Letters: Corruption is the talk of the town again

The Navajo Nation is back on the ventilator once again — scams after scams have sapped its energy for years and seems to continue. Corruption is talk of the town again.

Which candidate will the nation vote into power? I don’t know, but your leaders they are all corrupt. No exceptions, they have all paid bribes. In return, they have been allowed to break the laws that I, and especially the people, had given them. Businessmen, industrialists, chapter officials and sometimes the elected officials’ family members included.

Our nation has been invaded and infiltrated in front of our eyes while at the same time our elders and veterans have seen our most fundamental rights denigrated and eroded. You have done absolutely nothing effective or meaningful to stop it.

A preponderance of the blame can be laid directly at your feet. Why? Because many of you are unequivocal deceivers and liars. How can I call you liars? It’s actually quite clear and simple. Upon your election, or appointment, you took an oath for the office you now hold. Your oath of office is a contract, both verbal and signed. If you are in breach of that contract you are now both a liar and a criminal.

Additionally, are you knowingly or unwittingly a traitor? This is not simply a rhetorical or overblown question, it is fundamental to what is happening within our nation today.

It must be asked: Are you taking bribes? Are you being blackmailed?

If you’re not taking bribes, or under some secret duress, what perverse reasoning blinds you to your betrayal of those you have sworn to serve?

I believe you are all more than aware that thousands of Diné on the Navajo Nation, and Diné all over the United States are behind the case of Christopher Deschene and the injustice of the justice system of the Navajo Nation.

The words of British historian, Lord Acton, come to mind in this case: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Diyin Dine’e knew that your corrupting and dangerous ways would rise up and fester within our nation. To counteract this inevitability, on top of the “checks and balances” of a three-branch government, their wisdom were the designers of fundamental laws and the Navajo Bill of Rights.

The Navajo Bill of Rights is a “no trespassing” sign meant for you, not for those of us you have falsely sworn to serve. There is not one facet of the laws of the Navajo Nation you have not ground down and defiled with your stupidity, arrogance, or blatant dishonesty.

Show integrity and guts. Demonstrate just a fragment of the courage that founded and forged this nation. There is still time for you to defend this by embracing the laws. Because if you don’t change course, how long do you think the people are going to tolerate your charade of loyalty?

Mike Manygoats
Beegashiibito'(Cowsprings), Ariz.

Custer is now living in Flagstaff

I usually try to make every meaningful effort to refrain fromÊcommenting on tribally related issues but at times I am forced to give my two cents. The recent letter by Mr. Lawrence Ruzow is difficult to just set aside.

It sounds like General George Custer is now living in Flagstaff and decided to jump into the crisis caused by the Navajo Nation Supreme Court.

Ruzow, a former attorney of the Navajo Nation, now the general counsel for the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission, is taking the lead impounding livestock from our people who resisted relocation and remain in what is now the Hopi Partitioned Land.

Mr. Ruzow is another person that should mind his own business and keep out of ours. It’s people like him that is causing a major division among the Diné people.

I am fed up with outsiders trying to run our judicial system. This type of back scratching with Chief Justice Herb Yazzie led to the current crisis that should have never happened.

I would like to reiterate my position by saying if the chief justice had intended to uphold the law like the writer said, it should have been as easy as one, two, three for him to tell the two disgruntled candidates they failed toÊcomply with tribal law that required a 10-day filing period for filing for grievance andÊdismissed their appeals. Due to chief justice’s failure there is a total mess.

In light of the crisis I have a hunch feeling the chief justice and the two disgruntled candidates have some degree of personal connection. Do they go to sweat lodge and strategize? Something very fishy is going on.

The issue that keeps puzzling my mind is why Chris Deschene was ordered to pay for the disgruntled candidates’ attorney’s fees? Shouldn’t they have paid the attorney fee upfront before the initial hearing even began?

The court order makes it abundantly clear there is a personal connection every step of the way by grantingÊfavoritism to Mr. Tsosie and Mr. Whitethorne.

The chief justice and his associate justices were so focused Mr. Deschene and feared they would lose their jobs if he was elected president. What about Joe Shirley Jr.’s running mate? Are they blind not to see the mess Mr. Benally is caught up in? He has nothing to show for the half million dollars he received from the nation. Why is it OK for someone like him to stay in the political arena?

In conclusion, I would like to say in all fairness, repeat the tribal election all over from square one. And I also would like to say to Mr. Jordan and Mr. Ruzow to butt out of our business and mind your own. Thank you.

Vern Charleston
Farmington, N.M.

Pleased with selection of Jonathan Nez

I am so thankful presidential candidate Russell Begaye selected Council Delegate Jonathan Nez to be his vice presidential running mate. Nez brings to the campaign a history of aggressive lobbying on behalf of the Dineh Nation in D.C. and a seasoned understanding of the political realities facing the Dineh Nation across the state and particularly in the nation’s capital.

Stately, impressive, bright, and thoughtful, Nez brings more than a decade of experience navigating complex governmental realities, improving communities through grassroots activism, and helping to bring jobs to the Dineh Nation. His years of experience as a county board of supervisor will serve him well.

The word on the street is that when he has led delegations to the state government or to the nation’s capital and worked within the Arizona legislature that he was “well liked and admired” by both Republicans and Democrats. Don’t underestimate the value of such a gift. He also has served as vice chair for the Budget and Finance Committee and I felt fortunate to observe his leadership on the committee with his thoughtful comments and insights of the nation’s financial challenges.

Leadership means being open, accessible and especially accountable. It means listening to your constituents and doing your research in a timely manner so that you can make decisions confidently when issues are presented. Most importantly, leadership means showing up, being honest, and working hard to do the job you were elected to do.

As a college graduate himself, he knows that we can invest more in our children’s education while staying within our means. And I know Mr. Nez has been and will continue to be a strong advocate for scholarships and for our K-12 schools.

One thing I would request from them is they provide their platform how they will improve K-12 education, create more meaningful jobs, increase tribal revenues and strengthen tribal government services.

To this day, I have no idea what Joe Shirley stands for and what he intends to do in the next four years.

As we have seen too often, we need bigger than life politicians with a heart, soul and vision, someone who can build consensus and make our nation stronger.

Wallace Hanley
Window Rock, Ariz.

Work together on Utah land issue

I am an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation registered in Aneth Chapter. I am earning my doctorate in anthropology while teaching at Brown University, an Ivy League college on the East Coast.

While I am far from home, I am very much interested in what goes on there and have been very vocal about the concerns of the lands there as a Utah Navajo.

My grandmother Helen Yellowman, who only speaks Navajo and still practices her ceremonial ways, brought up her family in the Montezuma Creek area and raised me traditionally.

The Navajo Nation has been attempting to dialogue with the state of Utah about the northern part of the reservation and its adjacent lands.

(In a documentary about my grandmother) her testimony of this place stands as a bedrock of oral tradition and transmission of knowledge by word of mouth, a story that almost no one outside the community knew about, which materialized through this documentary film. This film is now being shown all over the country and the world. It won the best documentary film award in Germany in 2013.

The Diné Bikeyah proposal appears to threaten the status quo of the non-Native residents of San Juan County because there is little to no support for it in this regard. Yet, I think that it does not have to be seen as a threat, but rather an opportunity to be involved in protecting the lands that they share together and live in.

The Bureau of Land Management is perceived as the enemy of San Juan County attempting to limit its access to these lands. Instead, San Juan can view a potential alliance between the BLM and the Navajo Nation together to manage and protect these lands that everyone can share while alleviating the pressure of such management duties that would rest primarily on San Juan County.

Consider the fact that the state of Utah has a moral, legal, and ethical obligation to maintain its trust relationship with the Navajo Nation and its citizens. This would be an excellent opportunity to make amends for its breach of trust and mismanagement.

Consider also the fact that the Navajo Nation recently was awarded money from the federal government around $500 million. This would make the reality of the proposed Diné Bikeyah proposal much more realistic by having the financial means to implement and oversee its implementation.

In conclusion, we should be aiming towards self-determined Navajo governance negotiating and collaborating with the state of Utah, San Juan County, and the Bureau of Land Management to facilitate the care and management of the lands outlined in the Diné Bikeyah proposal.

Together, conflict does not need to happen but we should allow these lands to be subject to debate, dispute and discussion. If we can work together on the care of our lands, then it will be there for not just future Navajos to enjoy but everyone else who comes to visit these sacred lands as well. Thank you (Ahéhee’).

Angelo Baca
Providence, R.I.
(Hometown: Montezuma Creek, Utah)