By David Whitney | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON—A week after they took control of Congress, the Democrats are already dismantling the work of disgraced and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, beginning on the far side of the Pacific Ocean.

WASHINGTON - On Wednesday, when the House of Representatives voted to raise the minimum wage, it also extended that increase to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, where the minimum wage has been $3.05 for a decade, thanks in part to Abramoff's efforts to keep it there. Separately, a Senate committee has begun asking questions about immigration policy in the Northern Marianas, which critics charge have long been a haven for garment industry sweatshops.

Low wages and easy immigration to the Northern Marianas from China, the Philippines and elsewhere drew cheap labor for foreign-owned factories. They were allowed to sell their low-cost clothing, shoes and other products with "Made in the U.S.A." labels duty-free in the United States.

"Workers in the Northern Marianas have suffered for years without decent workplace standards," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the new chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee and a leader of the move to raise wages and tighten immigration rules in the islands.

Officials of the territories warn that the sharp increase in the minimum wage, which the Senate is expected to approve, will send unemployment soaring to 30 percent, bringing with it an escalating crime rate.

"There will be a human toll to this," said Malinda Matson, chief of staff in the territory's Washington office. "A dollar-fifty in a year is too fast an increase. A lot of people are going to suffer. The only social program we have is food stamps."

"It's sad," said Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., once a close friend of Abramoff's and an ally in the fight against raising wages in the Northern Marianas. The United States captured the islands from Japan during World War II and administered them under a U.N. mandate until 1978, when they became a U.S. commonwealth.

"This represents an aggressive attack on the people of the Northern Mariana Islands," Doolittle said. "Organized labor has had it in for the Northern Marianas for years. I just think it is unfortunate. This is one of our territories—and probably the most free-enterprise oriented and industrious. This is going to hurt them."

The Northern Marianas' 1976 Commonwealth Covenant with the U.S. government exempted the islands—the largest are Saipan, Tinian and Rota—from federal immigration and import laws. It also set a lower minimum wage in an effort to spur economic growth for the islands' 82,000 people.

Blocking efforts to raise the minimum wage and tighten immigration restrictions in the islands was a priority of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who once called the Northern Marianas a "perfect petri dish of capitalism."

Doolittle, a lieutenant of DeLay, helped Abramoff renew a $100,000-a-month lobbying contract, then met regularly with his lobbying team to find ways to block changes and steer more money to the islands.

Some of the activities Abramoff was involved in were elements in criminal plea agreements by him and some of his associates. The criminal investigation is still under way, and Doolittle has spent more than $100,000 of campaign money on lawyers to, as he puts it, "clear my name."

In last year's general election, Democratic challenger Charlie Brown hammered hard at Doolittle for embracing policies that had led to forced prostitution and abortions on the islands. Brown came within 3 percentage points of defeating Doolittle in a district that's heavily Republican.

On the House floor Wednesday, the Northern Marianas were barely discussed.

Republican leaders, Doolittle no longer among them, had determined that the dreaded "federalization" of the Northern Marianas that Abramoff had condemned became acceptable policy with the Democrats' sweeping victory Nov. 7.

Even the Republicans' alternative bill would have applied a federal wage increase to the Northern Mariana Islands. Abramoff's cause now was officially lost among Republicans, too.

After the vote, Doolittle continued to blame Democrats.

Asked whether the overwhelming vote—82 Republicans joined the 233 House Democrats to pass the bill by a 315-116 margin—could be laid to the controversy over Abramoff, Doolittle replied, "It certainly didn't help."

The wage increase—including the Northern Marianas provision—now goes to the Senate, where it's expected to pass. The White House said President Bush will sign the bill into law.

David B. Cohen, deputy interior secretary overseeing the territories, warned a Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting on Jan. 5 that hard times are coming.

"Under the Democrats' proposal, the CNMI minimum wage will increase from $3.05 to $7.25 over a four-year period, jumping $1.50 in the first year alone," he said. "That could very likely result in a complete and immediate exodus of what's left of Saipan's garment industry."

Cohen laid part of the blame on Abramoff: "I am sure that a lot of people hear `Northern Mariana Islands,' scratch their heads and say, `Isn't that where Jack Abramoff is from?'"

Nearly three dozen times in the last decade, legislation was pressed in the House or Senate to change policies in the Northern Marianas. Until his fall and the Democrats' election victory, Abramoff prevailed in blocking all of them.

Now, in a city where Abramoff's name and game once opened doors, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands can't get anyone to listen to its concerns, said Matson of the territory's Washington office, which last week lacked heat.

Matson said that when Abramoff was at the peak of his power, "there was a lot of lying going on." Changes favored on the islands to address legitimate concerns never made it to Washington, she said. A constant theme from Abramoff was that "horrible things are going to happen unless you give us more money," she said.

"But look at what happened," she said. "The bill passed. No one would listen to us. And we certainly can't afford a lobbyist now."

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(c) 2007, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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