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This is the fifth in a series of articles responding to three front-page articles in the Denver Post by reporter Michael Riley which attack former Congressman and current Senate candidate Bob Schaffer for a fact-finding trip Schaffer took to the Northern Marianas Islands (“CNMI”) in 1999. It is the first of two notes responding to the Post's second article, dated April 11, 2008.

Denver Post reporter Mike Riley’s second hatchet job against Bob Schaffer revolved around Schaffer’s connection to Benigno Fitial, currently the governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and formerly its Speaker of the House. As with Riley’s first article, I will debunk or clarify this article a point at a time.

Most of my research for this section of work was a 90-minute interview with Governor Fitial, as well as further interviews with Bob Schaffer. Not surprisingly, their answers both point to two men whose political actions are based on a combination of friendship and a deep commonality of political and economic views, the key source of their acquaintance.

An Abramoff “ally”?

The Post article begins by talking about Bob Schaffer’s 1999 endorsement of Fitial, taking a tone which implied that there was something untoward about that endorsement. That tone is set in the article’s title, “Schaffer twice endorsed Abramoff ally.”

To the extent that Fitial was an “ally” of Abramoff, it is because Abramoff was the CNMI’s hired lobbyist and Fitial found Abramoff to be effective in that role, protecting the CNMI from the damage which Congressional Democrats wanted to do to the islands. A better description than “ally” would be “contractor” or “employee.” Calling Abramoff an “ally” of Fitial’s is like calling an attorney an “ally” of his client. Of course their interests are aligned because that’s the only reason they have any relationship.

Riley says that advertisements which contained Schaffer’s endorsement “show that Schaffer was part of a concerted and public campaign by Republicans,” and that such campaign was in order to help Jack Abramoff.

These claims are fabrication with no basis in reality and are essentially reprinting the propaganda of a left-wing web site. Any decent reporter would know better, as would any decent editor of that reporter’s work.

Regarding the endorsement, Schaffer said “I responded to a request from Ben Fitial directly, not ‘in concert’ with anyone.” When asked why he supported Fitial, Schaffer responded “Fitial was a good candidate, pro-free market, conservative, just what you’d expect a Republican to be, and exactly the type of person you’d expect me or most Republicans to support. The idea that my support was part of a concerted effort is ridiculous.”

When I asked Governor Fitial why he believed Bob Schaffer endorsed him, Fitial answered “Because he believes in what I am doing and in me, and knows that I would do anything and everything to help my people. And because we both believe in God and we both always do what is right.” Governor Fitial also mentioned his and Schaffer’s common interest in education, noting that “we can’t improve the economy of the CNMI without an educated workforce.”

Governor Fitial’s esteem for Bob Schaffer came through in another off-the-cuff remark: “Bob Schaffer and his wife, Maureen, are very classy people. I would like more young people to emulate them.”

The descriptions by both men hardly sound like Bob Schaffer needed, or was part of, any scheme by Republicans to support Fitial. Both Schaffer and Fitial were disgusted by the Denver Post article which, of Riley’s three front-page anti-Schaffer articles, was probably the most desperate example of grasping at straws to try to make Bob Schaffer’s actions seem inappropriate even though they were nothing of the sort.

Riley continues his Democratic Party propaganda by attempting to tie Schaffer’s support for his friend Ben Fitial to Jack Abramoff. Regarding the CNMI issue, I have already demonstrated that Schaffer had no ties to Abramoff beyond Abramoff’s firm having helped organize (but not pay for) some airplane tickets for the Traditional Values Coalition, who sponsored Schaffer’s trip to the islands.

As Riley spent a lot of time discussing Abramoff in his third article, I will be addressing that issue in great detail in upcoming installments in this series. In brief, Governor Fitial’s position on Abramoff is that he “was paid by the CNMI government to represent the CNMI’s interests in the US. He did what he was paid to do: He protected our covenant and staved off the first federalization attempt of the CNMI.”

“Federalization”, which just passed Congress this year, is forcing the implementation of mainland US labor and immigration laws in the CNMI, to the great detriment of the islands and their inhabitants, mostly American citizens.

Then-speaker Fitial supported the renewal of the Preston Gates (Abramoff’s firm at the time) contract because the firm had been successful at fending off the attacks of the union operatives commonly known as Congressional Democrats. Fitial’s interest in Preston Gates was, despite Riley’s continued use of Abramoff’s name to imply impropriety, completely consistent with his goals and his duty to do the best job he could for the residents and citizens of the CNMI.

There were questions raised later about whether Preston Gates overcharged the CNMI for services. Fitial believed that was the case, and took action as governor. According to Fitial, “I instructed my attorney general to file a lawsuit against Preston Gates in the event that they did not satisfy our request for a refund of overpayment.” Preston Gates did comply with the demand for a refund, so the lawsuit was not filed. Does that action sound like someone who is an “ally” of Jack Abramoff, or beholden to any interest other than his duty to the public he serves?