By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial has appointed his special legal counsel, Howard P. Willens, to head the CNMI team that will hold 902 talks with President Bush’s special representative, Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary for Insular Affairs David Cohen.
Fitial said besides Willens, Attorney General Matthew Gregory and Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. will be on the CNMI panel.
Willens was the counsel of the local panel that negotiated the drafting of the islands’ Covenant agreement with the U.S.
Section 902 of the Covenant, provides for direct discussions between the local and federal governments on all matters affecting their relationship.
On Jan. 5, Fitial asked Bush for the resumption of 902 talks on issues about local immigration, minimum wage and taxation.
He said the commonwealth “is currently experiencing severe economic pressures that threaten the health and safety of its people and the viability of the government.”
He told Bush that the islands’ situation is worsened by “continuing disputes with United States agencies over interpretation of the Covenant to establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in political union with the United States of America.”
The governor is referring to the renewed push for the federalization of local minimum wage and immigration laws in the now Democratic Congress.
Specifically, Fitial said, “there are three areas in the Covenant where continuing disputes are adding to the problems facing our community: 1) immigration, 2) minimum wage requirements, and 3) taxation.”
He said congressional proposals to increase the minimum wage during this period of economic depression in the Northern Marianas “will have widespread negative effects and will undoubtedly result in the need for increased federal assistance.”
Cohen is scheduled to meet with CNMI officials and representatives of different sectors this week.
“I am scheduled to be on Saipan later this month and will be available to begin consultations on March 25, if that date is suitable for you,” he told the governor in a letter dated March 15.
During the 902 talks in Jan. 1999, then-President Bill Clinton’s special representative, Edward Cohen, wanted to discuss local wage and immigration issues but the CNMI panel preferred to talk about the islands’ need for more federal assistance.