Island Achievers
Influencing Policy In Republican Washington
American Samoa's Amata Coleman Radewagen Promotes Pacific Agenda
Former American Samoa congressional candidate, Amata Coleman Radewagen, was selected in early January to head the newly established Pacific Islands Republican Liaison Office in Washington D.C. Chairmen of the Republican Parties in Guam, American Samoa and Northern Marianas in a joint statement said the office will serve as a funnel for communications during the opening months of the Bush administration and the new Republican Congress.
Amata, as she prefers to be called by the media, is a veteran Republican National Committeewoman for American Samoa, who is already based in the nation's capital, where she is a member of the House Republican Conference staff. She ran unsuccessfully during the 2000 American Samoa congressional race and was the Assistant Secretary of the Republican National Convention as well as American Samoa co-chairman of the Bush campaign. "She is well positioned with the Bush team to make sure we have a good, two-way flow of information with Washington," said Guam's GOP chairman David J. Sablan.
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She is the daughter of the late Peter Tali Coleman, long time governor of A. Samoa and former High Commissioner for the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
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She indicated that though this is an initiative of three American-affiliated islands, the new office will not limit its role to these areas. "We hope to leverage our influence to have a say on Pacific ambassadorial assignments, the federal presence in the region, policy toward the free associated states (Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands) and the wider region," she told Pacific.
Getting the ear of key Republican leaders by establishing the credibility of the Republican Liaison Office is high on her agenda. "We took a good stride in that direction today (January 12), as I was invited to accompany the Bush Transition Team leader for (the Department of the) Interior on a courtesy call to the Pacific Congressional delegates," she said. "We had a good hour and a half to discuss a wide range of issues."
One of the problems facing Republicans in Washington — and a major motivator for the new liaison office — is that in the American-affiliated islands, Democrats dominate elected positions. "With Republicans dominating Congress and the administration, the American Pacific is disadvantaged by its overabundance of Democrats as elected office holders," she said. "So our GOP coalition tries to make up for that."
"We have to take advantage of the position we are in," said Aviata A.F. Fa'alevao, the chairman of the Republican Party of American Samoa. Saipan’s Republican chief Joseph C. Reyes commented that "because all the Pacific members of Congress and all the governors besides (N. Marianas) Governor Pedro P. Tenorio are Democrats, we really felt we needed to develop our own channel to make certain we have a say in policy and appointments in the federal government."
Sablan, the principal organizer of this initiative, said he did not envision this becoming a permanent office, just a temporary mechanism to establish a Pacific Republican presence in the minds of new federal officials and Congress.
