Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 6

A10 The Arizona Ropuhllc Saturday, February 18, 1989 1 Navajos' head clings to power NAVAJO, from page A 1 life, adding that MacDonald herded sheep on his farm as a youth. I i Tim RogersThe Arizona Republic Council delegates return to their chamber in an apparent effort to ensure the legality of their earlier actions involving Peter MacDonald. fej sb3W (Sal tat is IS ff -7 ff aJzh 1 iff I A -v rir 'J. .1 "I never believed I would have to make a decision like this after knowing him for all these years. I think our people have suffered enough in order to make this decision," Johnson said.

He then voted to remove MacDonald. The council then recessed until Tuesday, when it is expected to select an interim chairman and vice chairman for the nation's largest Indian tribe. The Tuesday session is also expected to consider whether Mac-Donald will be awarded the legal-defense funds he has sought for an expected defense against allegations of corruption raised in recent U.S. Senate hearings. When the winter session reconvened Friday, the meeting was being conducted by acting Chairman Marshall Plummer of Coyote Canyon, N.M., who had been picked by the council Thursday night.

MacDonald administration officials, including Vice Chairman Johnny R. Thompson, remained in the chamber on the sideline. Tazbah McCuIlah, a spokeswoman for MacDonald, said he had not been seen at tribal offices Friday. Earlier Friday, both sides said they agreed during a morning meeting that Thompson was the acting chairman of the Navajos but that Plummer would preside at the council session. Daniel Tso, a council delegate from Torreon, N.M., who led the council, majority that has been seeking Mac-Donald's removal, said Thompson was agreed upon after a great deal of confusion and conflicting legal opinions.

"Our counsel says that the selection of the chairman and vice chairman pro tern (Plummer and Irvin Billie of Tuba City) was legal," Tso said. "Their counsel says that MacDonald relinquished the government to Thompson in a procedural move before the votes were taken and he is the valid head (of the tribal government)." But he added that the majority of the council considers Thompson to men in the tribe's purchase of the Boquillas Ranch in 1987. MacDonald, who presided at the hearings, had been directing a virtual filibuster by calling on his supporters almost exclusively and refusing to call for a vote on motions to suspend him. But late Thursday, MacDonald told the council he would agree to an administrative leave and then pleaded with delegates to make Thompson acting chairman and to fund his legal defense. However, council members defeated the substitute motion with those stipulations and instead by a majority vote, a resolution to remove both officials.

For the first time in three days, there were more tribal police providing security around the council chambers than there were spectators on Friday. Only about 20 people waited outside the chambers, although police security was still tight, with barriers keeping people away from the front door. The 80 spectator seats inside the council, however, remained full. Contributing to this story were Bill Donovan and Mark N. Trahant of The Arizona Republic.

have "one of only two hats" of a full-fledged chairman. "The chairman would normally preside over the council and be chief executive officer," Tso said. "But we have our pro terns to preside over the council, and Mr. Thompson will be the chief executive officer." McCuIlah maintained that the resolutions adopted Thursday night were invalid after the council voted down the substitute motion that would have used tribal funds to set up a legal-defense office for MacDonald. Although she could not explain the opinion, she said it was based on the legal advice received by her office.

In Washington, D.C., Robert Walker, a spokesman for the Interior Department, said the Bureau of Indian Affairs could not resolve the tribal-leadership question. "We try to let the tribes do what they want to do," Walker said. The votes to replace MacDonald and Thompson on Thursday night came at the end of the third day of the council's winter session, in which the only issue has been MacDonald. In testimony at recent U.S. Senate hearings, MacDonald has been accused of taking kickbacks from contractors and payoffs from middle Michael GingThe Arizona Republic When he is not making international forays or spending time with his family, Bruce Babbitt works at fashioning an international-law practice out of the Phoenix offices of Steptoe Johnson.

Babbitt gaining presence worldwide, but likes home U.S. envoy to Ireland to quit, change career BABBITT, from page A 1 American to set foot in the country House of Representatives as a Republican from Massachusetts, becoming the senior-ranking woman in Congress. Initially a reluctant appointee to the Dublin post, Heckler, 57, proved to be a highly public and popular ambassador. During her tenure, U.S. programs increased the number of immigrant visas available to Irish citizens.

the private sector." Earlier Thursday, she informed Prime Minister Charles Haughey of her decision to leave and indicated she will remain in Dublin until President Bush appoints a successor. Then-President Reagan appointed Heckler in December 1985 after she resigned as secretary of health and human services. Before joining the Reagan administration, she spent 16 years in the The Associated Press DUBLIN, Ireland U.S. Ambassador Margaret Heckler says she will resign to pursue a private career. "A career change is due," Heckler said Thursday night.

"After 16 years in the Congress and three years as secretary of health and human services, no other government post would be as challenging. "Drawing on my legal background, I look forward to new opportunities in since a bloody coup earlier this month that ended the reign of President Alfredo Stroessner. Babbitt has traveled twice in recent months to Japan to discuss trade with Pacific Rim economic leaders. He has also made three trips to 'Mexico since December, promoting the idea of a North American common market composed of Mexico, Canada and the United States. In addition, Babbitt will play co-host in June at a meeting of the recently formed North American Institute, a group of public-policy leaders from Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Regal Lighting's semi-annual floor sample sale! Bruce Babbitt gets help from his son Christopher as he works on the roof of their house. About the prospect of another run for president, Babbitt says, "I'm not fixated on politics. It's certainly been good to me, but I can take it or leave it." Splashed in between such forays, most of which are paid for by research institutes or the inviting organization, are lobbying efforts to protect rural water and other environmental interests at state and local levels. Babbitt also is fashioning an international-law practice out of the Phoenix offices of Steptoe Johnson. "He's growing out of some of his historical interests and into many others," said Fred DuVal, a longtime confidant and former campaign manager.

So what do these activities say A1 Michael GingThe Arizona Republic speculation about a future Cabinet role for her husband is "37 ifs away." about the prospect of another run for president in 1992 or 1996? Not much. Eskew said Babbitt's aggressive 1988 campaign for "economic honesty" leaves him well-positioned for another presidential run. But they and others say Babbitt will have to do more to maintain a presence on the national scene if he is serious about indulging that ambition again. "He's not much of a presence here now," Eskew said. "And he doesn't really have a clear structure for advancing his candidacy, should he decide to do that." Some of Babbitt's closest advisers see him as the international trade ambassador, head of the CIA or even secretary of state in the next Democratic presidential administration.

But Hattie Babbitt says any us1 Nevertheless, Bruce Babbitt remains a player on the Democratic Party's national stage. He spoke last month at American University in Washington, D.C., on the future of the party and was the first national figure to endorse Washington attorney Ron Brown in his campaign for chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. Brown, who won election earlier this month, became the first black chairman of a major national political party. And national political analysts predict that Brown will remember Babbitt's early support and return the favor when the time is right. "I'm not ruling it out, but I'm certainly not ruling it in," Babbitt said, pointing out that there are few votes to be had in Paraguay or Japan.

"I'm not fixated on politics. It's certainly been good to me, but I carl take it or leave it." Babbitt's friends and associates contend the Westerner will continue to play a significant role in shaping the country's political and economic future, whether or not he holds public office. Many Washington political analysts agree. Ann Lewis and Carter .9 V9 See HncU ft, rnm Deeper ties to Mexico urged by Babbitt CV While Supplies Last FINANCING AVAILABLE- the lighting experts Ctfggal lighting loaded with Japanese goods for shipment around tariff walls and into American markets," he writes. But he also suggests that the United States use its influence to turn Japan's Mexican initiatives into actions benefitting all three nations.

Babbitt, chairman of the U.S.Mexico Study Group of the Council on Foreign Relations, says most economic-integration moves have centered on Europe, the United States and the Far East He argues that the next phase "must include North-South relationships, especially the countries of Latin North American common market, Babbitt says. He also proposes what he calls a realistic writing-down of Mexico's international debt, saying the three steps are the key ingredients for an economic revival in Mexico. Babbitt, a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, says Japan already has invested in assembly plants near Mexico's border with the United States. He also says Mexico typically has looked to other countries to counterbalance the U.S. presence.

"Japan sees Mexico primarily as an economic Trojan Horse to be The Associated Press The United States should help Mexico by working toward establishing a North American common market, former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt says. Writing for the March issue of World Monitor, the monthly magazine of The Christian Science Monitor newspaper, Babbitt also proposes that the United States work with Japan to increase investment in Mexico for rapid growth in jobs and export earnings. Expansion of a new U.S.-Cana-dian free-trade agreement could serve as a basis for developing a N.W. Phoenix 3559 W.

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