Politics

‘We need a big broom’

Candidate says old guard is killing our future

By Alastair Lee Bitsoi
Navajo Times

SHIPROCK, June 12, 2014

When presidential hopeful Moroni Benally was asked what part of the Navajo Nation government needed housekeeping, he began by explaining how the “old guard is killing our future."

He added that this archaic way of thinking preserves a bloodline for career politicians. Even though he didn’t specifically say, he was referring to career politicians like President Ben Shelly and other former tribal bureaucrats, including Joe Shirley Jr., Donald Benally, Duane “Chili” Yazzie and Kenneth Maryboy, among others.

These candidates are part of what Benally dubs the old guard. They makeup a majority of the 17 contenders vying to become the next president in this year’s 2014 Navajo Nation Primary and General Elections.

And to clean house from a 1980s mentality of managing the government, Benally said, “We need a big broom and a lot of Pine Sol!”

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