CA Dem Slams Sweeney for Marianas TripRep. George Miller (D-CA), in a conference call with reporters today, criticized Rep. John Sweeney’s (R-NY) visit to the Northern Mariana Islands in 2001.
In response to questions from The Albany Times-Union, Sweeney said that he was not aware of the mistreatment of workers on the islands when he visited. He also claimed not to have witnessed anything worrying while he was there.
Miller, whose various attempts over the past decade to regulate the labor conditions and immigration laws on the islands were consistently foiled by Jack Abramoff, wanted to know how Sweeney had managed to tour the islands and not witness evidence of abuse. “Why did you take the trip? What did you do?” he asked. “It’s a very small island.”
“If you didn’t look into the human rights abuses… what were you doing there?”
Miller added that when he’d visited the islands, he’d visited with federal and state investigators, human rights advocates, local workers, and others to investigate reports of abuses. By contrast, Sweeney met with the local chamber of commerce and business leaders.
Sweeney’s spokeswoman told the Times-Union that Sweeney was invited “because of his experience as state labor commissioner under Gov. George Pataki” in New York.
“If they were seeking his advice what happened? He never came back and said we’re going to correct this situation,” Miller said.