Putting the pride in prostitution, GOP style

If you're not familiar with the story of Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and the Northern Mariana Islands, you should be. It defines the corporatism, cronyism and pay-for-play ethos of the new Republican party. In short, Abramoff and the congressmen on his payroll worked hard to pass legislation that would qualify the islands to put 'made in the USA' labels on their manufactured goods while denying workers a minimum wage, standards for working conditions, or other rights. And the factories were often stocked with young women from other countries who were told they were going to the US, only to have their passports taken away and be forced to work around the clock in sweatshops-- or, if they were attractive, sex shows and brothels.

It's pretty clear that the corrupt Republicans knew exactly what they were doing across the board. As TPM Muckraker reports, was even willing to attack the victims of forced prostitution to push their business-friendly agenda and keep raking in the cash. But I guess if you're going to be a whore, it's better to do it willingly and make piles of money instead of being coerced into it at age fifteen.

In November of 1997, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) publicly questioned the credibility of a teenage girl's claims that she'd been the victim of the sex trade in the Northern Mariana Islands. The statement, which Rep. Hall entered into the Congressional Record, was prepared by Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist for the islands.

"[S]he wanted to do nude dancing," Hall's statement said of the fifteen-year-old girl. She had earlier told federal investigators that she'd been forced to work for a local nightclub in a nightly live sex show. You can read the entirety of Hall's statement here.

Press accounts at the time detailed how the girl had been taken from her parents in the Phillippines, and forced to perform sex acts on stage and before video cameras at a Northern Marianas sex club. A 1998 Department of Labor report confirmed those reports.