DailyKos's excellent researcher dengre (more links here) has been researching the scandals in the Marianas for some years now, and perhaps will weigh in later with a more thorough analysis.  This diary contains the basics.  AP via the Washington Post last Saturday.  It's one of those classic Friday afternoon news drops, didn't find any diaries when I searched on Stillwell, so it's likely to be news here:

Stillwell was with the Interior Department's office of insular affairs, which handles issues involving the island government. He is the fifth former government official to plead guilty or be found guilty by a jury in the investigation of Abramoff, who was convicted on felony counts of fraud and corruption.

What was Stillwell guilty of?  Pretty much the same stuff David Safavian, Neil Volz, Tom Delay and the others who went on the famous golf junket to St. Andrews Scotland back in 2000.  Accepting valuable gifts from a lobbyist, beyond what's allowed; and associated failure to report.  Also interesting, from Mr. Stillwell's lawyer:

"He recognizes that his decision on how to treat gifts from Mr. Abramoff was inexcusable. For that he has deep remorse," defense attorney Justin P. Murphy said in a prepared statement. Murphy said Stillwell had been friends with Abramoff and his family for years before he took the Interior Department job.

Remember that Abramoff served on the Bush Administration transition team when they first came into office.  There's e-mail indicating that he wanted to place someone favorable to direct Insular Affairs in Gale Norton's Interior Department.  Looks like he managed to get at least one "old friend" on the inside.  Stillwell is a rare Republican's in Washington these days: he still claims Abramoff as a friend.  Though perhaps wouldn't be doing so, except in an effort to explain away his improper gifts (ongoing personal relationship being the exception to the reporting requirements):

Roger G. Stillwell, 66, told a federal magistrate that he had been given hundreds of dollars' worth of football and concert tickets by Abramoff, who at the time was lobbying for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

According to the Post, there was no evidence given regarding quid pro quo, and also no indication whether Mr. Stillwell is cooperating with authorities in the ongoing investigation.  Let's hope he is.  When it comes to the Marianas, the trail leads pretty directly to Delay & Pombo & Doolittle & Ralph Reed (amongst others, including Speaker of the House Denny Hastert).  Delay & Reed have both already entered into their comeuppance.  The chickens have not yet come home to roost for for Richard Pombo (CA-11) & John Doolittle (CA-04).  (See dengre's links for more on Doolittle.)

Abramoff, Delay & crew conspired to kill all legislation in the house designed to improve the lot of "guest workers" in the (CNMI), a cesspool of corruption, exploitation, young girls getting forced into the sex trade, forced into having abortions, and generally humiliated and debased.  The fight goes back to the 1990s, when a bill passed the Senate (nearly unanimously) to improve conditions in the CNMI.

Presumably, part of why Pombo got the Chairmanship of House Resources, is because he was willing to play along with blocking all hearings and legislation on Abramoff-related matters.  Pombo was leapfrogged over 6 more senior Republican House Members for the post.  (The guy who was in line for the position fell out of favor with Delay for admonishments against him from the Ethics Committee.)  In addition to chairing Resources, Pombo personally chairs its Insular Affairs subcommittee.  He's the go-to man in the House when it comes to the Marianas.

Although the AP didn't report that Stillwell was cooperating in the investigation, it didn't report he wasn't either.  This guilty plea can tentatively be read as a good sign that things are moving along in this vein.  Ralph Reed was the first politician to take a fall over the Marianas aspects of the Abramoff cesspool of corruption, when he lost his primary bid to become Lt. Governor of Georgia last month.  I'm hoping this story's telling us that Stillwell won't be the last name we see associated with CNMI-related guilty pleas.  Pombo's in the thick of it, and vulnerable on this issue.


Here's Pombo and his wife on a 2003 trip to the Marianas.