Monday, February 18, 2008

Faleomavaega Aide in Hanoi

Hard on the heels of her boss's controversial December Hanoi visit, during which he toasted murderous dictator Ho Chi Minh as a "great man," Faleomavaega's top staffer, Lisa Williams, is herself in Vietnam today on a fact finding trip. According to one press report, Williams, after visiting children who are victims of Agent Orange, said "We will return...The US needs to do more." Williams, who enjoys a close relationship with Faleomavaega, has been identified over the years variously as his chief of staff, communications director and, since acquiring a subcommittee chairmanship, the staff director of his Asia-Pacific panel. Congressional salary reports indicate she splits her time and pay between the subcommittee and his personal office. Moreover, Federal Election Commission reports show that she also gets paid for doing his political fundraising. Perhaps she will be leaving Vietnam in time to link up with her boss in Honolulu in the next day or so. Stay tuned.

2 comments:

Philip said...

I'm continually impressed with your wealth of knowledge. While we may disagree on some points, you've certainly done your homework.

Any person that reviews Fed Election Commission reports is definitely more informed than I.

ABCDEFG said...

All this information is readily available on the internet and easily accessible to anyone with a computer and a web connection. For campaign contributions, for example, one needs only go to www.fec.gov, click on campaign data reports, click on view filings, find Faleomavaega on the menu and voila! What is troubling is that our local media in American Samoa never dig for a story or context. They seem content to publish press releases whenever they can.