Lawyer calls charges "tampering with election"
By Marley Shebala
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, Oct. 29, 2010
Jordan was referring to the Nov. 2 election of a president and vice president and a new Council of 24 delegates.
On Oct. 20, Attorney General Louis Denetsosie announced that Balaran was filing charges in Window Rock District Court against an unspecified number of delegates for their alleged misuse of discretionary funds.
MacDonald-LoneTree is facing a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy for allegedly conspiring with eight other delegates to receive $12,200 that she then diverted to her family's use.
She was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty. She is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Jan. 25, 2011.
The eight delegates accused of conspiring with her are Evelyn Acothley (Bodaway-Gap/Cameron/Coppermine), Harry H. Clark (Chinle), Lee Jack Sr. (White Cone/Indian Wells), Francis Redhouse (Teec Nos Pos), Kenneth Maryboy and former Delegate Mark Maryboy (both Aneth/Mexican Water/Red Mesa), Bobby Robbins Sr. (Coalmine Canyon/Tóh Nanees Dizí), and Leonard Chee (Birdsprings/Leupp/Tolani Lake).
MacDonald-LoneTree, Acothley, Chee, Jack, Kenneth Maryboy and Redhouse all are running for re-election in Tuesday's election.
The complaint against MacDonald-LoneTree states that her father, former Navajo Tribal Council Chairman Peter MacDonald Sr., received a total of $6,500. Her mother, Wanda MacDonald, received a total of $3,700. Another family member received a total of $2,000.
Jordan said the conspiracy charge against MacDonald-LoneTree is based on the notion that the discretionary fund policy prohibits other delegates from helping her family members.
Balaran's accusation is based "literally" on MacDonald-LoneTree "urging" her family members to go to other delegates for discretionary assistance, he added.
"My client didn't make decisions (on approving discretionary fund assistance)." Jordan emphasized. "(This complaint) borders on being silly."
Jordan said he's asked Balaran why he filed criminal charges against his client and other delegates so close to the election, and why the criminal complaints "are filled with mistakes."
Balaran was out of the office, according to one of his assistants, Samuel Gollis, and could not be reached for comment.
Balaran, a lawyer based in Washington, D.C., was appointed by a three-judge panel of the Window Rock District court after Denetsosie agreed at the Council's urging to seek a special prosecutor to investigate the executive branch's involvement in two business deals that cost the tribe millions.
The special prosecutor's mandate later was expanded to include the Tribal Ranches Program and discretionary funds of the Council, president and vice president.
Denetsosie told the Council in December 2009 that the investigation of their discretionary funds came after his office confirmed the facts in a series of Navajo Times stories that detailed how delegates had given over $100,000 of discretionary funds to six people with close ties to the legislative branch, including employees and family members of delegates.
The charges against the delegates are the first to come out of any of the special prosecutor's probes.
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