Who is John Ashcroft?

In politics, as in combat, it’s usually the one you don’t see coming that hurts you the most. For example, who could've foreseen the slow demise of President Begaye's administration with Larry Fosterís untimely and controversial departure, which was followed by the mass migration of executive department officials from the Navajo Nation? And to complete the analogy— with the increasing height of military involvement in Vietnam, who foresaw the Tet offensive in 1968? In both politics and combat, itís usually a select group of keen and unconventional observers who do their homework and reconnaissance—who predict the unnoticed—for the benefit of the Nation.

In the cases mentioned above, the complex reality of the situation clouded most conventional leaders’ active involvement to bring stability to the circumstances at hand. Instead, the focus, naturally, was on what was seen, not on what wasn't seen. With the unfortunate loss of Larry Foster, the focus was on the immoral blow to a moral campaign platform of unity, harmony, and the restoration of respect to the Office of the President of the Navajo Nation. With the Tet offensive, the focus was on the bewildering show of force in South Vietnam of an enemy once thought contained in the North. What was not seen in both situations were repeated attempts by people to bring attention to possible breaches in stability and security. Instead, these people were waived off as either having political agendas or were tragically misinformed. The concerns for the security of the nation were not headed, and as a result, tragic prices were paid.

It then comes as a surprise that Navajo leaders, based on both the tribal political developments in the past two years and the larger historical significance of world affairs, have not launched a strategy to deal with John Ashcroft, President-elect Bush’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General. Instead, and naturally, the focus has been on a highly visible Sen. Slade Gorton’s rumored appointment to post of Secretary of the Interior. Once again, the unseen may have a devastating impact.

The reality of national politics as a dynamic, complex, and multidirectional paradigm, means that tribal governments must keep active watch on several fronts at all times. It is true that the Interior Department has a large and important role in Indian affairs, but it is also true that the Department of Justice and several other Executive agencies also have important roles in Indian affairs as well.

Who is John Ashcroft? Those who kept a watchful eye on national politics will recall the death of Missouri Senatorial candidate Mel Carnahan, the late governor of Missouri who died in a plane crash during the campaign and won (his widow is now serving in his place). His staunch opponent was non other than John Ashcroft, who is, as numerous newspapers have reported, “the guy who lost to a dead man.”

Politically, John Ashcroft is as conservative as they come. You have to be to receive an honorary degree from Bob Jones University, an institution in the millennium of racial tolerance which still adheres to a bigoted policy of banning interracial dating. Ashcroft is also noted for his appalling record on civil rights. The New York Times reported that in the early 1990ís, President Bush, Sr., commissioned a report on minorities in America that determined minority people were falling behind in national efforts to institute equality. Though noted humanitarians such as former President Carter and Coretta Scott King signed the report, Ashcroft did not, labeling the report as too negative and inaccurate. As Senator of Missouri, Ashcroft successfully derailed President Clintonís appointment of Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White to the federal bench, verbally chastising Justice White, who is Black, as being “pro-criminal.”

The Board Chairman of the NAACP, referring to John Ashcroft, stated in a national news paper, “Any pretense of unifying the Nation has ended with this nomination.” A strong position from an organization which has faced this country’s heinous race relations for decades.

Though not the Department of the Interior in the scope of Indian affairs, the Department of Justice, nonetheless, plays an important role in the administration of federal law in Indian country, in the selection of federal judges who preside over Indian cases, and in the funding of tribal judicial and police systems. The latter two are of most concern. Indian issues often times are brought to the federal courts for resolution. Based on what we know from court decisions, Indian issues are, for the most part, favorably decided by moderate to liberal federal judges. While on the other hand, conservative judges like Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Scalia, have tended to hand down damaging decisions regarding Indian affairs.

The combined 13 years of stalled appointments of moderate to liberal federal judges in President Clintonís eight years in office, will soon be restarted and filled with conservative judges selected by Republican President Bush and Attorney General Nominee John Ashcroft, and confirmed by a Republican Senate. The federal judiciary is prone for major shift to a conservative judicial ideology that has not favored affirmative action and social legislation intended to equalize the playing fields traditionally held by white, Protestant, males.

Conservative Republicans have also been reluctant to appropriate adequate levels of federal funding. The combination of John Ashcroft’s insensitive understanding and knowledge of minority issues and his ultra-conservative streak does not bode well for the Navajo Nation’s division of Public Safety, which relies on more than 83% of federal funding to operate jails, pay police officers, and maintain facilities and equipment.

With top cabinet positions filled by a diverse group of conservatives, a noted observer of national politics cautioned, “this is a 180 degree change as one can expect.” In a political era that spanned eight years with unprecedented changes in the creation of Indian policies in most of the Executive agencies, the creation of key executive orders supporting and upholding tribal sovereignty, and the creation of tribal offices in the Department of Justice, a Republican President and a highly conservative Republican Attorney General may undo in a matter of a year or two, what has taken decades for tribal people to accomplish.

Fortunately, tribal governments are not helpless against this conservative adversary. It will take an active role of tribal leaders and their national legislative reconnaissance offices to prepare, anticipate, and respond with measures designed to protect their people. With all due respect, if Navajo leaders in both the Council and the Executive Office haven’t been briefed on John Ashcroft, then Michelle Brown, the director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office, must step up her efforts for Navajo National preparedness against the likes of John Ashcroft. It will take a creative political veteran who knows the importance and responsibility of keeping an ever-watchful eye on the movements of an unnoticed conservative political element, a politically savvy field general to guide and direct an already highly seasoned and competent group of legislative assistants and the Navajo Nation to victory, as it were.

— Milton Bluehouse, Jr.

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