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‘Administration seeks reimbursement from lobby firms’
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Posted on Jan 31 2006
The Fitial-Villagomez administration clarified yesterday that it is seeking a reimbursement from Preston Gates and Greenberg Traurig, the lobby firms previously connected to the CNMI government, and not from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff himself.
According to Charles Reyes, the administration’s press secretary, “The firms are the legal parties to the lobbying contracts with the CNMI government, not Mr. Jack Abramoff.
“In all of the contracts entered into by the CNMI government and Preston Gates and Greenberg Traurig, not a single page of the documents contains Jack Abramoff’s name,” said Reyes.
The recovery efforts are addressed to the two firms previously connected to Abramoff rather than with Abramoff in his personal capacity, he reiterated.
“All lobbying payments the CNMI government made are made payable to Preston Gates or Greenberg Traurig,” Reyes added.
The Fitial-Villagomez administration recently sent demand letters to Preston Gates and Greenberg Traurig seeking a reimbursement of fees previously paid under past administrations.
The new administration believes that the lobbyist scandal raging in the mainland United States has dealt a severe setback to the political and economic aspirations of the CNMI. In a letter sent to the CNMI‚s former lobbying firms, Governor Fitial noted that the benefits previously derived from the firms have been erased through the exposure of the lobbyist scandals.
