwealth of the Marianas Islands, a small U.S. territory in the Pacific. Her releases bemoaned efforts to expand federal immigration laws to the island, defended the islands meager wages and attacked Clinton Administration attempts to tighten labor laws.

Ridenour also lent her support to the Western Pacific Economic Council, a trade group composed of Marianas garment manufacturers. Her group’s name appeared in Saipan newspaper backing the Council in 1999.

Both the Marianas and the Economic Council were clients of Jack Abramoff at the time. The Marianas paid Abramoff’s firm Preston Gates $1.9 million in 1999 and 2000 and his second firm, Greenberg Traurig, $1.1 million in 2001. The Western Pacific Economic Council paid Preston Gates $2.3 million in 1999 and 2000.

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Washington_nonprofit_where_Abramoff_was_director_0308.html