And The Verdict Is…(5)

Tuesday June 10, 2008; Number 5

And The Verdict Is…

...Released today in the Washington Post http://blog.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/06/hill_committee_says_abramoff_h.html?hpid=news-col-blog

...Last week we said we would reveal some numbers on the RMI-Johnston contract we found that the lobbying contract between the RMI and the group contained a sign on bonus of 90,000 dollars and a hefty 30,000 dollar a month bill for the next few years.

...We will continue to dwell on this important issue regarding former US Senator Bennett Johnston's firm who was recently hired by the Tomeing Administration. Do we know if Cabinet approved or AG's office was given a chance to review the contract? It is well known that without going through a bidding/interview/screening process, RMI will end up retaining the most expensive lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. Based on public information available via internet; the firm is considered one of the more expensive ones in the Metro area.

...A source of ours gave us this link: http://www.public-i.org/lobby/profile.aspx?act=countries&co=mh showing how much it cost the Kwajalein Negotiations Committee in 1998. Of course, this was the bill from Jack Abramoff in which the Note Administration settled in 2003 for a little over 200,000 dollars.

...Issues raised by Minister deBrum in Washington last week were on Ambassador designee Ben Graham's appointment; Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)/LUA agreement and Bill 1756 that has been shelved by US Congress due to lack of position on the RMI side. It appears that the Kwajalein landowners will agree to a lesser lease if the OTEC project goes through. OTEC and LUA details, US' position on Graham's appointment and Bill 1756 will be discussed in our next edition.

...Minister Tony deBrum wrote several e-mails to College of the Marshall Islands board members chastising them about giving Father Richard McAuliff an honorary doctorate degree during the commencement ceremonies.

...A diplomatic passport privilege was given to Deputy Chief Secretary Mr. Fred Pedro while Chief Secretary and others Deputy Chief Secretaries (Ataji Balos and Jorelik Tibon) were not approved. We hope this process does not undermine key positions within the government.

...To date, President Litokwa Tomeing's TAs is in the 83,000 dollar range. This is the total sum since taking the office less than five months ago. The President announced earlier this week that the government has not used RMI funds to travel; however, we find his comments contradicting and misleading. We urge the Marshallese people to go to Finance and the President's office to view the President's TAs. After all, these are public information.

...We are estimating that the President's Office alone will incur a super whopper 200,000 dollars in travel before the year ends.

...Earlier this week after a three week absent, President Tomeing finally arrived on Majuro after going to Taiwan, Arkansas and a rest-over in Honolulu for a week. Tomeing announced that his recent traveled was fully paid not by the RMI government. We disagree.

...Foreign Minister deBrum has been on the "Jet Set" and has not been in the Marshall Islands more than a week since becoming Minister and has only visited Ebeye once since the new Administration came to office.

...It seems to be a habit of this new administration traveling either to Washington then up to New York for sightseeing or vice versa.

...We're telling you this because Finance Minister Jack Ading, Mrs. Ading and Secretary Jefferson Barton traveled to Europe and on the way back, stopped over in DC for a few days then up to New York to visit the tourist attractions there.

...During this said trip, our sources are telling us that the whole delegation flew "First Class" and that the Secretary told the source that "this is a true government because we travel according to our titles" and that the Minister was present while he made the comments.

...We also found out that Health Minister Amenta Matthew returned from Geneva via Washington, DC where she spend a few days then went up to New York.

...A pair of "eyes" saw Resources and Development Minister Fredrick Muller in Honolulu where he was supposedly to fly out to Europe for the Food and Agriculture meeting, but returned to Majuro instead. We're wondering how much the TA was and will it be returned to the government since the trip was not completed.

...Our inside sources have confirmed that the RMI Government's new vehicle policy allows RMI tax payers to pay for 80% of the Cabinet Minister's vehicles (with private license) and 20% by individual Ministers. No clear policy has been forthcoming so people are left to wonder who is paying for gasoline and insurance coverage.

...As part of the downsizing, USAKA will not renew the contracts for Macy's Store which will soon to be replaced by the usual military exchange store and the residential area is considered barren land as most expatriates have been laid off from work.

...According to reliable sources, the major FAA projects that were already in the pipeline and committed for the RMI have been scratched off the list due to lack of funding on the US side.

...On the return trip from the big canoe race in Ailinglaplap, many people were stranded on board the MV Jeljelet Ae at Majuro port, because they thought it was a charted trip and no one was able to pay. The fuel was purchased by the sponsors of the widely publicized race with some additional costs to Marshall Islands Shipping Company (MISC). The spectators, MISC, sponsors, passengers, were considered losing parties on this major event. The only winners on this trip were the Ailuk racers.

...We received an email saying, "The power outages on Ebeye weren't blackouts but rather regular weekly generator maintainence. There is one going on today for the lagoon side. When the job exceeds 6 hrs and the job is not done, the power on the ocean side will be put off while the lagoon will be on. No blackouts to date so the info is misleading."

...This email from Honolulu is contrary to our very reliable sources on Ebeye.

...We received this email: "Your rumor website should get the facts first before you post them to make insinuations that are aiming to ruin reputations and integrity of this administration. My suggestion is for you to post both negative and the positive of the issues. This is what the real concern citizen does to educate public on the pros and cons of a situation so the whole country understands the issue, and as such should have more saying in what's happening in the country."

...Our comment to the above email is why this government is so defensive about our thoughts and comments when they criticized the previous administration on the web and through their radio station V7EMON? If you can't handle the heat stay out of the kitchen!

...We also say what parts of our "RUMORS" are false? We challenge the government or anyone else to come out and say that our findings are false. Otherwise, sit back and let us implement the transparency part which the Tomeing government lacks.

Picture tells a lot…oops! I did it again…: http://www.iisd.ca/ymb/wfs/pictures/5jun/5junfullth/DSC04662full.jpg

Finally this week in history…

...In 2004, former President Note met with Guam's National Olympic Committee President Mike Blas to show his support for the admission of the Marshall Islands National Olympic Committee into the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In January 2006 in the same room the meeting was held, RMINOC executives informed President Note that the RMI had been admitted into the IOC.