Peaches stresses long-range planning

For years, Daniel Peaches has been looking for a president candidate who has the ability to bring about the changes that the Navajo Nation desperately needs.

Looking at the candidates who have announced for this coming election, Peaches said he didn't see anyone with the vision needed to run the government. So he decided his only option was to enter the race himself.

"I've wanted to latch myself onto a candidate, but that never happened," he said, adding that he looks at a candidate's platform - the person's priorities and stand on issues - when choosing whom to support.

So Peaches began talking to friends and associates and explaining his position on the issues. What's needed, he said, is nothing less than a "total overhaul of our Navajo Nation government."

"This is what I stand for," he said, adding that he began receiving a lot of support for running for the office.

Young voters may not recognize his name but throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Peaches was an influential political figure because of his friendship with then Chairman Peter MacDonald Sr.

He was a staff assistant during MacDonald's first three terms, handling public relations and also serving as a liaison with state and federal governments. After MacDonald left office in 1983, Peaches returned to his home in Kayenta and worked there for the next several years as a consultant.

In 1999, he ran successfully for the Navajo Nation Council and in 2006 he served for two years as manager of the Kayenta Township.

A frequent letter-writer to reservation publications, Peaches has been vocal on many issues - unemployment, lack of growth in the private-sector economy, and no ability among leaders to think of practical and comprehensive solutions.

That lack of vision was a dominant theme in his letters and will be the core of his campaign.

"My candidacy will address the many unmet needs at the grass roots," Peaches said. "I have been a livestock man for most of my life and I have seen unimproved roads, mobile office facilities ready to fall apart, just to mention a few."

In his role in the MacDonald administration, Peaches said he watched as leaders developed a 10-year-plan and used that to guide their efforts to improve conditions on the reservation.

"That was a staring point," he said. "It gives you a focus. A path that you want to follow."

Since then, however, successive presidents and councils have been unable to agree on any strategic plan. When the current president, Joe Shirley Jr., suggested floating a half-billion-dollar bond issue to finance capital improvements, the council couldn't even agree on a priority list of projects.

"The Navajo Nation needs to develop long-range plans for five, 10, 20 years and up to 50 years," Peaches said. "Our plans should have the necessary studies, cost estimates and the necessary clearances so we don't re-invent the wheel for every project."

Peaches said he is disappointed at the lack of economic development on the reservation, which is closely tied to the high jobless rate.

Developing long-range goals and plans will help the Navajo Nation turn this around "so that in 20 or 30 years we will have a self-sufficient economy to support our people."

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