Navajo President Pushes Reduction of Tribal Lawmakers
By Felicia Fonseca/
Associated Press
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. is moving forward with a plan to reform tribal government, and first on his wish list is reducing the Tribal Council from 88 delegates to 24.
Shirley's staff filed paperwork Tuesday with the tribe's election office that will start the process in gathering signatures to put the question before voters. Petitioners have six months to collect about 16,000 signatures, but Shirley said the goal is to get at least 25,000 in 90 days so the matter could go before voters in the November elections.
"The sentiment of the people, I feel, is that they want to reform government,'' he said in a recent interview. "I don't think a lot of them like the way our government is run. I was put in place here by the people ... so that's where I'm coming from.''
Shirley announced the formation of a government reform task force last week during the council's spring session. Government reform had been part of Shirley's re-election campaign.
One of his biggest challenges in reducing the council likely will come from the delegates. The executive and legislative branches have been at odds recently over a proposed $36 million legislative complex, discretionary funds and the draining of a capital improvement fund.
While Shirley has exercised his veto power on a number of bills he said included unnecessary appropriations, the council hasn't hesitated to override those vetoes.
"I don't know if all 88 are going to oppose what we're trying to do, and you better believe they're going to be out there,'' Shirley said. "It's a democracy. They have a right to participate and I have a right to do what I'm doing on behalf of the people.''
More than half of the delegates represent two or more communities. If the council is reduced, some smaller communities could lose their delegate and be forced to share with other communities.
Dale Mason, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico's Gallup branch, said there is widespread support for reducing the council — partly to save money — but he doesn't believe Shirley has the clout to pull it off.
"I think there are a lot of Navajos that would like the Navajo government changed, but I don't think there's a consensus on what it should be,'' he said.
The Tribal Council created a reform office shortly after tribal government was reorganized in 1989 under three branches — the executive, legislative and judicial — a change Navajo voters never ratified. Previously, a chairman served both as head of the tribal government and the speaker of the council.
The council voted late last year to place the Commission on Government Development under the administrative control of council Speaker Lawrence Morgan. Shirley vetoed the measure, but the council overturned that veto.
The office's main focus has been on looking at the feasibility of establishing a Navajo constitution. The Navajo Nation is one of a few tribes that rejected a constitution under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.
In a document outlining the pros and cons, the office said a constitution could legitimatize the government, create a balance of power among the branches and ensure stability and accountability. On the other hand, a constitution could place too much power in the hands of the people, might be subject to Western interpretation and might be too costly to amend.
Shirley suggested a constitution could be part of government reform, but said, "It's not my initiative.''
"I think it's going to be dragged out,'' he said.
news 
...go to bookmarks
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
