No hatchet for

the Governor

From a Pago correspondent

Governor John M. Haydon, of American Samoa, has been found innocent of violation of the Hatch Act by United States Civil Service Administrative Judge John Mc- Carthy. Haydon was charged with illegally interfering in American Samoa’s 1972 general election. A hearing on the charge was held in Pago Pago last year and Judge McCarthy handed down his recom mendations to the Civil Service Commission in late March.

The Hatch Act is a federal statute barring federal employees from in terfering in elections. Haydon had been charged on six counts of Hatch Act violations, mostly in connection with the use of the government owned radio and television stations in American Samoa.

The American Samoan News Bulletin reported that Haydon said he was “very pleased” with the re sult, but added he had yet to receive a copy of the decision. “I would rather reserve further comment until we have had an opportunity to study it completely”, the governor said.

There had been much confusion on the result of the hearing, as one local Pago Pago newspaper, the Samoa News, had run an edition with a huge headline declaring that Haydon had been found guilty. Wire service reports and word from Washington DC, however, confirmed that Haydon had been cleared of all charges.

Judge McCarthy ruled that Hay don’s actions were an intrusion on the election, but that Haydon had not intended to influence votes.

The main question in the 1972 election was a proposal calling for the popular election of a Samoan governor in 1974. The proposal failed.

The charges grew out of a KVZK television film, entitled “Your Country—Your Vote” which, ac cording to Haydon, was intended to outline the duties and responsibilities of the Governor of American Samoa. Opponents claimed that it was simply a “showpiece for accom plishments” of the Haydon ad ministration.

Other charges grew out of a radio programme in which Haydon stated that no Caucasians should be elected to the Legislature of American

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Samoa. This programme was broad cast repeatedly on election eve. Only one non-Samoan was running for office. He was not elected. Judge McCarthy ruled that this was a per missible expression of opinion on Haydon’s part.

Although the final Civil Service Commission ruling has not been re leased, it is unlikely that Judge McCarthy’s recommendations will be over-ruled.

Governor Haydon’s enemies might secretly be fuming at the fact that Haydon has been freed of the charges. But in a sense, the decision

was not at all surprising. For one thing, though Haydon is a public servant and subject to public service regulations forbidding public ser vants from taking any active part in any public elections, yet it can be argued that Haydon is more than a public servant.

He is also the governor of Ameri can Samoa, and as such, he has large discretionary powers which may in a sense be stronger than the so-called powers of the United States Public Service.

These powers stem from the fact that as an unincorporated territory, American Samoa is really held as a private property of the US Congress,

much in the same manner as the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar viewed Egypt as a personal property rather than that of the Senate and the people of Rome.

It follows that the governor of American Samoa should really be subject to the Congress alone rather than to the United States Consti tution, United States law, or the regulations of the US Public Service.

American Samoa’s difficulties have been made worse because the terri tory’s status has not been legalised, which is done usually in the form of an organic act, but this the Ameri can Samoans clearly do not want for quite some time yet, as they prefer the status quo.

The American Samoans say, “We’ve never had it so good under the present unclarified system”, but they are also getting some dis advantages.

In support of this, a young Samoan who was trained as a soci ologist in the US, Mr Roy J. D.

Hall Jr, exposed the irrationality of the present political system in American Samoa.

Hall maintained in the Samoa Islands Monthly Journal, that before the American Samoans elected their own governor, the role of the De partment of the Interior in the territory’s domestic affairs should first be clarified.

His reasons were that a popularly elected governor could easily become just a mere figurehead if the Interior

Department appointed a pre-audit

comptroller, who would in fact be the de facto territorial executive, and that the traditional balance between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government was non existent.

“The very legal status of the Territory of American Samoa must be clarified. It is insufficient to con tinue the present nebulous status of referring to American Samoa as an

unincorporated and unorganised

possession of the United States. • The US Secretary of the In terior, Rogers C. Morton, announced on April 16 that a referendum will be held in American Samoa on June 18 on the issue of electing a governor and lieutenant-governor by popular vote. This is despite the

people’s rejection of the proposal in

two elections within the last 18 months, but, Secretary Morton said, “We have an opportunity here to put the issue before the people at this time, unencumbered by other issues on the ballot”. If the people vote “yes” the first American Samoa election of a governor will be held in November, 1976.