Shirley rallies voters in Shiprock

It was a chilly 33 degrees here Tuesday but that didn't stop Linda Taylor of Cortez, Colo., from waving her handmade placard to show her support for reducing the Navajo Nation Council from 88 to 24.

"I'm tired of the miserable government," she said. "It's just embarrassing."

Taylor had been standing in the frigid fog at the junction of Hesperus Boulevard and U.S. 64 since 7:30 a.m.

"I wanted to get here for the bigger traffic," she said. "So far it seems that people are supportive. I haven't had a rock thrown at me yet.

"I'm not working for the president's office, I'm voluntarily out here," said the middle-aged woman, who is originally from T'iistoh Sikaad Chapter. "I'm not going to feel well about things currently and this is the only thing I can do, show my support and urge others."

Taylor stood alone with her sign at the junction, but motorists who shared her feeling honked in a friendly way as they passed and she waved back with a smile.

A half-mile to the east, a group of at least 20 people gathered outside the Shiprock Chapter House. Among them were President Joe Shirley Jr. and his wife Vikki, who were making visits to encourage voters to support council reduction.

"The people have been very supportive of us," said Vikki Shirley. "We plan to go to Naschitti from here, then to Tohatchi then back to Fort Defiance and finish up in Chinle."

She said she's glad her husband was reinstated and noted that she's experienced nothing but support from the public.

"It wasn't right with what they did," she said, referring to the council's Oct. 26 vote to put her husband on leave pending investigations into two business deals that cost the tribe millions of dollars.

"He had due process that was not served - he didn't have a say and wasn't notified," she said, referring to the council's refusal to share reports from two unofficial investigations it had commissioned, and its failure to give the president advance notice of the vote to sideline him. The measure was handled as emergency legislation in a special one-day session.

"I'm very disappointed in the council for what they did," Vikki Shirley said.

No let up

Shirley himself predicted the delegates would not try to nullify the outcome of the election, even if it meant three-quarters of them would be looking for another job come Election Day 2010.

"If it passes, it's what the people want and I don't think the council will go against the people," he said. (The measure passed by a 3-2 margin.)

When asked if he felt angry with the council voting to place him on administrative leave, Shirley offered, "I wouldn't say angry...disappointed at what had happened, with what they had done."

Alluding to Monday's Window Rock District Court ruling that reinstated him, he continued, "We're beyond it now. It's in the past and I want to leave it in the past.

"If the vote passes, it would mean reorganization," Shirley said, echoing previous statements that council reduction would only begin the process of reforming the Navajo government.

Listeners stood nearby, warming themselves at fires inside two steel barrels, or drinking coffee and munching on treats set out on tables.

"If it passes then it's the will of the people. I feel very good about it but you never know until the last vote is counted," he said.

The second question, which would give the president the power to veto selected items in spending measures such as the annual budget and special appropriation bills, called a line-item veto, was also approved by a large margin.

Donald Benally, 58, a former council delegate for Shiprock who served 10 years in federal prison for his part during the 1989 Window Rock riot that left two people dead, said, "I think the Navajo Nation should not be afraid of the vote because either way, it's workable.

"I feel that the Navajo Nation has plenty of resources, the youth, directors and lawyers," he said. "The reduction to 24 would work very well.

"With wanting to have the 88, you have to question if there is a need for that," he said. "I don't believe that there is a need. I do believe that with a reduction we will have an efficient Navajo Nation.

"I think that we can have a very effective and efficient government with 24," Benally continued. "More importantly, there would be accountability.

"People have to realize that reapportionment laws are in place," Benally added. "With the reduction to 24 the Navajo Nation will be equally represented."

'No' voters mum

A majority of those interviewed in Shiprock voted for both council reduction and the line-item veto. The few who voted "no" had little to say.

"I voted to reduce," said Savran Clah, 30, of Shiprock. "For one thing, there wouldn't be a waste of spending money. It would reduce wasted spending by a lot."

"I feel that we have too many council delegates," said Rev. Shirley Montoya, 64. "With a reduction there would be better financing and more accountability."

Two 40-something women who exited together from the chapter house said they'd voted against both ballot questions. They declined to give their names, and became testy when asked why they voted "no."

"It's my vote and I feel that I don't need to explain myself to you or anyone," said one.

"I knew you were going to come over and ask," muttered her companion. "Just leave us alone. We don't have to explain ourselves to you."

Outside the chapter house in Nenahnezad, N.M., where voters turned down the line-item veto but approved council reduction, Rosemarie Collyer, 70, did not hesitate to explain her vote to reduce the council.

"I think we have too many chiefs and not enough Indians," she said. "There's too much nudging (pointless maneuvering) with a larger number of delegates."

Brandon Dodge, 45, said the council's spending priorities triggered his desire to trim the council.

"They're wasting a lot of money to travel to places like Las Vegas. A lot of them don't need to be there," he said.

"There are a lot of people - elders, grandmas and grandpas - that need stoves, that need a lot of help and they're spending the people's money on stuff like diamond rings," he said. "There are a lot of people that need help. It's just ridiculous that they spend money on things like the rings."

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