Begaye vetoes regionalization referendum
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye says the tribe is going to sue Gold King Mine and the EPA during a community meeting at the Shiprock Chapter House Saturday evening in Shiprock. ""Looks like we are going to be suing somebody because this is going to come down to Navajo Nation water. I did a directive, we are gonna sue the mine and also EPA," Begaye said. (Times photo - Donovan Quintero)
WINDOW ROCK
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye announced on KTNN Friday afternoon on his decision to veto legislation that would hold a referendum on regionalization.
“I vetoed it because we all need to work on it together,” said Begaye. “This language that is in the legislation does not provide that.”
Navajo Nation Council approved legislation during an Aug. 8 special session that would have given Navajo voters the option in the November general election to vote on whether they’d want to see their 110 chapters stay as is or dwindled down to 24.
Council Delegate Leonard Tsosie (Littlewater/Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake/Baca/Prewitt/Casamero Lake/Ojo Encino/Counselor) was the sponsor of the bill. His support of regionalization, he explained, was because it would free up more money for chapter projects by creating economies of scale.
“Let the people vote on it,” said Tsosie during the session. “You will see four to five million dollars being channeled into each region on the average. There are those possibilities that will exist, and not just this money but other monies that we see fit.”
In order to get a grasp of what the Navajo people thought about regionalization so it would help him decide on whether to veto or approve the bill before the Aug. 19 deadline, Begaye had Title 26 Task Force hold public hearings throughout the five agencies. This task force was established in 2015 and they were the ones who had formed the regionalization idea.
During the Tuesday public hearing in Fort Defiance a low number of people attended, but that didn’t stop those in the audience from questioning the task force about exactly who would represent them, because if chapters were cut to 24 that would do away with chapter officials and commissioners would replace them.
“The direct government are the ones that should be studied, not local government,” said Genevieve Jackson during the public hearing. “Central government needs to be restructured.”
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