Dow Jones Stands By Exiled Salinas p. 23

By: George Garneau

Company spokesman denies report that chairman Peter Kann
wants the former Mexican president to resign from the board sp.

DOW JONES & CO. is standing by Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who joined its board in January, even though the former Mexican president has apparently fled into U.S. exile to avoid turmoil at home.
The Mexican press reported that his handpicked successor, President Ernesto Zedillo, asked him to leave. Since Salinas stepped down last November after six years on the job, the nation has plunged into a financial crisis, and his brother has been charged by the government with orchestrating a political assassination.
"At the moment, he's on our board. It's where we stand," said Roger May, spokesman for Dow Jones and its flagship Wall Street Journal.
Salinas, 46, attended board meetings in January and February. A Harvard-educated economist who spent 23 years in government, he was highly regarded for winning passage of the North American Free Trade agreement and for privatizing state industries.
He was nominated to head the World Trade Organization, an appointment that now appears doomed. He has been blamed for the currency crisis that forced the nation to raise prices drastically in order to repay debt. He conducted a hunger strike in an effort to salvage his flagging reputation.
Complicating the drama, Salinas' brother, Raul, was arrested several weeks ago on charges he organized the murder of Francisco Ruiz Massieu, a reform politician and former Salinas brother-in-law.
The Journal quoted the former president's friends as saying he was concerned about death threats and "might have felt safer outside the country."
May said there has been no discussion of removing Salinas from the post, which pays $25,000 a year, plus $1,000 per meeting, as well as perks. The next board meeting is April 19.
But the New York Post, attributing Journal "insiders," reported March 14 that "an inner-circle power struggle may be developing," with Dow Jones chairman Peter Kann opposing Salinas' continued directorship, while Karen Elliott House, Kann's wife and international vice president of the company, supports Salinas.
"As the plot thickens," the Post said, "ethics observers doubted Salinas has a future with Dow Jones."
May called the Post account by business reporter Paul Tharp "way off base, inaccurate." He said the story misquoted him, for one thing.
Asked about disagreement between Kann and House, he said, "I have no idea. The only place I've seen it is in the Post, which I don't think is particularly well sourced at Dow Jones."
May said neither Kann nor House would comment, because "this isn't even worth commenting on."
May said he had taken a lot of calls from Mexican reporters, who raised questions about Salinas' directorship, but only a handful from readers or shareholders.