Election board, school officials want background checks
WINDOW ROCK
A five-hour meeting between the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors, the Department of Diné Education and the Diné Bi Olta School Board Association produced a consensus to work toward background checks for all political candidates starting in 2020.
Navajo Times | Cindy Yurth
Ron Haven, principal attorney for the Office of Legislative Counsel, makes a point during a joint meeting of the Navajo Nation Board of Election Supervisors, the Department of Diné Education and the Diné bi Olta School Board Association Tuesday.
But it did little to assuage the concerns of a delegation of angry Tsé Alnaozt’i’i Chapter members who want their school board member and chapter secretary-treasurer ousted now.
“They danced around the issue and talked about everything but Temara,” charged LaVerda Washburn, who said she voted for Temara Lewis-Emerson and is related to her but nonetheless believes she is unfit to hold office after she was arrested for driving while intoxicated during a DBOSBA conference in Albuquerque last month.
To be fair, Lewis-Emerson was not on the agenda of the special work session. But the meeting did touch on “removal/certified court documents” and “clarification on required background checks for school board.”
Early this month, DODE had forwarded the Navajo Nation Election Administration court documents relating to three separate alcohol incidents involving Lewis-Emerson, two of which she had failed to disclose on her candidacy application as required by Navajo Nation law, and asked the election office to remove her from the board of Sanostee Day School. But Lewis-Emerson is still serving in both her capacities, and the Tsé Alnaozt’i’ians crashed the meeting to find out why.
Melvin Harrison, chair of the election board, said DODE had emailed the board copies of Lewis-Emerson’s court documents downloaded from the internet. “We want original hard copies,” he said. “You know how the internet is; you can change things on the internet.” He added that there’s a process the board has to follow to remove an elected official, including running things by an attorney from the Navajo Department of Justice to make sure they’re not violating the official’s civil rights.
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