Limit on discretionary aid to individuals shot down by delegates

(Times Photo - Leigh T. Jimmie)

Eva Smiley, legislative aid to the Resources Committee, hides from the photographer behind documents that list numerous checks written to her daughter and father at the legislative branch offices on Sept. 2 in Window Rock.

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An attempt by Speaker Lawrence Morgan (Iyanbito/Pinedale) to set a $600 cap on discretionary aid to individuals from council delegates was unanimously opposed by the council's Intergovernmental Relations Committee on Wednesday.

On Sept. 15, Morgan announced in a press release that he would ask the IGR Committee to amend the legislative branch rules governing discretionary funds "to prevent any abuse in the future."

He stated that his effort "to clamp down on requirements of discretionary funds given to the Navajo people" was in response to a Navajo Times investigation.

"Trio received thousands in council aid," published Sept. 10, 2009, detailed how several delegates, including Morgan, had assisted three individuals with close family ties to the legislative branch with more then $72,000 in discretionary aid.

Morgan and others who disburse discretionary monies have consistently claimed the program provides small grants to many people, and that disbursements are prioritized for elders, students, and families with funeral costs or other one-time emergencies.

Under rules adopted in 2007, applicants are limited to one grant per year.

The IGR is headed by the speaker and consists of the chairs of the council's 11 standing committee.

Committee members George Arthur (Nenahnezad/San Juan/T'iistsoh Sikaad) and Raymond Joe (Tachee/Blue Gap/Whippoorwill) sponsored the move to delete the proposed $600 limit on individual disbursements.

The current rules limit the speaker to giving $300 to an individual, but does not limit grants from delegates.

The president and vice president are not subject to the rules and have no written standards to guide their discretionary grants. Both branches refuse to release records on how they spend the money, but the Times obtained documents showing some legislative branch disbursements.

Both Arthur and Joe were among the delegates to provide discretionary assistance to the three individuals named in the Times story.

Arthur, who heads the Resources Committee, provided two checks, both for $2,000 each, to Jasper Smiley, whose wife Eva is secretary of the Resources Committee. Smiley received over $17,000 in total.

Arthur said he couldn't recall the reason Jasper Smiley needed the aid.

Melvina Smiley, the daughter of Jasper and Eva, received $26,735 over a four-year period, the second-largest total amount of aid.

The largest amount went to Amanda Teller, daughter of Delegate Leonard Teller (Lukachukai/Tsaile/Wheatfields) and Laura Calvin, senior financial advisor to the legislative branch.

Since 2003, Amanda Teller has received a total of $28,025, including $15,800 in 2008, the records show.

Joe, who is vice chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, provided her with $2,800 in financial aid from Sept. 17, 2007, to March 16, 2009.

Joe said he assisted her because she was a college student and declined to comment on the multiple checks she received from him and other delegates, in apparent violation of the rule against more than one grant a year.

Joe said that Teller was "in her right" to ask for discretionary assistance because she "justified" her financial need with "letters."

Neither Morgan nor the delegates could say how many other tribal members, particularly those without close ties to the council, have received similarly large amounts of aid.

Morgan and other tribal leaders with discretionary funds have said the grants seldom exceed $500 per person.

The committee did approve two changes, limiting discretionary fund assistance to one delegate per individual, and limiting assistance to an individual to once every six months.

The first change closes a loophole - making it more difficult for people to shop their request for help to multiple delegates - but the second change loosens the current policy of limiting aid to once a year per tribal member.

The committee also agreed to loosen the requirement that aid recipients be Navajo or a Navajo organization.

The IGR voted 6-1 to remove the word "Navajo" at the request of Katherine Benally (Dennehotso), who recently used a portion of her discretionary money to help provide electrical service to 11 residences in her chapter.

Benally said the present rule prevented her from issuing a check to the contractor, a non-Navajo.

On Sept. 15, Morgan also called for the auditor general to audit the discretionary funds in his branch. He said this was in response to the Times story, but the current policies and procedures already mandate an annual audit of the legislative branch discretionary funds.

The IGR approved the current policies and procedures in February 2007 but neither Morgan nor Calvin, who serves as financial controller for the legislative branch, notified the auditor general's office about the requirement.

Acting Auditor General Elizabeth Begay said she has assigned two auditors to the discretionary fund audit who would begin work as soon as possible.

Patrick Sandoval, chief of staff for President Joe Shirley Jr., said that an "external auditor" should do the audit because the auditor general, the Ethics and Rules Office and the election office - all in the legislative branch - are "all under the speaker's control."

On Monday Begay produced a letter from the Albuquerque-based Accounting & Consulting Group, which just completed a review of her office for compliance with industry standards in accounting and quality control. The Office of the Auditor General received an unqualified "pass" - the highest possible rating.

"The external review on the auditing activity of the Office of the Auditor General speaks for itself," Begay said.

"But if Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval is recommending to outsource the audit and allocate monies to pay for outside auditors, we gladly welcome his recommendation," she said.

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