Where I stand—Mike O’Callaghan: Seeking justice for all

Friday, March 23, 2001 | 4:33 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

HELLO, Mary Jo White, is that you? I read where you are going to probe all 177 clemencies and sentence commutations given by President Bill Clinton before leaving the White House. In your position as a U.S. attorney in New York this increased power has been given you by newly appointed U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Having been involved as an advocate for the release from federal prison of the former Navajo Nation leader, Peter MacDonald, I've been expecting your call.

Other than those of attorney George Vlassis of Phoenix, my records are the most extensive file on this case available. That's except for the combined files of the Justice Department, which probably doesn't reflect the abuse of power some people believe took place in MacDonald's trial and eventual excessive sentence.

I was in good company requesting the release of MacDonald from prison. My friend the late Sen. Barry Goldwater had a political falling out with MacDonald back in 1972. It was Goldwater in 1996 who wrote Clinton a letter asking for MacDonald's release from prison. He wrote the president asking for his "kindness and good judgment to grant this man a pardon so he can return to his tribe, his sacred lands and mountains."

Eighteen months ago, when the president visited Las Vegas, this column asked for the release of MacDonald. When discussing a pardon I wrote, "I first came to know this former U.S. Marine Navajo Code Talker of World War II when working with several Indian tribes in the Southwest during 1967. He was struggling to bring economic development and progress to his people at the time. He had a tough job, and government agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs only added to his problems. Today his deteriorating health has resulted in his confinement at a federal prison medical center in Texas."

A year ago I knew that MacDonald had to be depressed, as time passes slowly with much pain for sick people held in prison. Personally, I had confidence that the president would do what was right and wrote MacDonald a letter telling him, "I have confidence that the sun may soon be shining on you and again your face will feel the breezes from the west. Like you, as a former Marine, I've never gone into a serious conflict with any thought of losing. With the passing years more time is spent at burials than baptisms and at more body viewings than weddings. This is all part of our lives as we age and look into the future, knowing that we still have things to do and places to go."

Well, MacDonald is back home where he belongs after eight years in prison. What I learned along the way still bothers me and makes me wonder about some other Navajo people who remain in prison. If ever politics permeated the justice system, it was during their trials, and it raises several questions. So does the jealousy of several government agencies involved in their effort to control any Indian leader who doesn't bow before them. Long before MacDonald became the Navajo leader, I personally witnessed this kind of conduct on several Arizona Indian reservations. The only good Indian was a subservient Indian. That's until the United States gets into shooting wars and American Indians answer the call to colors and shed their blood in combat.

What you should do, Ms. White, is ask your new boss, Gen. John Ashcroft, to expand this investigation and find out why Earl Lee, Don Benally and Ned McKensley are still in prison. This may touch raw nerves with some of Arizona's power structure, but your agency is the Department of Justice. Isn't it?