RADIO REPORT: Faleomavaega Coming Home 'Soon'

Radio Station KHJ-FM Washington correspondent Matt Kaye reports that Faleomavaega intends to return to the territory before the November 4 election to campaign for re-election.  Although the story that appeared on KHJ’s talanei.com website quoted that he will be “going home soon-in the next couple of weeks,” there is no indication if these were words that Faleomavaega spoke to Kaye or Kaye was quoting someone on staff.  The story did not include embedded soundbites.

Although Kaye said this announcement ends “speculation that his illness might keep him in Washington,” it remains a mystery what is keeping Faleomavaega in Washington more than three weeks after Congress has recessed for the campaign.  Yes, one day after the recess he attended a White House barbecue but his press release to that effect announcing President Obama had invited him was virtually meaningless since it is an annual affair to which all Members always are invited regardless of party.  Since it was the evening before the recess, he had plenty of time to catch a plane to Honolulu on Thursday, remain overnight, and come down to Pago Pago on Friday.  But no Eni.

There was speculation that because he attended the first San Diego Pacific Islanders Festival in 1994, perhaps he would attend the 20th anniversary of that event on the weekend after recess on the way home.  Since it draws a crowd of 150,000 people, many of them Samoans, he could do a little fundraising then head out to the Pacific to catch the Monday flight down to Pago Pago.  But, again, no Eni.

Since he is Ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, which also included legislative and oversight jurisdiction over the global environment during the four years of his chairmanship (2007-11), it also seemed plausible that he would remain in Washington to take the short hop up to New York to participate in the UN summit on global climate change, particularly since he skipped the Small Island Developing States conference in Apia in August.  But, again, no Eni.

It was thought that surely he would have been in New York because there would have been many opportunities to meet with Asian and Pacific leaders there for U.N. General Assembly debate while awaiting the meeting India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to hold with nearly 40 Members of Congress the day of his major Madison Square Garden speech on September 28.  This one seemed a given not only because of Faleomavaega’s position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee but also because he has been so public and visible on U.S.-India relations, and a champion of Modi, who was just elected last Spring.  But no Eni in New York. 

In fact, he was eclipsed by the only other Samoan in Congress, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), a freshman Member who already has risen to third in seniority on the A-P subcommittee and has an even more special relationship with Modi since she is the first Hindu ever elected to Congress.  When Modi was elected, Faleomavaega put out a press release congratulating him.  Gabbard, on the other hand, telephoned to congratulate him and got him right on the line.  She also received much publicity for making a special presentation following his speech while Faleomavaega was relegated to writing an op-ed piece for an Indian on-line publication called Business Today.

If for some reason he were not in New York but still not traveling home, perhaps he was waiting for Modi’s subsequent visit to Washington, where the Prime Minister had additional meetings, a White House dinner and a State Department lunch.  According to Kaye’s report, Faleomavaega was not included on the elite guest list for the Obama dinner.  Perhaps the White House figured since he attended the barbecue, where he got a fresh photo with the president, that should be enough. Whatever the reason, no Eni.

But, aha, Kaye reports that Faleomavaega was to participate in the State Department lunch co-hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden.  These lunches are considered the consolation prizes for people who cannot not get on the “A List” for a White House dinner.  Quite a come down for someone so senior and so vocal on India.  Perhaps he paid a price for outspokenly criticizing Obama and Kerry for U.S. policy towards India .  We will take Kaye at his word that Faleomavaega was at that lunch but it is over a week after the lunch and there is no press release out of the delegate’s office. Since Modi’s visit, all he has had is a release commemorating the fifth anniversary of the tsunami in Samoa and announcing the availability of some college scholarships. Curious, considering how much he has publicized U.S.-India relations and his support for Modi.

So here we are: no more congressional sessions, no more U.N. gatherings, no more Asian head of government visits, no more barbecues.  The only reason he might have been here is to stand outside the Washington Redskins stadium to shake his fist at the owner as part of his effort to get the team nickname changed to something less offensive to some Native American groups.  However, if he were there last night for the Monday night game for that purpose, there has been no publicity.

Several years ago after an election, he made a point of expressing his pleasure that another delegate had taken the chairmanship of the House insular subcommittee, leaving him free to concentrate on Asian issues.  Now it might be said that much of the rationale for his continuance in office is lost due to his chronic illness.  It seems clear that his foreign travel days are over and a popular young congresswoman of Samoan descent has made his presence on the Foreign Affairs Committee unnecessary as well.

It is particularly ironic that he has been grounded at a time when the National Journal has produced a report of congressional travel that crowned him “the most-frequent free flyer” of all, [who] was treated to a dozen international excursions in the past three years [2011-2013].   And that of course was without benefit of additional trips he might have taken in the fourth quarters of 2013, most of which he spent in a hospital bed.   The period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, when Congress is out of session, is one of the most popular times for congressional travel.  

It continues to be mystifying why Faleomavaega presses on.  His pension is fully funded, his health insurance is terrific, he can keep his plan in retirement, he cannot get his agenda—if he has one—enacted because he is in the minority and all analysts say that his party will continue to be in the minority after this election and, because of the way the district lines are drawn, may remain in the minority until at least 2022 when Faleomavaega would be 79 years old.  Moreover, his health is such that he will need to be near kidney dialysis machines for the rest of his life, so that will limit the time he can be away and where he can go.

For now, every day he is away, every important event and funeral he skips and every campaign opportunity he misses, including TV appearances and candidate debates, people are getting more and more irritated.  Whether he actually will return “in the next couple of weeks” remains to be seen.

Faleomavaega Rips Obama, Kerry Over PRIMNM Announcement

A clearly frustrated Faleomavaega has lashed out at President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry over Obama’s decision to sign an Executive Order creating a Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM).  While expressing his appreciation that  the conservation zone expansion would only involve Wake Island, Jarvis Island and Johnston Atoll, he said “I am displeased that the White House rushed this decision just so Secretary Kerry could have a sound bite at the United Nations.”

“Given the seriousness of the issue, I believe the Administration should have been more thoughtful about this process,” argued the delegate, “[because t]his decision affects the economies of Hawaii, American Samoa, CNMI and Guam, and every stakeholder among us deserved to be heard.”  Reflecting disappointment that he was crowded out of the decision-making process, he continued: “[I]t is unfortunate that the White House and State Department really didn’t engage in a meaningful discussion with local leaders or Congress about this initiative.”

Pointing to stalled negotiations for foreign fishing rights in the Pacific, Faleomavaega again accused Kerry of rushing for a sound bite while “the Administration may have failed to consider that its expansion just might spell trouble later for the American tuna industry in light of an un-negotiated South Pacific Tuna Treaty.   An un-negotiated treaty,” he warned, ”means less fishing grounds for our tuna boats and, environmentally, may lead to overfishing if Pacific Island nations open up fishing grounds to the highest bidders and if Asian and European vessels are given the green-light to do as they please. . . . In consideration of these facts, I believe if the Administration is truly serious about conservation, then it would have made the renewal of the South Pacific Tuna Treaty a higher priority than the expansion of PRIMNM.”

He gamely tried to reclaim his relevance by saying that he had been told by White House aides on September 24 of the President’s intentions to sign the Executive Order but was asked not to say anything until Kerry announced it in New York at a follow up meeting to his June Our Ocean Conference.  Faleomavaega did not attend the Apia meeting and while it is unclear if he also were not at the follow on gathering, judging from his news release that makes no mention of it, he was not.

It had to be annoying to him that by not announcing the White House decision, his thunder was stolen because the lead story in the September 25 Samoa News was based on a press release issued late in the afternoon of the 24th by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, which apparently was not under the same embargo, ignored it or was faster on the draw, leaving Faleomavaega relegated to saying “me, too.”   Wednesday afternoon National Geographic also published a story on Kerry’s Wednesday morning announcement, so it seems more likely that the delegate’s crack press staff, which long has been accustomed to dictating what and when off-island news is reported locally, was caught napping.  

It is curious that Obama has given Faleomavaega such back-handed treatment considering the delegate went out of his way to take a gamble and endorse the president’s first bid for the White House in 2007 when the Illinois senator was still considered a long shot.  Both men were raised and schooled in Hawaii and Faleomavaega apparently felt a kinship with him.  In fact the relationship was considered so close that some conspiracy theorists charged that during the campaign on one of the delegate’s frequent trips to Indonesia, he was asked to negotiate with Jakarta authorities to get Obama’s childhood school records sealed.  

However, the latest attack on Obama and Kerry is another sign that he is distancing himself with the soon-to-be lame duck president and secretary of State as he tries to tries to mend fences with Kerry’s predecessor Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic Party nomination for president.  That break was underscored when he also said he would cross party lines to back legislation by a Republican in the upper house.  Referring to his objection to the PRIMNM order, he said: “This is why I stand with Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who has introduced legislation to change the law so that no President will ever have the power to lock up millions of acres of public lands and waters without Congressional approval.”  A dramatic move for a man who just three-and-a-half years ago was chairman of the subcommittee that had jurisdiction over the global environment.

With virtually every member of the House, except those not running for re-election, having left Washington for home for the critical final weeks of the campaign, it is curious that Faleomavaega is still there.  There was a Washington dateline on September 25 press release, which Samoa News buried in a larger story recounting the reactions of a number of organizations to the conservation zone.  Having missed the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) summit in Apia, it seemed possible that Faleomavaega might have wanted to recoup by attending the U.N. Secretary General’s Climate Change summit in New York just ahead of this year’s General Assembly speeches but there is no evidence he traveled to New York for that gathering of even for Indian Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with Members of Congress.

Indeed, the only evidence of Faleomavaega activity was a press release pathetically announcing he participated in the annual White House picnic for Members of Congress.  Since this event is held every year, is open to all Members of the House and Senate and their families regardless of party and is not meant for conducting business, it is hardly newsworthy and only the Samoa Post ran a story.  Neither Samoa News nor Radio KHJ-FM found it newsworthy.  As with the annual Easter Egg roll and the White House Christmas party, this event is purely for socializing and photographs. 

In addition to the usual pictures with Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D), Faleomavaega made a point of mentioning (and providing the press a photo with) “my good friend, Chairman Frank Lucas of the House Committee on Agriculture, which has responsibility over American Samoa’s food stamp and voucher programs that I have worked on all these years to keep in place and increase our funding.” 
 
Why single out Lucas?  Perhaps because one of his election opponents also had a photo taken with Lucas when the chairman passed through Pago Pago in August as part of a Natural Resources Committee-led Congressional Delegation on which the second most senior Democrat, Faleomavaega, was noticeably absent.  And so it goes.

FALEOMAVAEGA ADMITS HE WAS NOT INVITED TO WHITE HOUSE MEETING

On August 21 Faleomavaega's office issued a press release headlined “Faleomavaega and Governor Lolo Make American Samoa Top Priority in Discussions on Pacific Marine National Monument.”  His release included the text of a letter he sent to President Obama July 21 objecting to the President's proposal for a Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) and a letter to Governor Lolo in which he said “the White House immediately assured my office that President Obama is committed to receiving input and comments from all stakeholders before any decision is finalized, and I take the President at his word.”  He continued that “because of the importance of the possible expansion of the PRI Monument to American Samoa, I continue to make this a top priority." (emphasis added)

Yet, between his initial press release ­ on the matter on June 19 and his September 15 admission he was left out of the key meeting held to discuss the proposal, he had not one word to say about the issue, even though he promised “I will keep the people of American Samoa updated as the matter progresses.”  Perhaps he had nothing to say because he had made no progress but in his September 15 release, headlined “White House Aides Hold Meeting with West Pac Regarding PRIMNM,” he tried to downplay the importance of the meeting by using the term “White House Aides.” He may have fooled our local media, which gave the story short shrift, and the average reader would not know if it were not explained that these White House “aides” included two of the most senior and powerful men in the Obama administration: Counselor to the President John Podesta, one of the top three assistants to the President, and Council on Environmental Quality Acting Chairman Michael Boots. The director of Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service also participated.

Faleomavaega made it sound as if this meeting were some sort of gathering with junior people beneath his station as a delegate to Congress when, in fact, short of the President himself, this is as high as one can go in the administration on this issue. Yes, as he pointed out, none of the Pacific members of Congress or staff was included but he, after all, is the senior member of all seven congressmen and women from Hawaii and the territories and represents the jurisdiction most directly affected by the proposal.  Moreover, Faleomavaega was one of Obama's earliest supporters in 2007.  Not to include him in this meeting, now that he has announced he has recovered from his illness, is to humiliate him.

If it were Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC) Executive Director Kitty Simonds who was able to broker this meeting, then kudos to her. It is reasonable to assume that she or whoever arranged this meeting also bypassed Faleomavaega in so doing, otherwise there is no question that his pushy enforcer, Lisa Williams, would have insisted her office if not her boss himself be part of the discussions. However, just as every organization who submitted written comments to the White House bypassed Faleomavaega, it is likely a conscious decision was made to bypass him on this matter as well, since it has become increasingly clear that he cannot deliver. This was true even before his unexplained illness almost a year ago but is even more true now.

It is just as likely that Faleomavaega did not want to push himself into the lead if he sensed he were not going to be able to get any concessions from the White House, which also might explain why he was silent on the issue publicly between his August 17 and September 15 news releases. Since he has announced to the people he has recovered from his illness and, now that Congress has recessed until after the November 4 election, it would be expected that he would be anxious to return home to launch his reelection bid as soon as possible. Questions about his ineffectiveness on the PRIMNM controversy would not be welcomed.  If there were to be public debates this year, a moderator would be remiss not to ask the delegate why he said this issue would be his top priority but has not reported on what steps he has taken to get the White House to modify its proposal and what success has he had.

Meanwhile, his press staff must to be congratulating themselves once again because the local media have not pressed about his absence from this meeting any more than they did about his absence from a key congressional delegation visit to the island in August. The White House meeting was September 9 but even though WPFMC issued a post-meeting statement the following day that was well covered all over the region, Faleomavaega had nothing to say and likely never was asked for comments. However, on September 12 his office issued a release headlined “Congressman Faleomavaega Meets with StarKist President and CEO Sam Hwi Lee.” Although StarKist is vehemently opposed to PRIMNM, if the matter were discussed between the two men, it was not mentioned at all in the release. Not a single word.

Samoa News ran that story on September 15, the same day they also published a story about why WPFMC believes PRIMNM is a bad idea. Even though both stories were written by Samoa News chief political correspondent Fili Sagapolutele, who also is the territory's AP stringer, there was no attempt to synthesize the news.  In reviewing the stories for publication, there apparently was no effort by the editors to show any correlation between the Faleomavaega meeting with StarKist and the ongoing controversy with RPIMNM. Once again, Faleomavaega got away with it. Next time Editor-in-Chief Rhonda Annesley writes one of her Gong Show editorials, she needs to gong Sagapolutele and also the editor who did not ask him to synthesize the stories, which the dictionary says means “to combine two or more things to produce a new, more complex product.”

Readers deserve better.

FALEOMAVAEGA SLOW ON THE DRAW

Since it cannot be as a result of his travels, it must be a result of his lingering illness and the inattention of his chief enforcer, Lisa Williams, that resulted in over a month’s delay in his formally filing with President Obama his objections to the expansion of a Pacific conservation zone by presidential fiat.  In Washington style, it is formally known as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument or, by its unpronounceable acronym, PRIMNM (prim nim?).

Obama’s announcement was made on June 17 at Secretary of State John Kerry’s Our Ocean Conference, which Faleomavaega did not attend but was prompt enough to respond in a July 19 press release expressing his concern at having had no prior consultation or warning of Obama’s proposal.  Being left out of the loop must have come as a bitter disappointment to the delegate, who was one of Obama’s earliest and strongest supporters but who does not seem to have derived any benefits from his loyalty over the past five years.  He has a score of photographs with the president but every member of Congress, regardless of party, gets those by standing in line to greet the president at the annual Christmas party, barbecue or other standard White House function held annually.

To get additional face time with presidents, Faleomavaega for years—until he took ill—has been among the small group of House members who arrive at the chamber hours before the annual State of the Union address to grab a seat at the aisle that the President uses to walk to the podium.   The Washington Post reported on this well known practice last year.

It is puzzling why it took nearly a month for the ailing delegate to file a formal letter with Obama pleading with him not to take any action that would harm American Samoa’s economy and culture.  It is quite possible that he misjudged the strength of the negative reaction of the American Samoa business community, the tuna industry, other island governments and regional fishing organizations.  In other words, even if, as a former subcommittee chairman whose jurisdiction included the “global environment,” his heart were with his fellow left-leaning environmentalists, the politics of the situation forced him in the other direction.  It is an election year, after all, and sometimes your constiuency has to come first.

As the September 2 election filing deadline rapidly approaches, Faleomavaega finally has made public his letter to Obama, which he had kept secret, he said, as “a courtesy to the President and to give him an opportunity to respond.”  More likely he was hoping to keep the letter secret to save him the embarrassment of having the public learn that yet again he has been ignored.  Predictably, Obama indeed has ignored him and with the governor now also weighing in with a letter to the president, the pressure to answer both allies and critics alike as to why he was remaining silent must have been too much to bear.

Clearly, courtesy to the president is a lame excuse since he dispensed with such courtesy earlier this year  when he blasted Obama, Kerry and Kerry’s predecessor Hillary Clinton (not the smartest move) for U.S. policy towards India, which he believes is misguided.  In this instance, he most likely was under particular pressure from various elements of the tuna industry, whose executives and boat owners already have contributed heavily to his re-election campaign.  They must believe he has some magic power and influence in Washington because many of their contributions were made in the first quarter of 2014 at a time it was unclear if Faleomavaega even would recover from his illness--with some believing he might even have been in a coma--let alone run for another term.

The list of his major donors, including some who have given the very maximum amount allowable, $2,600 per person, reads like a Who’s Who of the industry: executives from StarKist, TriMarine and Bumble Bee, plus owners of the vessels that deliver the fish to the canneries.  All of them must believe Faleomavaega has the clout to help their industry.  Well, if that were their motivation, as Obama’s PRIMNM initiative shows, they have been sadly mistaken and have wasted their money.  The truth is, from all the statements and letters we have seen filed with the White House to protest creation of PRIMNM, his is the weakest. 

The biggest waste of a campaign contribution may have been the $1,500 donation made by Bumble Bee executive James Hines.  Since Bumble Bee has no operations in American Samoa and Faleomavaega has been critical of the company’s human rights practices, perhaps Hines was hoping he would tone it down.  No such luck.  Faleomavaega will do his own thing, regardless who contributes to him.   In his letter to Obama he expressed “my disappointment that Bumble Bee was singled out and publicly recognized by Secretary Kerry during the Our Ocean Conference.  While it may be true that Bumble Bee advocates for ocean policy, we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to Bumble Bee’s human rights abuses.  Bumble Bee is well-known for using suppliers in Thailand that employ child labor to clean tuna.  Bumble Bee even owns a stake in one of those companies where Asian children and other exploited workers are paid about $0.75 cents an hour to manually cut off the head, fins and tail, and scrape off the skin of a tuna.”  Perhaps when the next campaign finance reports are filed, we will see that environmental interests have made contributions in order to buy his acquiescence.   

Even though he was in town and working “limited office hours” in June, he skipped Kerry’s Our Ocean Conference.  However, he gets another bite at the apple at the Small Island Developing States Conference that opens in Apia on September 1.  It is unclear if he would have an opportunity to address the conference and it is unclear if he would be part of any delegation.  He was not includes in the State Department’s announcement of the U.S. delegation although Samoa News reported that the governor had been invited to be a member of the U.S. delegation.  Nor is Faleomavaega on the list of the American Samoa delegation issued by the governor’s office.   Subsequently, Talanei.com reported  that the governor has decided not to go since, as a member of the U.S. delegation, he would not have a speaking role.  The same might be true for Faleomavaega.

The deadline now has passed for public comments on the President’s proposed PRIMNM.  If he does reverse course or make modifications, it will not be because of Faleomavaega’s weak objections.  Indeed, Obama has pressures from his allies in the environmental community to stay the course.  In an interview with Radio KHJ-FM,  Michael Gravitz of the non-profit Marine Conservation Institute dismissed the concerns of the opponents of the president’s proposal.  

Curiously, there has been no press release at all on Faleomavaega’s website since his August 21 release making public his letter to Obama.  So nothing formal has been said about his travel even though Radio KHJ-FM News Director Monica Miller has reported that she has been told by his office that he would be home at the end of the month and would stay until after the election.  If he were coming down here to file his candidacy papers personally on Tuesday, it is difficult to imagine he would not also be attending much of the SIDS conference as well and if were coming down for SIDS, it is difficult to imagine he would not be here Tuesday to file his papers.

Soon the mystery should be over.

[Note to readers:  You have until Tuesday to vote in our preliminary poll asking who should replace Faleomavaega in Congress.  Once the Election Office releases the names of those who have qualified for the ballot, we will pull down this list of speculated candidates and replace it with a list of those who will be on the November 4 ballot.]

Hall of Famer Ditka Labels Faleomavaega an “Idiot”

Although he did not specifically mention Faleomavaega by name, it is clear that Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Mike Ditka, now a broadcaster, was including the American Samoa delegate among those he had in mind when he dismissed the drive to get the Redskins owner to change the name of the team.  Faleomavaega has been in the forefront of those in Congress who want to force the team to adopt a new nickname because, he argues, the current name is a slur on Native Americans.

This has long been a cause for the delegate who in July, 2013 before his debilitating illness, decked out in his best Indian string tie (the only kind of tie he has worn for years, now—when he wears a tie at all), delivered an emotional speech on the Floor of the House on the subject with his voice quivering and cracking as he spoke.  He also cosponsored a bill that would cancel the team’s federal trademarks but it has gone nowhere.

Faleomavaega was prompted to speak in part to respond to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who had said earlier in July that the team’s name isn’t a government issue. Limbaugh said if fans were offended by the name, they wouldn’t go to FedEx Field, but because they do, “it obviously isn’t upsetting too many people.”

When he emerged from seclusion this past March to receive his first office visitor, the ASG director of Homeland Security, he said that, while continuing his rehabilitation, he would be concentrating his efforts on American Samoa issues, like establishment of a National Guard unit in the territory.  Yet, in late May, making his first appearance on the Floor for a five-minute substantive speech (he appeared briefly in April to acknowledge American Samoa Flag Day), he again chose the Redskins’ name as his subject, not the National Guard or any other American Samoa issue.

Now, as the NFL is in the midst of its preseason exhibition game schedule, the spotlight has returned to this issue and Ditka was asked about it during a recent interview.

“What’s all the stink . . . ,” asked Ditka?  “It’s so much [expletive] it’s incredible . . .  This is so stupid it’s appalling  . . . We’re going to let the liberals of the world run this world . . . “It’s all the political[ly] correct idiots in America, that’s all it is,” he continued.  “It’s got nothing to do with anything else. We’re going to change something because we can.”  Faleomavaega was a founding member of the ultra-liberal Congressional Progressive Caucus, although he since has left the group.

While team owner Dan Snyder says he will never change the name (and vigorous at age 49, he most likely will outlive the very sick 70-year-old Faleomavaega), there is no question that public sentiment to have him do so has picked up steam.  There is no doubt that were Congress in session, Faleomavaega once again would have been prompted to take to the Floor, perhaps even to call upon ESPN to suspend Ditka from his broadcast duties. 

This blog takes no position on the Redskins’ name but, given his limited strength and energy, wouldn’t Faleomavaega better serve his constituency by concentrating on American Samoa issues, as he promised he would?  If he must take to the Floor when Congress returns in September, how about an emotional speech on the poverty his island may face if President Obama goes ahead with his plan to create a huge Pacific conservation zone that could force the underpinning of American Samoa’s economy to collapse?

Redskins’ name, Kazakhstan nuclear waste, Cambodian debt relief, Korean comfort women, Bahraini protesters, Hawaiian sovereignty, Easter Island land tenure, West Papua Independence, Armenian genocide.  These are the kinds of issues that have dominated Faleomavaega’s agenda over the years when he hasn’t been traveling.  But, no, Coach Ditka, we wouldn’t describe Faleomavaega as an idiot.  However, we would be harder pressed to refute those who might dismiss him as a buffoon. 

Democrat Nod Goes to Faleomavaega in a Slick Maneuver

Former Governor Togiola Tulafono (D), a Clinton delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Tua'au Kereti Mata’utia (D), the Governor’s Deputy Senior Policy Adviser and other candidates for Congress who identify themselves as Democrats must have been furious when they learned that the local Democratic Party, which is chaired by a former chief of staff to Eni Faleomavaega, endorsed the ailing House member, who was an Obama delegate to the 2008 convention, for an unprecedented 14th term in Congress in November.

The notice of a July 23 party meeting was in the newspaper but it is unclear if it were billed as a meeting to nominate or endorse candidates for this year’s elections.  Moreover, without access to the party bylaws or rules, there is no way to know what requirements there are for notifying party members and potential candidates that an endorsement meeting will be held, or even if there were any such a requirement at all.

However, it was a slick maneuver in which the party chairman read a letter from Faleomavaega’s district office chairman in his capacity as the campaign committee chairman saying Faleomavaega would be seeking re-election and would like the party’s endorsement.  Had they known about it, Togiola and the others very well might have liked to have competed for that endorsement.   The party chairman then called for a vote and, according to Radio KHJ-FM, the dozen party attendees present (out of 600 people said to be members) unanimously endorsed Faleomavaega for re-election.  Again, without benefit of knowing party procedures, it is not possible to ascertain what constitutes a quorum for such an action.

What makes this move so slick is that Togiola almost surely would have reminded party members of his fealty to Clinton, who is favored to be the party’s 2016 presidential nominee and current front runner for election to succeed Obama, who cannot run again.  Clinton is reported to keep a list of past supporters and Togiola no doubt would have reminded his party mates that he is on it and Faleomavaega is not.

Faleomavaega’s emissary apologized for the delegate not appearing in person, citing the press of congressional business but skeptics continue to wonder if the delegate's continuing health problems prevented his return for the meeting; he has not set foot in American Samoa since suffering an as yet undisclosed illness last October.  His letter, however, does now make it clear who picked up the congressional campaign packet from the election office.

Interestingly, Radio KHJ ran the story of the endorsement meeting while Samoa News did not.  Anyone familiar with Faleomavaega’s looks will see from what is obviously a more recent photograph than KHJ heretofore had been using, that the delegate has lost substantial weight and looks every bit the age of the elderly man now in his eighth decade that he is.

However, Samoa News Editor-in-Chief Rhonda Annesley on August 1 published a signed editorial  that included a public note to the delegate: 

“Eni: At least give those poor six people who have declared themselves as running for your seat some relief. ARE YOU RUNNING OR NOT? And for the voters, WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU SUFFER FROM? A stroke, food poisoning… what are you in ‘re-hab’ for — drugs? Too much ava? Not enough air? WHAT?

"Here’s a thought for all you ‘public’ figures in public offices — WE, THE VOTERS, HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW HOW COMPETENT YOU ARE — MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY — TO CARRY ON YOUR DUTIES THAT WE VOTED YOU IN TO DO!“ [emphasis hers]

Samoa News has been somewhat schizophrenic in its coverage of Faleomavaega since he took ill: sometimes running his press releases as if he were going at full steam in Washington and other times gently raising the health question.  This time, however, it seems that, as the election approaches, the editor has thrown down the gauntlet. So far, there has been no response out of Faleomavaega’s office. 

It also well may be that Samoa News has decided the time has come to hold the delegate’s feet to the fire.  In the comments section of the Internet edition of the paper, under the editorial one reader pointed out that Faleomavaega actually did announce for re-election at the July 23 party meeting.  The webmaster responded “We're well aware the local dems have endorsed Eni, after all the Dem's committee woman is our copy editor (and Eni's sister-in-law). However we have not heard it from the congressman and until we do, it's not a story Samoa News chooses to publish.

In fact the webmaster is correct.  The endorsement request read by party chairman Ali’imau JR Scanlan was signed not by the congressman but by the delegate’s district office director, who also serves as his campaign committee chairman.  How cozy.  The webmaster went on to say that “[w]e assume he will run, but have had no official word. In the meantime, if the PR his office releases is of vital interest and the only source for the info we will publish it, whether he is running or not. That's the advantage of being the incumbent. If it is just propaganda BS we don't use it, whether it is an election year or not. Hey we're not stupid.”

A quick look at recent back issues shows that the paper indeed has not published a number of his press releases, particularly those relating to his foreign affairs work rather than his work for American Samoa.  In one instance, when publishing a story based on his release about a bill passing the Senate that has provisions for American Samoa, Samoa News took the unusual step of editorializing in the headline that it would not likely pass the House, thus taking the wind out of Faleomavaega’s sails.   The headline on the Faleomavaega release read “Senate Passes S. 1237, Omnibus Territories Bill with Faleomavaega's Provisions for American Samoa Included”   but the Samoa News headline read: Omnibus Territories Act passes Senate,unlikely to pass U.S. House.

His release stated “While passage by the Senate is a victory, the Omnibus Territories Act still needs to be passed by the House, and I look forward to working with my colleagues as we try to move this forward.  I will keep the people of American Samoa updated as the matter progresses, and I offer my sincere appreciation to the Senate for supporting the Territories…”   While carrying his quote, Samoa News concluded its story: “GovTrack.us, a website that tracks legislation and legislators in the U.S. government, gives the Omnibus Act a 36% chance of being enacted.”   So, maybe now that the stakes are so high with the election approaching, Samoa News plans to adopt a consistent "get tough" approach to covering him.

So far from Washington, this blog could not be published without access to all the material available on the Internet.   It appears Samoa News realizes it has access to the same resources to check the veracity of Faleomavaega's claims while KHJ now has a Washington correspondent to do the same.   That could be bad news for Faleomavaega, who has gotten away with murder in previous elections, especially if he tries to hide out in Washington until the last moments of the campaign.  He had better hope for a late adjournment of the House or be prepared to explain why he isn't on the first plane back home the moment the adjournment gavel bangs down.

It is also worth pointing out that Faleomavaega gets an extra benefit out of this party’s endorsement that in itself is a story worth Samoa News covering.  The information is all at hand on the Internet.  Under Federal law, candidates for the Congress may take no more than $2,600 from an individual and $5,000 from a political committee per election.   What few people here realize is that in lieu of primaries, nominating conventions and caucuses (such at the Democrats’ July 23 gathering) count as a separate election.  So, all those donors who already contributed the maximum amounts to him earlier this year or last year after he filed for re-election on January 31, 2013 now can again give him their maximum amount again. 

In other words, the individuals who gave him $2,600 already now can give him another $2,600.  According to Federal Election Commission records, he already has amassed over $40,000 in contributions, much of it from maximum donors.  He ought to be able to go back to these same folks and be able to double the size of his treasury overnight.  Keep an eye on the FEC website.

At the same time, those candidates who are running as independents have no intervening election, so their donors will be limited to the maximum amount once only.  Now it becomes obvious why it was so important for Faleomavaega to have the formal endorsement of his party.  Togiola and Tua'au are attorneys.  It would come as no surprise to find that they are looking through the American Samoa Democratic Party rules to see if all the endorsement procedures were followed correctly.  Much is at stake.

Obama Humiliates Faleomavaega; Tuna Interests Seem Clueless; Obamacare also a Problem; The Campaign is Well Underway

Announcement of Zone Humiliates Delegate

Even though he was not on the roster of speakers nor was he anywhere to be seen at Secretary of State John Kerry’s elaborate, international “Our Ocean” Conference, American Samoa Congressional Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, the Ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Asia-Pacific subcommittee, isn’t dead.  Nor is he in a coma and is not even bedridden any more.  Indeed, he has been seen ever more frequently, even if only for photo opportunities, since he first emerged in March from his still unrevealed illness last October.  

In fact, after a nine month and three day absence, he returned to the dais of the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week for a hearing on one of his pet issues: U.S. – India relations.  Watching it from here on the Internet, he appears to have regained some of the weight he lost but he spoke from a prepared statement for his opening remarks, repeatedly stumbling over the text.  Moreover, he seemed listless in the subsequent round of questioning, but he did stay for the entire hearing.

So, he clearly is well enough to consider substantive issues so imagine the humiliation Faleomavaega must have felt when, without any prior consultation with him, President Obama via video announced to the Our Ocean conference that he would be creating the world’s largest  ocean reserve  between American Samoa islands and Hawaii, a move that could have enormous ramifications for the fishing industry that is the foundation of the territory’s private sector.

The program of this year’s annual “Pacific Day” having been set before Obama’s surprise announcement, it does not appear that this embarrassment played any part in Faleomavaega not being on the program of an event he has dominated in years past.  Even though he reportedly put in a brief appearance at the New Zealand embassy at the tail end of the embassy’s “Pacific Day” program and was introduced from the podium, he did not speak nor was he at the earlier seminar that was held prior to the island-style dinner and cultural entertainment.

Rather, Faleomavaega limited himself to issuing a subdued press release.  While gamely playing the loyal foot soldier in the Obama army by saying he appreciated  the President’s "focus on combating threats of overfishing and carbon pollution in the Pacific and their long-term negative effects on the health of our marine ecosystems and the livelihood of our people,” he went on to admit he was “very concerned that the stakeholders, including Territorial Delegates, the House Committee on Natural Resources, and U.S. tuna fishermen and processors, were not consulted in advance about the possible impact some of these initiatives may have on Pacific Island economies, including American Samoa, which is a single-industry economy almost entirely dependent on the U.S. tuna fishing and processing industry.”

Perhaps it gave him some solace—certainly some cover--to point out that he was not the only one caught by surprise but none of the others he named were among Obama’s earliest supporters when as a junior senator in 2008 Obama announced he would challenge Hillary Clinton for their party’s presidential nomination.  It has been nearly six years now since Obama took office and the ailing delegate has little to show for his loyalty to the President. Every election he runs ads listing all the federal funds that have come to American Samoa during his tenure but ninety percent of those programs are formula grants that do not depend on who is representing the territory in Congress.

Obamacare Ruling Another Setback for Faleomavaega

As a matter of fact, Faleomavaega suffered yet another setback this week when the Obama administration took away Obamacare (ACA) from the territories.  He and the other congressional delegates had backed their island governments’ pleas for tailoring the program to their special needs but up until now the response always has been “the law is the law and there is nothing we can do.”  However, some government official discovered the Public Health Service Act definition of “state” had not been broadened to include the territories, so they solved their headache by pulling the rug out from under the islands altogether.

Once again Faleomavaega was forced to put his best face on the disaster by issuing a press release that played down the setback by saying “While I am pleased that a response has been issued, the response falls short of the request put forward by the Territorial Delegates to allow additional time for Congress to reconsider how our constituents could more fully benefit from the ACA.”  The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC), which also was not consulted, issued a much tougher press release of its own, in which it said Obama's Marine Monument Expansion "Betrays US Fishermen."  

Even though Faleomavaega said the White House had informed him that Obama “will seek input and comments from stakeholders, including fishermen, scientists, conservation experts, elected officials, and others in the region, to share their views before moving forward with these initiatives,” one WPFMC official lamented that he had never seen one of these zones modified once they had been announced. In other words, this is a done deal.

At the same time on ACA, while the delegate said “I will continue to work with my Congressional colleagues towards resolving our concerns,” he knows full well that his party does not have the votes it did in 2010 when Obamacare passed and he certainly is in no position now to get congressional changes to the law—not even if all the territorial delegates—all Democrats—acted in concert.  If anything, the Republican held House most likely would want to strip Obamacare from the 50 states, not restore the program to the territories.

And that brings us to politics.  If recent trends hold, Republicans will gain, not lose, seats in the House, further relegating Faleomavaega to long-term minority status and prospects look good for the GOP capturing the Senate as well.  So perhaps the best hope he would have to mitigate the commercial damage of the new conservation zone is to enlist a Republican-controlled Congress to find a way to block Obama.  But as a Democrat who has made a career of attacking Republicans, he is hardly in a position to have much influence on that side of the aisle. Nevertheless, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) has offered rollback legislation, but even if passed, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wouldn’t consider it.

So, considering the fragility of his health and his lack of influence, Faleomavaega could not be faulted for retiring.  Why put up with repeated humiliation at the hands of the President he backed so strongly at the risk of alienating Hillary Clinton?  When the then Secretary of State stopped in Pago Pago a couple of years ago, the then-governor (now one of Faleomavaega’s opponents), Togiola Tulafono, asked her to allow American Samoa to take observer status at the Pacific Islands Forum, a request she granted.  At the same time, Feloemavaega asked her to consider debt relief for Cambodia, a request she ignored.  There may be a reason for that.  While Faleomavaega was an early Obama supporter, Togiola backed Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination.

Earlier this year, Time Magazine revealed that Hillary keeps an enemies list and quoted a book on Hillary that said “Almost six years later most Clinton aides can still rattle off the names of traitors and the favors that had been done for them, then provide details of just how each of the guilty had gone on to betray the Clintons—as if it all had happened just a few hours before.”  Most likely, as the Pago Pago episode demonstrates, Faleomavaega is on that list.  

So it should come as no surprise that, as  inappropriate as it was in the context of the hearing at which he was speaking in January last year, Faleomavaega tried to extend an olive branch to Secretary Clinton.  CNS reported he “used his time during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya to essentially give his endorsement for Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, saying, ‘I salute you and I look ahead to 2016, wishing you much success and extending to you my highest regards.’"   CNS also noted the irony that while he used his questioning time to open with a political statement, he went on to say “It is no good for any of us to use this tragedy for political gain. This was a terrorist attack, first and foremost.  We must not lose sight of this brutal fact.”   Irony?  Try hypocrisy.

The Campaign Has Begun

Clearly he was trying to desperately make amends with the exiting chief U.S. diplomat but it is likely too little too late.  That time was when he chose to endorse Obama. Yet, by all indications, he plans to push on.  The American Samoa election office has made filing papers available to prospective candidates and six campaigns have picked up petition packets.  The media have identified five candidates who have announced for the seat but the election office has declined to identify who has picked up the six packets. 

While the media for some reason refuse to speculate, it is most logical to believe Faleomavaega supporters have picked up the sixth packet.   Making a formal announcement and holding a campaign kickoff are not required.  Indeed, in 2012 Faleomavaega did neither and still won a solid victory.  As far as federal government authorities are concerned, one becomes a candidate for Congress when one files a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, and Faleomavaega has done that, albeit prior to his illness.  (Note the timing: Faleomavaega made his endorsement of Clinton on January 23, 2013 and filed his 2014 candidacy on January 31, 2013).  As far as the territorial government is concerned, one becomes a candidate when the papers and sufficient petition signatures are filed and fees paid by September 2.

Tuna Interests Seem Clueless; Or Is It Appeasement?

More telling as to his plans, he already has raised substantial funds since falling ill—over $40,000.  That is more than all than all his opponents combined.   As usual, many of the donations so far have come from big donors with Asian names.  Perhaps surprising, however, he also has attracted a number of large donations from tuna interests.  Surely they knew at the time there was little he could do for them, particularly while still recuperating in bed, but a more likely explanation is they donated to keep him from hurting them, even if he cannot help.

The fishing folks vividly recall Faleomavaega’s harangues against StarKist over the years for paying its executives major salaries while cannery workers have been paid well below the U.S. minimum wage.  And they painfully know his role in promoting the law that is set to bring canneries workers under the U.S. minimum wage.  Then there also is a secret amendment he offered on a Coast Guard authorization bill that would have loosened the rules on tuna boats that could fish Pacific waters under U.S. license without guaranteeing delivery to the territory's canneries.

Even if the media are not connecting all these dots for the voters or even reporting on the candidates who are, you can bet that Faleomavaega’s opponents are working the villages to convince the voters the time has come to thank Eni for his service by retiring him so he can spend his remaining time more fully recovering from illness and enjoying his family. We can only hope they succeed.

INDIA: Faleomavaega Rips Obama, Clinton, Kerry Policies; Gabbard Upstages Him; Hindu PAC Ignores Him

Following the victory of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Indian national elections, American Samoa Delegate Eni Faleomavaega lashed out at President Obama's policies in a news release containing remarks his office had inserted into the Congressional Record on May 19 congratulating the sub-continent's new prime minister.

Suggesting that Modi had scored a "resounding victory despite the U.S. using every recourse it could to disrupt his destiny," without naming them Faleomavaega made it clear he felt Obama, Clinton and her successor John Kerry had made a mistake in not restoring a visa that first had been revoked in 2005 for his alleged role in riots in Gujarat in 2002, when he was chief minister at the time.

“Nonetheless, despite the United States getting it wrong with India,” continued the delegate,who had pleaded with Obama, Clinton and Kerry without success (and once again underscoring his lack of influence) to build a friendship with Modi, “Narendra Modi is looking ahead . . . (a)nd he is the key player for improved relations between the U.S. and India.” No kidding! 

Almost as if to stick his thumbs in the eyes of the White House and State Department, he made certain it was noted for the Record that “As a token of friendship and in commemoration of the fulfillment of his destiny . . . a flag was flown over the United States Capitol at my request in honor of him on April 7, 2014, to mark victory’s dawn.” Preliminary results indicating a BHJ victory were not announced until May 16.

Faleomavaega also made it known that “I have personally met with Shri (the Sanskrit equivalent of “Mr.”) Modi as far back as 2010 and I know him to be a sincere man who stands against corruption and for inclusive growth and development.” Yet, even as the ailing, 13-term delegate was having his statement inserted into the Congressional Record, freshman U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) was upstaging him in her own reaction to her fellow Hindu's victory.

Three days before Faleomavaega's statement, as Modi's victory was becoming evident, Gabbard, who is younger than Faleomavaega's children and has a long, bright future in politics, released her own statement, which said: “I recently spoke with Narendra Modi by phone and congratulated him and the Bharatiya Janata Party for winning a majority vote in India’s Lok Sabha [Congress]. This election was an extraordinary achievement for the 550 million Indians who voted over the course of six weeks in some 930,000 polling locations. I look forward to working with Mr. Modi and other members of the Indian government toward our mutual goals of peace, stability, and economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region. A partnership between the world's two largest and greatest democracies is necessary for us to successfully address the many global challenges we face, including economic growth, bilateral trade, the environment, terrorism, and security." 
 
No smirking, no reference to success or failures of U.S. policy, just looking to the future. In the ailing Faleomavaega's absence, Gabbard has on occasion served as Ranking Member of the House Asia-Pacific Subcommittee, a position it took Faleomavaega years to achieve. Whether or not Faleomavaega also tried to telephone Modi but without success is not known. Perhaps the fragility of his health would not permit such an attempt. Although he publicly welcomed the election of the first Samoan as a voting Member of Congress, it has to be grating on him how fast Gabbard has risen in stardom within their shared Democratic Party.  She has already appeared on more national televison news programs in a year and a half than he has in 25 years.

Whatever Faleomavaega'a relationship with Modi, it is clear that on May 31 the Hindu American Political Action Committee (HAPAC)  announced its endorsements for 2014 congressional primary elections. In its statement releasing the names of candidates it is backing, HAPAC said it is supporting them “because of their strong track record of work for the Hindu American community. HAPAC looks forward to supporting others candidates for political office.”

It should come as no surprise that Gabbard topped the list followed by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the chairman of the full House Foreign Affairs Committee. Two California Democrats, Reps. Brad Sherman and Ami Bera, the latter the only Asian Indian currently in Congress, were next, followed by House India and Indian American Caucus Co-Chairman Joe Crowley (D-NY) and caucus member Eric Swallwell (D-CA). Rounding out the list, the PAC also announced it was financially assisting state Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett (D-CA), who is running against Swallwell, and two other Hindus running for Congress: Dr. Manan Trivedi (D-PA), and Swati Dandekar (D-IA).

Because Congressional Asia Pacific Caucus Chairman-emeritus Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) has been very helpful to Hindu Americans, the PAC is not contributing to either of his Hindu opponents, Ro Khanna (D) and Dr. Vanilla Singh (R), urging voters to vote their conscience. This despite the fact that Honda In 2012 signed onto a letter to the U.S Department of State asking it to continue denying a visa to Modi.

Although incumbents such as Gabbard and Royce face little or no competition for renomination or reelection, HAPAC stressed that this was funding for primaries,. It is quite possible, however, that they are stressing that this is primary funding so they can come back and make additional contributions to the same candidates for the general election. In one case where they have two favored candidates contesting a seat, they are giving money to both, in another case to neither.

Curiously missing from this initial list, of course, is Faleomavaega, even though the aging Samoan is already facing four announced challengers with several more thought to be standing in the wings. Maybe HAPAC is waiting to see if due to his lingering illness Faleomavaega decides to retire.  For now, not even a nod to his existence.

It will be interesting to see if another Indian PAC, USINPAC, makes a contribution to Faleomavaega, as it has in the past.  Included in his statement for the Congressional Record congratulating and praising Modi, Faleomavaega made it a point to insert this sentence: “I also commend Mr. Sanjay Puri, Founder and President of USINPAC, for championing the cause and work of Shri Narendra Modi early on in the U.S. Congress when India’s next Prime Minister was Chief Minister of Gujarat.”  

Whether that was a payoff for past support or a down payment on future contributions remains to be seen. His statement was silent about HAPAC. USINPAC has donated at least $22,000 to the delegate's reelection campaigns in chunks from $2,000 to $5,000 going back as far as 2002 and there is no reason to expect they will abandon him this year, regardless of what HAPAC does.

Faleomavaega's statement got major play in the Indian media but not in American Samoa. It could be the local media did not consider it newsworthy. On the other hand, perhaps Samoa News, where Faleomavaega's sister-in-law, the territory's Democratic National Committeewoman, is on the editorial staff, spiked the story to save the delegate embarrassment for not gaining HAPAC funding or even an endorsement for re-election after all the fuss he has made about Modi, a Hindu. As much attention as his statement garnered in India and in the Indian American community, the snub hardly seems an oversight. 
 
Of course, all this is public information available on the Internet and one need not be in Washington to put two and two together. But our local media seems to be incapable of gathering and analyzing facts. Meanwhile, as expected, former governor Togiola Tulafono has tossed hat into the ring, becoming the fourth announced candidate for Congress. Other than emphasizing he wanted to work to restore a good working relationship between the delegate and local leaders, saying “my feeling is, we need to refocus cooperation” between the Office of the Delegate and territorial leaders and that the Delegate “must serve the supporting role” of the leaders, in serving the territory and her people” he kept his announcement on a positive note. “refocusing cooperation is a thinly veiled code phrase for pointing out that Faleomavaega has a fierce independent streak that has put him at odds with a succession of governors, including or perhaps especially Togiola. The two men do not like each other but Togiola did not take the bait offered by Samoa News to question Faleomavaega's health.

Will Faleomavaega Join the Old Bulls Leaving Congress?

Everyone knows that Faleomavaega is a sick man. He has said so himself. Just before the 2012 election Radio New Zealand International reported that he freely admitted that he “has had a double by-pass heart surgery, had his appendix taken out, underwent a knee operation, both his eyes are lasered with artificial lenses and he had high blood pressure, gout and Type 2 Diabetes. He adds it's likely he has been exposed to the deadly chemical dioxin found in Agent Orange while he served in Vietnam."

But, while admitting that he has new health problems from which he is still recovering, he has not yet been as forthcoming about them as he was about his earlier ailments nor has he announced whether he will seek re-election this fall.

Nonetheless, we have clues to the answers to both questions. His office in the few statements made has referred to his “rehabilitation,” a word normally used in connection with a stroke. Indeed, there is widespread belief he suffered two strokes last October. Although he has resumed “limited” office hours, he has skipped countless hearings and caucus meetings since he return. While he has made three appearances on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives where he has spoken without sign of impairment, there is anecdotal evidence that he may be suffering residual brain damage even if his motor skills have fully recovered.

On the question of re-election, the Federal Election Committee reports that his campaign committee is functioning and he has raised $40,000 towards re-election just since taking ill. There is no law, just tradition, that requires him to make any formal announcement. However, he has simply filed the required paperwork before without any formal announcement or campaign kickoff event without any impact on his votes and could do so again. So we will have to keep a close eye on our election office to see if and when he or someone on his behalf picks up a packet containing the petitions that must be circulated and filed before he formally becomes a candidate. The filing period opens July 14 and closes September 2. 

Not only has he missed many normal functions of participating in Congress, there is no evidence Faleomavaega has traveled since becoming ill, other than evacuation from Tutuila to Honolulu, where he was hospitalized at Tripler Hospital, then quietly moved to the Mainland for additional treatment in the west (some say at his residence in Utah; others say at a VA rehab facility in California; perhaps both). Then he returned to Washington in late winter and has remained there ever since. It is also said that his wife, who for many years has lived apart from him first in Nevada and now Utah, has returned to Washington to care for him.

If, indeed, he suffered one or more strokes, it would account for why there is no evidence he has traveled at all by air since returning to Washington. He may be under doctor's orders. We do know that he did not return for Flag Day or Memorial Day, two occasions that no politician ordinarily would dare miss in an Election year. So everyone is waiting to see when he will make his re-appearance. Will he pick up and/or file his own papers? Will he have a campaign kickoff event? Will he participate in candidate debates? Will he run a Curley/Spellman/Johnson type of campaign (James Michael Curley won election in Boston while in prison; Gladys Spellman won in Maryland while in a coma; Tim Johnson won a SD senate seat while hehabing from a stroke)?  Or will he wait as long as possible to assess his health then quietly retire if he, his family, friends, allies and/or doctors decide he no longer is up to the job?

Frankly, one has to wonder why he would want to continue. He is in the Minority and no one believes the Democrats have any chance of resuming control of the House this fall. The earliest date most analysts believe the Democrats can come back is in 2022 after redistricting when Faleomavaega would be pushing 80.  In fact, if anything all indications are that Republicans will gain additional House seats and perhaps enough Senate seats to gain control of the Senate in November. Even in the Majority he, as a non-voting delegate, would have very little opportunity to accomplish very much. Moreover, continuing health problems may force him to curtail if not curtail if not eliminate his extensive foreign travel. Over the past quarter century, it would come as no surprise to find that he has traveled more miles than any other Member of Congress even without counting the miles traveling back and forth from American Samoa.

Unlike the other delegates, he has no legislative record of which to speak and little prospect of building one. His signature bill, the so-called ASPIRE Act, introduced when his party controlled the House, never got reported out of subcommittee and even members of his own party spoke against it in a hearing. Despite his seniority, he was denied the Ranking Member position on the full Foreign Affairs Committee, authority over global environment was stripped from the subcommittee, he has been stripped of his vote in the House Committee of the Whole and the Clerk no longer reports his seniority or that of the other delegates—all Democrats—in the House seniority list. It is shown separately at the end of the list. He also was passed over in favor of a freshmen legislator for the chairmanship of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus despite having served loyally for a number of years as vice chairman to Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA). Adding insult to injury, his place as vice chairman went to another delegate, Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo of Guam.

Despite being on Tutuila at a time then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was in Samoa meeting with the region's foreign ministers, he did not travel over there, even though he was chairman of the Asia Pacific subcommittee at the time, because Rice declined to give him an opportunity to address the gathering. And when then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came through Pago Pago a couple of years ago, she ignored his plea on Cambodian debt relief while granting the then-Governor (who will seek to replace him this fall) was granted his request to allow American Samoa to have official observer status at the Pacific Islands Forum in a major reversal of U.S. policy.

His extensive travels over the years frequently have taken him to Bangkok, home of the parent company of Chicken of the Sea brand tuna and Seoul, home of StarKist's parent company. Although he touted those visits as opportunities to meet with American Samoa;s major private sector employers, Chicken of the Sea closed its plant and StarKist's long-term future remains in as much doubt as Faleomavaega's ability to get legislation to protect the company's tax advantages and wage structure. One trip he missed was a U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen even though the global environment was under his subcommittee's jurisdiction at the time. Even though he was chairman, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)--whose political action committee once gave him $10,000 towards re-election (she wanted his caucus vote for Leader)—did not include him in her 21-Member delegation. 

He once got Pelosi to show up at a summit of Pacific Leaders in Washington only to have that triumph go sour when the then-Speaker showed up over a half hour late, annoying the heads of government and others alike, all trapped in an auditorium for the occasion,  They all were there for an evening of food and entertainment--to which Pelosi's appearance was a hastily arranged add-on.

More recently, his continued lack of influence was underscored by President Obama's decision to pick Esther Kia'aina over his choice, Nikolao Pula, as assistant secretary of Interior for insular affairs and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned less than two days after Faleomavaega took to the House Floor to urge him to stay. Indeed, although Faleomavaeva was one of Obama's earliest supporters in his first run for president, there is no evidence Obama ever has returned the favor. Oh yes, Faleomavaega has lots of pictures with the president, but so does every Member of Congress—Republican and Democrat alike. It comes with the job.  One has to wonder if he realizes he is telegraphing his irrelevance by frequently punctuating his remarks with "I've been saying for years . . . " (even if he does not conclude with "but no one listens to me").

He has gone as far as his seniority will take him. Acquiring more now will not advance him further, get him a better office or increase his pension, which topped out at 20 years of service 2009. So why does he go on? We can only surmise that the limelight must continue to outweigh the humiliations, particularly since neither the local media nor his political opponents make any concerted effort to address his record or prospects for future success in Congress. Seemingly, as long as he can continue to flash his pe'a, strum his ukulele, carry a tune and dance, and have enough money to buy a boatload of radio and newspaper advertisements that cleverly list all the federal money that comes to the territory while only implying but being careful specifically not to claim it is due to him, as well feed the voters, there will be enough voters to get him re-elected.

One of the values of seniority is building friendships and alliances to help a Member reach his legislative goals. Much of Faleomavaega's investment in that relationship building process has been lost in the past three years with the retirement of Sen. Dan Akaka (D-HI), the death of Sen. Dan Inouye (D-HI) and the defeat of then-Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), whose re-nomination Faleomavaega unsuccessfully backed in 2012. The wave of Old Bulls going out has continued unabated this year with the announced retirements of Reps. John Dingell (D-MI), George Miller (D-CA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA), all Faleomavaega allies with whom he serves for many years a fellow member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The signs are present that other senior Members also may be on their way out. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) has a tough primary challenge this month and Rep. Nick Joe Rahall (D-WV), a Faleomavaega ally who was Ranking Democrat on House Natural Resources, is thought to be in danger of losing his seat in November. All of the aforementioned Members are ex-Members who have or had seniority substantially exceeding Faleomavaega's 13 terms.

Dingell, the longest serving person in the history of the House, will be joined in retirement by Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), at 91 the oldest person ever to have served in the House. Hall, also the last World War II veteran in Congress, was defeated for renomination last week and the man who beat him said a long career of distinguished service does not entitle a person to a lifetime seat in the House. Watch this video interview for his comments.

Once again, do not expect our local media to present this kind of analysis to the voters for their consideration. However, even if others are hesitant to address the ailing delegate's shortcomings, former governor Togiola is not likely to be so shy. Faleomavaega realizes this so perhaps it will given him impetus he needs to pull the plug and go the way of the Old Bulls before the voters finally show him the door.