Council building back trust after slush scandal

Posted by Bill Donovan | Dec 29, 2016 | Politics |

WINDOW ROCK

As 2016 ended, the Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council, LoRenzo Bates, deliberated on some of the biggest issues of the past year: the continued need to create more jobs on the reservation, concerns over the future of Navajo gaming, the dwindling power of tribal chapters and any fallout that may exist because of what a court judge called a betrayal of trust by many members of the tribal council between 2006 and 2010.

The year-end interview started with the scandal surrounding the discretionary fund, which resulted in a number of tribal council members being charged with conspiracy and misuse of tribal funds. Those hearings ended in 2016 with most defendants entering into plea agreements with the special prosecutors.

All were required by Window Rock District Court Judge Carol Perry to take special courses on tribal leadership. Almost all were required to make restitution of at least a portion of the money they allegedly misused from the discretionary fund. The only case still on the books to be resolved centers around Lawrence Morgan, the former speaker of the council, who has entered into a plea agreement with the special prosecutors and whose case is expected to be heard in early 2017.

A few received jail sentences of a month or two; however, one, Mel Begay, received a three-year sentence when he refused to admit his guilt and went before a Navajo jury. Bates said things have changed and the council has been able to restore the trust that was lost when the scandal was at its peak. And they were able, he said, to do this because “they have been more transparent in their actions.”

Over the last year or so, changes have been made in the process of approving legislation that allows the council members, as well as the public, to keep track of amendments that are made and who makes them.