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“HONORING LORETTA AVENT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1085-E1086 on May 19, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING LORETTA AVENT
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HON. BILL RICHARDSON
of new mexico
in the house of representatives
Thursday, May 18, 1995
Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, there has always been a special relationship between our Federal Government and the more than 500 recognized Indian tribes in our Nation. Each of the tribes is a sovereign nation and each has the right to conduct business directly with the Federal Government bypassing State and local governments. While Indian people have this right in theory it is sometimes difficult for each of the tribes to have a substantive relationship with the executive branch.
But thanks to an extraordinary public servant in the Clinton White House, Indian people for the first time are comfortable with and understand they have a direct link with the administration. Loretta Avent serves as Deputy Assistant to the President. Although African-
American, Mrs. Avent has a unique and close relationship with Indian country. She has opened the door for Indians and is rightly adored by tribes.
I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring Mrs. Avent for her service to this country and for her outstanding service to our native Americans. The following article which appeared in the February 5, 1995 edition of the Arizona Republic is a great tribute to Mrs. Avent.
[From the Arizona Republic, Feb. 5, 1995]
Clinton Liaison is Adored by Tribes
(By Jeff Barker)
Washington.--They give her dolls, rings, shawls, baskets and necklaces. They pray she won't leave them.
To Native Americans, Loretta Avent is a godsend. She takes them places they have never been.
Avent, 52, is a deputy assistant to President Clinton. In her two years at the White House, the Phoenix native has forged an extraordinary relationship with Indian Country.
Tribal leaders say the effervescent former lobbyist has become, quite simply, the most important federal contact they have ever had.
They say she is helping renew their faith in government, which has been so long a source of frustration and broken promises.
``I'm almost 73 years old, and I will tell you that never in my lifetime have we in Indian Country experienced a person so dedicated to tribal rights,'' said Sue Shaffer, chairwoman of the Cow Creek Bank of Umpqua Indians in Roseburg, Ore.
``She's been a guide, mentor, catalyst, grandmother,'' said Paul Ojibway, an Ojibwa tribal member who is the Los Angeles archbishop's Native American liaison. ``Being people who hold people and symbols dear, she gives us the feeling that we are included and don't have to come hat in hand to get noticed.''
An African-American born in rural Virginia, Avent acknowledges that her relationship with tribes ``is beyond what's the norm for me.''
``They feel that I'm chosen. They give me heirlooms. They give me what I call `heart' gifts,''' she said.
She tells visitors that her office was occupied 23 years ago by John Dean, former President Nixon's counsel during the Watergate scandal.
``He was a man who had a chance to help this nation, and he didn't,'' Avent said.
Opened door for Indians
She hopes her legacy will be that she opened the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to a group that has never quite felt welcome, even though its members are descendants of the first Americans.
Avent's contributions are both symbolic and substantive. She organized a historic meeting in April with Clinton and several hundred tribal leaders. She also invited urban Indians and tribes not federally recognized--two groups that often feel particularly overlooked by the government--to their own White House events.
``Never before has there been this type of accessibility,'' and Albert Hale, president of the Navajo Nation.
When tribal leaders believed they were being ignored by the Census Bureau in August, they wrote to Avent. They also contacted her when Arizona was resisting Indian gaming and when they wanted Clinton to grant executive clemency for Leonard Peltier, the American Indian Movement member convicted of killing two FBI agents 20 years ago.
``There's nothing that they do--nothing--that doesn't come to me, Avent said. ``The president said he wanted an administration that reflected the country. Until we bring them (Indians) to the table, then it's not the right reflection of America, because America looked like them first.''
Avent emphasizes that she does not perform the Indians' work by herself. She merely puts them in touch with people who can help.
``She doesn't do things for us,'' said Ivan Makil, president of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
``She sets up the meeting, and after that, we're on our own. She makes sure we get an opportunity to get to the table.''
In Peltier's case, Avent referred inquiries about clemency to the Justice Department. [[Page E1086]]
From prison, Peltier heard about Avent and wrote her a note on the inside cover of a book about Native Americans' legacy.
``All my sources indicated to me that you are the most powerful influence in the White House speaking for Native American issues,'' Peltier wrote.
He said he appreciated that someone of her ``stature'' would read about his case.
Much of Avent's outreach is personal. She fields as many as 60 calls a day from Indians and continues dispensing advice long after the workday has ended.
``Tribes have gotten so used to being ignored for so long that they could not believe someone is so king to them;'' said Bunty Anquoe, a Washington-based reporter for Indian Country Today newspaper.
Avent invites tribal leaders to White House dinners and receptions and, when she can, to the president's box at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
``Thank you a million times over for taking me as your guest to the White House last night,'' began a recent letter to Avent from Suzan Shown Harjo, president of the Washington-based Morning Star Institute, which promotes Indian cultural rights.
``My parents will be so thrilled that I was able to tell the president and first lady how very much they are admired and what they hope to offer for those of us Indian people who are the poor and mostly forgotten and left-out folks that the Democrats stand for.''
credits dad for her values
Avent credits her work values to her father, who reared her alone after a divorce. He is a former elevator operator in one of the U.S. House office buildings.
A longtime resident of the nation's capital, Avent lobbied for the National Association of Counties, U.S. Conference of Mayors and other groups. She also ran a political consulting firm whose clients included the Clinton-Gore campaign.
She moved to Phoenix in 1988, mostly at the insistence of her husband, who said the laid-back lifestyle and weather would add years to their lives.
Avent's husband, Jacques Avent, a Phoenix deputy city manager, said his wife has been reaching out to ``underdogs'' most of her life.
``She does the underdog causes; those are the one that turn her on,'' he said.
In Phoenix, she helped coordinate the Harmony Alliance, which works at bringing disparate groups together.
Avent and her husband have known the Clintons for 20 years.
As a deputy assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs, she is a liaison to Indians and local elected officials around the nation.
She admits being torn between her commitment to Indians and her sadness at being away from her husband.
``I can't be just a holiday spouse, nor do I want to be. I was only going to do this a year,'' she said.
But her job has become part of her.
Returning recently to her birthplace in South Hill, VA., Avent found herself thinking of her Indian friends.
``I was looking at where I grew up,'' she said. `'I was born in the same house my father was. It made me understand what Indian people mean when they talk about Mother Earth.''
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