Navajos take over Apache County government

CHINLE, Nov. 6, 2008

I f there weren't already a Navajo County, Apache County may have had to change its name.

A slate of Diné candidates, all Democrats running unopposed, will be sworn into county offices come January.

Incumbent county supervisors Jim Claw and Tom White kept their seats, as did schools superintendent Pauline Begay, treasurer Katherine Arviso and recorder LeNora Johnson.

They'll be joined by Joseph Dedman, the county's first-ever Native American sheriff, assessor-elect Rodger Dahozy, and Dist. 4 constable Timothy Begay.

Dahozy, of Fort Defiance, said he was inspired to run by the Navajo officials who had gone before.

"It's seems like every year, there's a few more of them," he said.

But it was also a reaction to the racism of the past. At 57, Dahozy is old enough to remember when Arizona's Native Americans couldn't vote in county races and didn't receive county services, like road construction and improvement.

A groundbreaking lawsuit by a Chinle woman in the 1970s changed all that, but it was still a while before Natives got up the courage to run for office, Dahozy said. And when they did, they weren't elected.

"The law was changed, but there was still a lot of racism," he recalled.

As Navajo population growth gradually outpaced that of Anglos and Navajos became a sizeable majority in the county, that started to change.

The Board of Supervisors was the easiest nut to crack, with two districts located within the Navajo Nation.

In 2004, Pauline Begay, Arviso and Johnson decided to run for their respective offices, supporting each other's campaigns. All three won.

"We made history," Begay said in an earlier interview.

Dahozy thinks it only makes sense to have a Diné assessor in Apache County. "I can go down south (the part of the county that is off the reservation) and know what they're talking about and what the laws are, but they (Anglos) face a lot of problems when they come up here," noted the former tribal land office employee.

"I can sit in at a chapter meeting where they're discussing a land issue and nobody has to translate for me. I know all the formalities, the issues, the regulations and the laws. I can go either way, but for someone to come from south to north is hard."

In spite of the fact that he ran unopposed, Dahozy is still grateful to the 98 percent of the county electorate who voted for him.

"I would like to thank all the voters from Teec Nos Pos to Houck," he said. "When you know the history of this county, it means a lot to have your people support you."

Navajos also held their own in the other two Arizona counties that include parts of the Navajo nation. Lena Fowler will replace Louise Yellowman on Coconino County's Board of Supervisors, and in Navajo County Jonathan Nez will replace Percy Deal. Both Yellowman and Deal decided not to run this year after many years of service.

In Navajo County, incumbent Supervisor Jesse Thompson, a Navajo, kept his seat. Lorenzo Yazzie will take up the yoke of Precinct 4 constable.

But perhaps it's appropriate that in Apache County, where the rebellion against Navajo exclusion started, Navajos will hold a majority of elected offices.

Dahozy warned Diné voters not to take their newfound power for granted.

"It took us a long time to get to this point," he said. "Keep voting."

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