Shelly washes his hands of committee's gifts

On Monday, the Budget and Finance Committee rescinded its Jan. 4 vote to give President-elect Ben Shelly the tribal vehicle that was assigned to him when he was vice president.

It also rescinded its resolution to sell him his official furniture and other computer equipment at deep discounts.

The committee's action came after Shelly held a press conference to "clarify" the "media chaos" regarding the committee's giveaway of vehicles and property worth over $100,000, as reported last week.

On Jan. 4, the committee gave three government vehicles to President Joe Shirley Jr., two vehicles to Speaker Lawrence Morgan (Iyanbito/Pinedale), and a vehicle each to President-elect Shelly and Shirley's chief of staff, Patrick Sandoval, as "bonuses."

They also approved the sale of government property to Shirley, Shelly and outgoing Speaker Lawrence Morgan at a discount estimated at 99 percent of the original cost.

According to the committee's Jan. 4 legislation, which the Navajo Times received anonymously, Shirley paid $2,100 for property worth more than $52,000 when new.

Shelly and Morgan each paid a flat $1,000 for items they had acquired at government expense and used while in office. The property used by Shelly was valued at more than $24,000 new. For Morgan, the value was more than $21,000 new.

The current value attached by tribal property officials was about one-tenth the original cost, but each official was offered a further discount of nearly 50 percent.

In the case of Shelly, the "used" equipment included $4,537 in brand new computer equipment and software.

On Monday, Shelly noted that four years ago, the B&F committee approved the purchase of government property for the outgoing administration, which included Shirley and then Vice President Frank Dayish.

Shelly said the committee followed the usual procedures when they approved his vehicle bonus and purchase of tribal property. However, on Monday the committee's legal counsel, Mariana Kahn, advised that such giveaways are prohibited by law unless specifically authorized by the Council.

Shelly told reporters that he's realized that he needs to be very careful about how he conducts himself.

After the press conference, a fourth official who was to receive a "bonus" from the budget committee said he also would forego the gift of his assigned vehicle. Outgoing Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval asked to meet with the Navajo Times and other news media, and said he decided to buy the vehicle instead.

This was not possible under the law, Kahn said, and the committee ended up rescinding all the measures it had passed to facilitate the transfer of property to the four.

On Tuesday, former President Peterson Zah said he was offered a chance to buy the car that was assigned to him when he left office. Zah, who recently returned to Window Rock to found the nonprofit Restore Harmony group, said he bought the car for its "blue book" value, without a discount.

He added that no one offered to sell him the furniture and other things he had used.

Zah suggested the Budget and Finance Committee could donate the property to nonprofit organizations and senior citizen centers.

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