Reform debate heats up

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The debate over President Joe Shirley Jr.'s government reform initiatives is intensifying as the clock ticks toward the Dec. 15 election date.

On Oct. 28, Shirley and several members of the Navajo Nation Council traded opposing views at a forum at Arizona State University College of Law.

A second forum, featuring delegates who are opposed to the initiatives, was broadcast Wednesday night on KTNN radio.

Navajo voters will decide whether to reduce the council from 88 to 24 members and grant the tribal president authority to veto portions of council-approved spending bills, called a line-item veto.

Although the Navajo Election Administration says it still doesn't have the funds needed to hold the court-ordered special election, it is moving forward with ballot printing and other election planning.

The Navajo Nation Supreme Court ordered the election - over the NEA's objection - in a ruling issued last July.

"We just want to tell the public our side," said Leonard Chee (Birdsprings/Leupp/Tolani Lake), who was scheduled to talk on Wednesday's program. "We want to let them know what this could mean, especially to the outlying, smaller chapters.

"The elders say they like to select a leader they know from the community, they know (the candidate's) family, clans, relatives," Chee said. "They don't want to be represented by someone across the way, they don't know that person."

The exact look of a 24-district council is not known, however, because no reapportionment proposals will be drawn up until - and unless - council reduction is approved.

Shirley contends that reducing the council would save the tribe money in both salaries and delegate travel costs. It would also be the first time that Navajo voters have been given a direct say in the shape of their government.

However, Chee said council reduction means the smaller communities would have to fight even harder to be heard. Under the current system, 57 of 88 delegates represent more than one chapter, while the largest communities have up to four delegates apiece.

Under a plan with 24 council districts, there would be even more consolidation and Chee predicted up to six chapters would share a single delegate.

Ultimately, larger chapters would swallow the smaller communities, he said.

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The problem would be even worse if a small chapter was put in the same district as a populous one, the opponents say.

Proponents of council reduction contend that's unlikely, and say the presence of more chapters in a single district would spur candidates to build voter coalitions instead of relying on their extended family to give them the tiny edge they need to win a seat now.

Under the current system, it's not uncommon for a delegate to win by a single- or double-digit margin.

Leonard Tsosie (Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake) said a small council would winnow out do-nothing candidates.

"What will happen is, the candidate with the better plan will get elected," Tsosie said. "You can't puff up your campaign and get elected anymore."

Lawrence T. Morgan (Iyanbito/Pinedale) was elected by 400 votes in his district, Tsosie said, and then corralled 50 votes in the council to become speaker.

"Yet he then claims to be the leader of the whole Navajo Nation," Tsosie said. "That's not democracy."

Job would change

LoRenzo Bates (Upper Fruitland) said he is neutral in the debate, but is concerned over how the initiatives would be implemented if passed. He does agree with Chee that the smaller chapters would feel the loss of representation.

"You can ask any chapter currently being grouped under one or more delegates," Bates said. "All of the other chapters would say they want their own delegate."

The voters feel a delegate will be more loyal to his home chapter, Bates said.

Opponents of council reduction also argue that delegates representing at-large districts are already stretched too thin, and that it would be worsened if they had to represent even more chapters.

"It's almost impossible for me right now," said Chee, who represents three chapters sprawling over a thousand square miles in western Navajo.

Delegates are expected to attend regular chapter meetings and planning meetings. They are also regularly asked to attend meetings regarding land use, grazing and specialty groups. This is in addition to their weekly council committee meetings and trips to lobby Washington.

In the worst-case scenario, Chee said delegates might not make it to chapter meetings and the communities would start missing out on their regular updates on the tribal government.

"It wouldn't be a delegate there to tell them these things," Chee said.

Backers of a smaller council, however, see a change towards a more skilled kind of legislator over time, and refer to recent studies of the Navajo council that chided the delegates for not understanding their role.

The current council spends too much time trying to micromanage tribal government and too little shaping policy, said a 2005 review by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Tsosie said delegates who think they can't serve a larger constituency "do not believe in themselves."

"They believe they don't have the capacity, knowledge or wherewithal to meet the demands of the constituents," he said.

Tsosie said the Navajo Nation has access to enough technology to make keeping in touch with constituents is relatively easy.

More staff

All three delegates agree that the legislative branch would have to hire more staff to assist the members of a smaller council.

These assistants would help keep a delegate's daily schedules, respond to constituent requests, and research issues for the delegate - much as U.S. senators and representatives rely on their staffs to do much of their legwork.

"If the intent (of the council reduction initiative) is to cut costs, they would still have to pay for the additional staff," Chee said. "This would require more money."

However, Tsosie a former New Mexico state senator, looks at the scenario optimistically, saying it would provide employment opportunities as well as internships for college students during the summer.

Bates agreed, but added that such positions would require qualified employees who are articulate, with exceptional writing skills. Such a candidate would ask for at least $30,000 per year, he said.

However, Bates doubts that delegates would be able to follow the progress of chapter projects as closely as they do now. Bates said he shepherded the funding request for a new Upper Fruitland Chapter House through the New Mexico Legislature, a process that required both stamina and attention to detail.

It required a lot of lobbying and constant visits with legislators and state officials to ensure the bill did not get forgotten, and he questions whether delegates in a 24-seat council could provide such attention to their chapters' interests, he said.

Chee admits the council is facing a public relations crisis following news accounts of the alleged misuse of discretionary funds and the council's vote to suspend its main adversary on the council reduction initiative.

He defended the council's repeated decision to shift tribal funds into the delegates discretionary fund accounts, saying it's a positive thing to take money out of Window Rock and spend it on direct assistance to people in the outlying communities.

"Most of us, we mean well," Chee said. "But there are a few bad apples that people read about and screw up the system for everyone else."

If the public could see the benefits that the discretionary funds bring to the smaller communities, public criticism would likely be reduced significantly, Chee said.

However, both the speaker's office and Shirley's office have ignored requests from the Navajo Times for information on how they spend their discretionary funds.

Chee also backed the council's decision to place Shirley on leave. The move was not payback for Shirley's push to trim the council, Chee said, it's an attempt to clear his name.

"Otherwise, he would have spent the remainder of his term with these questions hanging over his position," Chee said.

Tsosie, however, did not mince his words regarding the council's rationale for sidelining Shirley.

"The Navajo people are smarter than that," he said. "Of course it has to do with (Shirley's initiatives). The plan was to knock off the leader of the initiative movement."

The council's action was akin to calling Shirley guilty, and then placing him on leave to clear his name, Tsosie said.

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