Isle GOP leaders to visit Bush

Members of the Republican National Committee from Guam and American Samoa will join their counterparts from Hawaii, the Mainland and the Caribbean in Washington at the end of the month for meetings at the White House with President George W. Bush and top members of his staff and cabinet, according to word received out of Washington last week.

“All National Committee members were advised of the President’s invitation by e-mail,” said Amata Coleman Radewagen, national committeewoman for American Samoa and Washington liaison for the Coalition of Pacific Republican Parties. “Formal invitations should be arriving in the mail soon,” she continued.

The March 30 events will include photo sessions with the President and White House briefings, and will conclude with a reception at the end of the day.

“When we were in Philadelphia last summer,” said Guam GOP chairman Dave Sablan, “Mr. Bush promised he would pay close attention to party leaders and now, as President, he’s living up to that commitment. I’m honored to be meeting with him.”

Meanwhile, Pacific leaders also have praised the President’s choice of Peter S. Watson to be the next President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a position held by former Ambassador Fred M. Zeder in the previous Bush administration and James A. Kelly as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific.

“These two men had the backing of our Coalition of Pacific Republican Parties,” said Joe Reyes, Republican Chairman for the Northern Marianas,” because both are men of the Pacific and know our region well.”

Watson, who originally came from New Zealand, was on the elder President Bush’s National Security Council (NSC) staff and was the architect of the President’s historic 1990 Honolulu summit with island leaders.

Kelly, a retired naval officer, had Asia and Pacific responsibilities both at NSC and the Department of Defense in the Reagan Administration and in recent years has headed the CSIS/Pacific Forum think tank in Honolulu.

“The appointments of Watson and Kelly mean we will have strong allies in two key positions in Washington,” said American Samoa Republican chairman Tautai A. F. Fa‘alevao. I’m sure it’s the first of many such appointments yet to come.”

In advising the political leaders of the White House invitations, Amata also recommended the Coalition members spend some time together going over pending personnel and policy recommendations, so that they can be pressed with the Administration while everyone is in Washington.