Headlines (34)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Navajo Housing Authority (NHA), the Navajo Nation’s designated tribal housing entity, concluded its inaugural Housing Summit held in Scottsdale, Ariz. from Aug. 25-26. The two day event, held in conjunction with NHA’s annual meeting, was hosted by NHA to provide valuable information and updates regarding housing on the Navajo Nation.
Master of ceremonies, Earl Tulley, opened the summit to an eager crowd of over four hundred and twenty participants comprised of Navajo community members, families, and leaders. Also attending the summit were NHA board of commissioners (BOC), members of the Government Services Committee, members of the Human Services Committee, members of the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission, local school board members, and Navajo Chapter representatives.
“What a wonderful time we have to assemble ourselves as a nation, as a group of people willing and wanting to help our Navajo citizens and families,” Tulley said. “Our task is simple: how do we address the housing needs of the Navajo Nation in a collaborative fashion?”
To answer that question was CEO of NHA Aneva J. Yazzie who took the podium to welcome participants to this year’s summit and to thank Navajo Nation dignitaries and community leaders for their attendance.
“Good morning everyone and welcome to NHA’s inaugural summit,” Yazzie said. “I’d like to thank the dignitaries as well as school board members, federal and state housing organizations and the Navajo Nation divisions and departments who are in attendance at this year’s summit.”
“This event is a long time coming and is intended as a catalyst to actively engage in dialogue with each other, so that we can start talking about how to better deliver housing services to our Navajo people in a collaborated and coordinated manner,” added Yazzie.
“NHA cannot do this alone, we need our community partners to collaborate on some of the other funding streams that other agencies provide to entities at the local level,” Yazzie said. “So with that objective in mind, we are convening this forum to collaborate with the theme of partnerships in mind,” concluded Yazzie.
Next to address the crowd was chairman of NHA’s board of commissioners and Council delegate Leonard Teller who expressed a few words on the recent changes in the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA). Teller also had the opportunity of introducing the opening ceremony’s guest speaker, U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), who was honored to be a part of the event.
“I’m deeply honored to be here at your 1st Annual Housing Summit,” Kirkpatrick said. “I want to first thank our elders who are here today for your wisdom, your leadership, your guidance. We need your help as we move forward to provide housing for every Native American, especially on Navajo.”
Kirkpatrick has been an advocate on behalf of the Native American community, being the first member in freshman congress, with the help of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), to get a Bill signed by the President, which lifted the Bennett freeze.
Her most recent efforts was the introduction of legislation to ensure that disabled Native Veterans, their families and their survivors are not denied support through the NAHASDA because they are receiving Veterans disability and survivor benefits. This issue was originally brought to her attention by NHA.
Kirkpatrick concluded her address with a message of determination. “People tell me I’m not going to make an impact in terms of tribal housing, it can’t be done, BIA is too ridged, Congress is too broken, but I am determined,” Kirkpatrick said. “I’ve always been one of those kids that when you tell me ‘I can’t’, I get more determined and that’s where I am today. I am absolutely determined to bring housing to Navajo.”
Following Kirkpatrick’s address was Cal Curley, field representative for the Office of Sen. Tom Udall, who read a statement on behalf of Udall underlining the Senator’s support of the summit.
Shortly after a luncheon address was given by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. who was honored to have been invited as a guest speaker.
“It’s always an honor to be invited to share a thought or two. It is always good to be breaking bread and to converse about different things affecting our lives, our children, and certainly our government,” Shirley said. “In this case we are talking about something that is very sacred and very important to me, which is housing.”
“We have a good beginning here, this is the first time we are coming together on the issue of housing, the issue of privacy, the issue of making and building people and families,” Shirley added. “It makes my heart glad that Ms. Yazzie and the BOC put us together here.”
Shirley was pleased to see other organizations attending the summit.
“They (other tribal, state and federal organizations) all need to hear from us and we all need to hear from them and we need to exchange information and ideas so that we can do better for our Navajo people.”
Shirley’s address concluded the summit’s opening ceremonies. The remainder of day was devoted to breakout sessions where participants were given the opportunity to attend a variety of workshops organized by NHA for the benefit of networking and partnering.
Presenters at this year’s summit workshops included the following; Michael Paisano, NHA Land Information Systems; Bruce Scott and Dwayne Waseta, NHA Housing Management and Construction Services; Caroline M. Tom, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority; Sandra Fagen, Southwest Fair Housing; Zane James, Navajo Division of Transportation; Lillie Lane and Thomascita Shorty, Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency; Amy Berumen and Jeff Wilson, Veterans Home Loans; Raymond Joe, Navajo Land Department; Lanalle Smith, Navajo Partnership for Housing; Alan Stephens and Ernie Wetherbee, United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development; Shawna Ballay, Community Planning and Development Department for the Ramah Chapter; Gordon Toadlena, Navajo Department of Law Enforcement Criminal Activity; and Ernesto Fonseca, Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family.
Presenters convened on day two of the summit and formed a panel discussion reporting on the findings of the summit breakout sessions. Presenter’s consensus was based on interactions with summit participants during breakout sessions. Panelists agreed that one of the key benefits of the summit was the opportunity to network and build relationships with other organizations. A lack of information sharing among organizations was identified as a disadvantage by panelists during the panel discussion.
Panelist included; Aneva J. Yazzie, NHA; Sandra Fagen, Southwest Fair Housing; Amy Berumen and Jeff Wilson, Veterans Home Loans; Lanalle Smith, Navajo Partnership for Housing; Alan Stephens, United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development; and Gordon Toadlena, Navajo Department of Law Enforcement Criminal Activity.
Yazzie concluded the summit with a commitment to consolidate all key discussions, develop a report to the Navajo Nation, and present the findings to all five regional areas of the Navajo Nation so that NHA can begin the refinement of ‘housing road maps’ for each region to start addressing specific housing needs in concert with Chapters and their respective Land Use Plans.
Last modified on Thursday, 02 September 2010 18:13
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KAYENTA, Ariz. - Kayenta Chapter is the 12th Local Governance Act Certified Chapter of the Navajo Nation. On August 6, the Transportation and Community Development Committee granted certification status with 7 in favor and 0 opposed.
Kayenta Chapter now has the authority to exercise local governance using the Five Management System Policies and Procedures, which means that the chapter will control its own accounting, procurement, record keeping, personnel, and property management.
As well, the chapter has the capacity to administer business sites, enforcing community taxes that will be used for the Kayenta community and exercise supervisory control of local matters, while being consistent with Navajo Nation laws.
The Transportation and Community Development Committee (TCDC) introduced Kayenta Chapter with a $160,000 check, after the certification. The check will assist with further development of the community.
"I would like to first say congratulations to the entire community of Kayenta Chapter," said Stanley Clitso, president of Kayenta Chapter. "Our chapter now joins the elite and prestigious few chapters that have been bestowed this recognition, with that our work continues and we do not intend to hinder the will of the community to grow and prosper."
Kayenta community is closer to achieving the community's dreams of quicker, more efficient and effective services. Through public hearings, the community has created a plan of action that encompasses a better economy, better social status with residents and visitors, and one day aspires to be a premier community on the Navajo Nation.
Lawrence T. Morgan, Speaker of the 21st Navajo Nation Council, said to the public, "This is the 12th community that has made the decision to become a uniformed aspiration for the non-LGA certified chapters. The community's voice is important to this new direction, so attending Chapter meetings is mandatory. I am proud of this community."
"I would like to thank my administrative staff, co-officials, chapter committees, Local Governance Support Center Fort Defiance and Tuba City, the Auditor General, the Department of Justice, the Navajo Division of Community and Government Development, TCDC, Nahata Consulting, and all those who supported this effort: Ahe'hee!," added Clitso.
Kayenta Chapter, like all other local governance act (LGA) certified chapters, will undergo a review by the Office of Auditor General, one year after LGA certification.
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Last modified on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
The Transportation and Community Development Committee of the 21st Navajo Nation Council at the groundbreaking blessing ceremony of the Navajo Division of Transportation Complex in Tse Bonito, N.M. (Photo Courtesy of Alastair Lee Bitsoi)
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TSE BONITO, N.M. -- On Aug. 10, the Transportation and Community Development Committee of the 21st Navajo Nation Council participated in the traditional Navajo groundbreaking blessing ceremony for an $18.3 million Navajo Division of Transportation Complex in Tse Bonito, N.M.
Medicine man Paul Long Sr., of Twin Lakes, N.M., offered his blessing for the groundbreaking of the new transportation complex, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certified facility. Mr. Long explained to event attendees the purpose of the blessing and said the offering is made to Mother Earth for permission to dig and build on the selected site.
Event attendees included the Transportation and Community Development Committee (TCDC), including other Council delegates, Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Vice President Ben Shelly, Navajo Division of Transportation (NDOT) staff, New Mexico Sen. John Pinto (D), Rep. Patty Lundstrom (D-District 9), the Federal Highways Administration, Caterpillar, Dyron Murphy Architects, New Mexico Department of Transportation, Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority and other local officials.
The project is scheduled to start construction next month and be completed in Dec. 2011. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will contribute $15.7 million and Navajo Nation will contribute $2.6 million for building the facility.
The committee also attended a banquet at the Department of Diné Education to celebrate the Navajo Division of Transportation's one year anniversary of being a division. On July 21, 2009, the 21st Navajo Nation Council passed Resolution CYJ-21-09 with a vote of 69-1, which granted the Navajo Department of Transportation division status.
The banquet included Honorable Sampson Begay (Jeddito/Steamboat/Low Mountain), TCDC chairman, as a featured speaker and Honorable Peter MacDonald, former chairman of the Navajo Nation, as keynote speaker.
At the banquet, Tom Platero, executive director for NDOT, thanked all the tribal, state, and federal officials, his division staff and private sector entities for playing a key role in making the six year effort become a reality.
"The Navajo Nation has so much potential, so much that we are barely beginning to tap into what transportation could be on the Navajo Nation," Platero said, in his fifteen minute speech. "When we are able to provide information online to the public, when we tell you exactly what our graders have done and the partnerships with federal and state entities, we will become a true division. We are still four, five years away. We still need to build infrastructure such as this new facility."
"It took probably three years for the TCDC committee to really get to know us and build that trust. No one ever thought we would last that long," Platero said, adding that partnerships with programs in the Navajo government was important for infrastructure development across the Navajo Nation. "This committee said, 'You need to find what you want to do, where you want to be and what we can do to help you.' Our committee has taken a lot of flak from people in the community, from the agency, who said, 'Why are you giving NDOT all this money?' It was because we needed infrastructure."
Platero informed attendees that NDOT was one vote away from receiving direct funding from the Federal Highways Administration, instead of through the BIA. "The Intergovernmental Relations Committee of the 21st Navajo Nation Council would need to approve a piece of legislation to grant direct funding to NDOT, which will allow us to work directly with the Federal Highways Administration on a government on a government-to-government basis," he said.
The TCDC members, including Council delegates from other standing committees, expressed their appreciation and support of NDOT's effort.
Honorable Begay said the efforts of previous leaders such as Honorable Peter MacDonald and Honorable Mark Maryboy who advocated for Navajo control was a continual effort among current tribal leaders and officials.
"I want to thank Mr. Tom Platero and his staff for working with us the last four years," Begay said. "The construction of this facility is the testament of our great leaders, including Honorable Peter MacDonald and Honorable Mark Maryboy and the TCDC committee."
"I am also a great believer in our youth," added Begay. "Some day our people, our youth will have learned enough to administer the road needs of our people. I believe that will happen."
"One year later, after the signing of the resolution, we celebrate the Navajo Division of Transportation's anniversary," added Honorable Leslie Dele (Tonalea), a member of TCDC. "The dream of TCDC and the division is that 'One day we will have super highways as well as railways across the Navajo Nation'. Many of us said, one day we will be like ADOT."
"The accomplishments of this division during their first year as a fully functioning division of the Navajo Nation is impressive to say the least and I applaud their determination to help build one of the most essential elements of the Navajo Nation's infrastructure," added Jonathan Nez (Shonto), a member of the Budget and Finance Committee. "This element is not only a factor in maintaining a nation, but it is also a method of further building and increasing productivity for this powerhouse called the Great Navajo Nation."
In his keynote address, Honorable Peter MacDonald spoke on the "Beginnings of Navajo Division of Transportation" and offered his congratulations. "I want to congratulate the Navajo Division of Transportation," he said. "We also cannot do very much work without the help of Council delegates."
"In the mid 1970s, when we started talking about our dream, many people said, 'You guys can't do it, you do not even know how to drive a tractor," MacDonald said. "And that really drove a whole bunch of us to say, 'We can do it.' As a matter of fact, anybody who says that Navajo cannot do it is talking on the fighting side of me and I get mad and I'll say, 'Navajos can do it because our people are smart. They know how to get things done.' This is one example, here."
"You folks have done a wonderful job with this Navajo Division of Transportation," added MacDonald. "You will be surprised how much economic development will be brought to the Navajo Nation with improved roads." |
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Last modified on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On July 29, Councilwoman Hope MacDonald LoneTree (ToNaneesDizi/Coalmine Canyon) attended U.S. President Barack Obama's signing of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, which contains significant provisions for increased tribal law enforcement and coordination between tribal governments and federal entities.
MacDonald LoneTree, who is a Public Safety Committee member, was among several tribal leaders, federal officials, human rights advocates, and tribal law enforcement officers in attendance.
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Councilwoman Hope MacDonald LoneTree and Rep. Ben Lugan (D-NM) at the Tribal Law and Ordert Act signing ceremony at the Whitehouse. (Photo courtesy of Hope MacDonald LoneTree)
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"I thank President Obama for his steadfast support of public safety in Indian Country," MacDonald LoneTree said. "The Tribal Law and Order Act will help strengthen our tribal justice system and relationships with our federal partners."
"President Obama and his administration have provided support for public safety improvements in Indian Country, and we look forward to seeing the provisions implemented," added MacDonald LoneTree. "This signing of this legislation has been the culmination of years of work."
The Tribal Law and Order Act takes a comprehensive approach to address shortfalls by establishing accountability measures for federal agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting reservation crime, and by providing tribes with additional tools to combat crime locally. The Act provides law enforcement officials and tribes increased evidence sharing and federal declination data recording, access to national criminal history records, improved tribal court sentencing authority, and enables deputization of either federal or tribal agents as required. The Act was signed into law as part of the Indian Arts and Crafts Amendment Act of 2010.
MacDonald LoneTree's commitment to public safety is also evident in her home community of Tuba City, where the community will be celebrating the groundbreaking of a new jail facility. The opening of the facility will not only help safeguard the community from violent offenders, but will also provide for much needed jobs.
"My community is looking forward to the groundbreaking of the new facility in Tuba City," said LoneTree. "Our new facilities will ensure that we can incarcerate violent offenders who are terrorizing our communities. The Tribal Law and Order Act along with our new facilities are important tools to help victims see justice"
For more information on the Tribal Law and Order Act, please visit www.whitehouse.gov.
Last modified on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
Interview with Navajo poet upstart Orlando White
By Rutherford “FORD” Ashley
SPECIAL TO WWW.NAVAJOSQUARE.COM
Window Rock, Ariz.—A recent evening at the local Quality Inn’s Dine Restaurant, Mr. Orlando White, noted Navajo author of Bone Light (2009, Red Hen Press) and English faculty at Dine College in Tsaile, Ariz., had time for an interview with NavajoSquare.Com.
The work Bone Light, his first book, is a collection of poems heavily influenced by mainstream “Black Mountain Poetry Movement”/BMPM, whose manifesto, titled Projected Verse (1950), was written by Charles Olsen. The BMPM style introduced the “open field” composition to surpass the outmoded, traditional closed poetic forms predating BMPM.
The majority of poems emerged as organic ideas, said White, adding he takes to the idea that one may not plan a poem, but rather “the poem is smarter” than the poet.
Flipping through the 64-page book, the pages contain a lot of spaces between words and stanzas. About this, White said that his “economy of language” and use of abstract is important to the work. “What illuminates … is silence: the white space of margins, between words and stanzas,” he said, adding with a laugh, “Which means [at live readings] I read at a very slow pace.” White said he reads to go beyond theatrics, with the goal to bring about a appreciation for things beyond us.
The form of a poem emerges in the moment, as before it was academics influencing the scene in the 1930s and 1940s (E.g., metered verse). The BMPM maintained that what motivated the line comes from the breath/sentence, which was motivated by music, as music broadsheets have words scattered across the page.
He also has other literary devices at his command, as he gave another example of his writing approach: Put one-hundred people in a room, and if someone had a microphone and said the word “tree,” those one-hundred people will each be thinking of a different tree. And, perhaps, one would be thinking of a pinon tree, then pinon picking, then his/her grandfather, then who he/she ate corn on the cob with in memory, leading to a friend talking of poetry, and this network of thought goes on and on. This infinite notion of the meaning is another influence to the author. “Language can’t settle on a meaning because it has too much meaning,” he said.
The approaches used in Bone Light play with the limitless, endless relationship with language. White confesses that Bone Light does use this process in a negative manner with “the human deconstructed through language … I try to bring that experience to the reader … language begins to dehumanize and strip away the self/reader.” The irony behind this use is to bring to light that language is a physical being, more than in a abstract way, he said.
The literary theory of “deconstruction and structuralism” played a big role in the book, hence the title Bone Light. “I was interested in the human skeleton,” he said, adding that the skeleton laid down on the back from left to right would appear as a subject-verb-oject and “the skull is like the period.” Further, he was influenced by another writer named Edmond Jades, who taught White to see the blank white page as a Band Aid, and when you put the pen to the paper, you start to reveal the wound. This sounds eerie, at first, but he elaborates that ink equals existence, and a shadow can be equated to ink because it is a mark of existence.
From a different aspect, Navajo medicine men or hatathlii sing things into being with songs and prayers. Language is existence, it could be equated or said.
He said Dine language operates in the same way, as it is very verb-oriented. One of his contemporaries, Sherwin Bitsui [Navajo writer and author of Shapeshift (U of A Press, 2003) and Floodsong (Copper Canyon Press, 2009)], shared with Orlando that Navajos do not say “There is a man standing outside … you have to use a verb to describe him … dancing, singing, not just standing.”
Further, White cites a joke by the former Navajo comedian/songwriter/musician Vincent Craig: “If you gave a rock to a white boy he would just throw it down. If you gave that same rock to a Navajo boy, he would go, ‘VRRRROOOOOM-VRRRROOOOOM… K’RRRRRRT! like playing with a car [and animating the otherwise inanimate object]’.”
The young Navajo/Dine writer, at 32-years-young, admits he was never influenced by any Native American writers.
However, he did say Sherman Alexie is a master of short story and his best work was The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven (Perrennial/Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003). “Sherman is about hyperbole and he admitted [to that] saying … no one is interested in normal Indians.” Why? Non-Indians want to read about drunk Indians or gay Indians or any of the hyperbole Indians and situations you find in a Alexie book about Indians (homelessness, long-braided haired Indians w/ Caucasian girls, and the list goes on).
I ask the writer if he has time to write, and he quickly responds that there is no time because, in addition to being a happily married father, he teaches ENG 101/102, Poetry, Short Fiction, Native American Literature, and Literature of the Southwest at Dine College.
In essence, White believes everyone has an inherent process [for language, writing, poetry] and it is spontaneous, unexpected. Which is why the young author has a dedication to his hectic teaching schedule at Dine College.
His poems have appeared in Bombay Gin, The Florida Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Salt Hill Journal, Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics, Talking Stick Native Arts Quarterly and elsewhere. He has taught at Brown University, the Institute of American Indian Arts, The Art Center Design College, and has been a visiting writer at Colgate University and Naropa University’s summer writing program.
Of course, there is a second manuscript he has been carrying around for years and looks at time to time, so the forthcoming ETA is TBA, but it will be a work of poetry and prose.
Orlando White is Dine/Navajo, originally from To’likan, Ariz. (formerly Sweetwater) and of the Naaneesht'ézhi Tábaahí (Zuni Water's Edge Clan) and born for the Naakai Diné'e (Mexican Clan). Orlando White received his BFA. in Creative Writing from IAIA (Santa Fe, New Mex.) and his MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University (Providence, RI).
[For more information about the author or to hear his poems see: www.fishhousepoems.com and www.orlandowhite.com .]
Last modified on Thursday, 29 July 2010 20:05
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., today vetoed the proposed “Western Navajo Agency Decentralization Pilot Project” because it is unknown to the People, would duplicate existing services, would drain financial resources from other agencies, and would foster a separatist approach to governing.
“It is irrefutable that this resolution fosters a separatist approach to governing and acquiring governmental services that are already provided for under the current system,” President Shirley wrote in his veto message to Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan.
“Separatist movements are most often launched because of emotional resentment, resistance, the desire to gain politically from intergroup conflict, and a desire to destabilize and fragment an existing government,” he said. “It is not unreasonable to see these motivations at work through legislation recently considered and/or passed by the Council because of the government reform initiatives passed by the People.”
The President said the legislation lacks sufficient information about the impacts it would have on the entire Navajo Nation.
“This legislation is completely unknown to the people it would directly affect,” he said. “This is legislation that the people of the Western Agency have not sought, know nothing about, and do not need.”
He said that other than a presentation at a Western Agency Council meeting, there have been no public hearings or meetings to introduce this concept to the people.
“Even a simple Google search of ‘Western Navajo Agency Decentralization Pilot Project’ produces no news stories, no analysis, no newspaper letters to the editor, nor anything that would indicate that the public is vaguely aware of this legislation other than Legislative Branch press releases,” he said.
He said the huge costs associated with replicating whole divisions, departments and services that are already provided is unknown, have had no review or analysis by the Office of Management and Budget, and could potentially jeopardize existing federal grant agreements.
Most of the programs identified in the pilot project are federally-funded and administered by the respective Executive Branch division directors, he said.
However, nowhere in the agreements executed by the Navajo Nation and the federal agency is it recognized that oversight of such programs would be by an elected Western Agency manager as this legislation proposes.
He said the resolution lacks information about the relationship the decentralization project would have with existing governmental operations of the three branches of government, and makes no attempt to address the fiscal impact it would have on the services provided in the other Navajo agencies.
He said that rather than assist chapters gain local governance certification, the legislation would undermine the purpose of the Local Governance Act and would shift critical resources from other agencies.
“Most certainly it would decrease funding to those agencies and, consequently, the services now provided in the other agencies in order to subsidize the significant costs of duplicating departments and services now being provided in the Western Agency,” he said.
If this resolution and subsequent plan is implemented, it would divide the Navajo Nation, he said.
“It would cause damage to the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation government, create funding uncertainties, and result in serious conflicts with existing Executive and Judicial Branch service providers,” the President said.
Last modified on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., today issued an executive order to prevent the processing of any appropriation that has been subject to a line item veto.
“Any attempt by the Navajo Nation Council to override a Presidential line item veto is null and void and in violation of Navajo law,” the order reads.
The order carries the effect of law and remains in effect until rescinded by the President.
The executive order comes three days after Navajo Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie issued a legal opinion that states it would be unlawful for the Navajo Nation Council to attempt to override a Presidential line item veto.
In his July 9 opinion, Mr. Denetsosie said that the Navajo Nation Supreme Court held in its May 28 ruling in Nelson v. Initiative Petition Committee that the results of the December 15, 2009, special initiative election was “valid and proper.”
The initiative election was approved by a majority of Navajo voters by a vote of 24,568-to-16,944.
That constituted more than 59 percent of the voter turnout.
“There can be no dispute that the Budget Line Item Veto is now valid Navajo law,” Mr. Denetsosie said.
The executive order reads:
“To preserve the integrity of governmental operations, to carry out fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities entrusted to elected and public officials by the Navajo People, and to protect the financial interests of the Navajo Nation, the Navajo Nation Office of the Controller, the Office of Management and Budget and the Division of Community Development are hereby directed to refrain from processing any and all appropriations related to the override of a Presidential line item veto.”
The initiative states that, “…budget line items vetoed by the President of the Navajo Nation will not be subject to Navajo Nation Council override.”
Last modified on Tuesday, 13 July 2010 18:04
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie has determined that the Navajo Nation Council may not lawfully override the Presidential line item veto that was authorized by Navajo voters.
“There can be no dispute that the Budget Line Item Veto is now valid Navajo law,” Mr. Denetsosie said in a July 9 legal opinion.
“Navajo voters, by approving the Initiative, enacted law that authorizes the Navajo Nation President to exercise budget line item veto authority. Furthermore, this same law also prohibits the Navajo Nation Council from overriding the Navajo Nation President’s budget line item vetoes.”
On June 24, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., exercised the new presidential authority for the first time to line out four appropriation items that would duplicate spending that has already been allocated.
The line item veto saved the Nation more than $5.6 million in spending from the Department of Justice Contingency Management Fund that has already been obligated as a reserve fund to cover probable legal liabilities of the Navajo Nation.
The spending legislation, CJN-25-10, sponsored by Council Delegate Young Jeff Tom, would have given funding directly to chapters for public employment, summer youth employment, chapter housing discretionary funding, a chapter post office, as well as a half a million dollars to the Council Speaker’s discretionary fund.
However, a June 22 analysis of the legislation by the Office of Management and Budget reported that the Council had made supplemental appropriations of more than $87.3 million in FY 2009, with more than $56.2 million going to chapters for public employment, summer employment, scholarships, winter emergencies, stipends for officials, and community projects.
Of that, OMB reported that as of April 30 chapters had a unspent balance of $38.1 million, including $3.1 million for public employment, and $948,000 for summer youth employment, making Mr. Tom’s legislation unnecessary and its purpose questionable.
In addition, the Navajo Department of Workforce Development reports that it has ARRA funding to use for public employment that new recipients are not applying for.
The OMB analysis found that continuing to spend money through Mr. Tom’s legislation would worsen the Nation’s $22 million budget deficit.
In his opinion, Mr. Denetsosie said that the Navajo Nation Supreme Court held in its May 28 ruling in Nelson v. Initiative Petition Committee that the results of the December 15, 2009 special initiative election was “valid and proper.”
The Court noted that because no challenges to the line item veto election result were filed with the Office of Hearings and Appeals, the initiative became law upon passage.
The initiative election was approved by a majority of Navajo voters by a vote of 24,568-to-16,944. That constituted more than 59 percent of the voter turnout.
Consequently, the Court ordered the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors to certify the election results, which it did on June 4.
This was the first time the Navajo People themselves enacted new Navajo Nation law through the initiative process.
As a result, Mr. Denetsosie said, the Council “no longer has the authority to override the Navajo Nation President’s budget line item vetoes pursuant to the Budget Line Item Veto Initiative that was approved by Navajo voters on December 15, 2009.”
In his analysis, the Attorney General found that when approved by the vote of the People, the entire text of an initiative becomes law. Once the Navajo Election Administration accepts a completed petition, he said, the text of the initiative cannot be changed.
“The ballot language is intended simply to give a descriptive summary of the text of the initiative,” Mr. Denetsosie said. “This means that the entire text of an initiative is not required to be printed on the ballot.”
The Navajo Nation Election Code recognizes that an initiative ballot will have only a summary of the proposed initiative, he said. However, four copies of the complete text of the initiative are to be available at polling places for voters to review.
Navajo Election Administration Director Edison Wauneka confirmed to Mr. Denetsosie that the complete texts of the initiative language were at each polling place in accordance with the law.
The initiative text language states:
1. The Navajo Nation President is authorized to exercise line item veto over budget items contained in the annual Navajo Nation Comprehensive Budget or supplemental appropriations approved by the Navajo Nation Council; and
2. The budget line items which the Navajo Nation President vetoes are not subject to override by the Navajo Nation Council; and
3. The Navajo Nation President’s budget line item veto authority becomes effective immediately; and
4. The Initiative may be repealed or amended by the initiative process only.
The Navajo Nation Election Code further states that approved initiatives “shall be binding and have the effect of law.”
On July 18, 2008, the Supreme Court reiterated that “the Navajo People have the inherent authority reserved to them to enact laws. The People’s laws are superior to the statutory laws enacted by the Council, and the referendum/initiative processes are modern acknowledgements of this authority.”
Consequently, initiatives approved by the People enact law that is superior to Navajo Nation Council-enacted law.
The proposed legislation to override the President’s line item veto, No. 0388-10, which is also sponsored by Mr. Tom, “ignores the fact that the Navajo Nation Council can no longer override Presidential vetoes of budget line items,” the Attorney General said.
“Prior to the passage of this Initiative, the Navajo Nation Council routinely exercised its authority to override Presidential vetoes,” he said. “Now, the Navajo Nation Council can no longer lawfully override budget line item vetoes that are duly exercised and specified as such by the Navajo Nation President.
Last modified on Monday, 12 July 2010 15:20
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., and Navajo Nation Controller Mark Grant were here Thursday to sign documents for a $60 million loan from KeyBank to be used to build new judicial and correctional facilities in Crownpoint, N.M. and Tuba City.
The signing comes six years after discussions first began. It fulfills President Shirley’s vision to see needed judicial and jail facilities built on Navajoland to combat a rising crime rate.
The loan is considered the first major institutional financing deal governed exclusively by tribal laws and subject to tribal jurisdiction, in full recognition of the Navajo Nation’s sovereignty.
KeyBank has agreed that disputes arising from the agreement will be heard in Navajo courts according to Navajo laws, rather than in state or federal court according to state or federal laws.
“We worked with KeyBank and there’s a lot of respect there for the Navajo Nation, and we appreciate that,” President Shirley said. “They’re willing to work with us with our laws and our courts, and that’s a major point with us as a Nation.”
The President said this deal means that the Nation can now begin to build detention facilities, new courts and public safety buildings.
“This has been a long time coming. We’ve talked about it for years, really,” President Shirley said. “We can begin to start actually bring down the crime rate, as far as building our detention facilities are concerned, and we can start doing it better with our judicial processes, with our court buildings.”
Mike Lettig, KeyBank Native American Financial Services national executive, said the transaction is unique in that it integrates all of the legal infrastructure of a tribe.
“It recognizes the sovereignty of one of the strongest Indian tribes in the country, and it creates an opportunity to provide a solution in terms of financing that really recognizes the sophistication of their legal infrastructure, their laws, and it allows an organization like KeyBank to participate in a solution,” he said.
KeyBank is a subsidiary of the Cleveland, Ohio-based, KeyCorp, one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies with assets of approximately $95 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and internationally.
Mr. Lettig said KeyBank took the time to conduct research and determined the Navajo legal system is strong and stable, and is confident there is no downside for the bank.
“The Navajo legal system is sophisticated and the tribe is in excellent financial shape,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for KeyBank to establish the kind of strong, ongoing relationships we are seeking in Indian Country. Without taking any undue risk, we can help the tribe upgrade needed infrastructure. This deal is backed by the full faith and credit of the Navajo Nation – and we are confident of the strength of that position.”
Navajo Nation Controller Mark Grant worked with KeyBank to negotiate the terms of the term loan.
“This means that we can start building jails,” he said. “This set a new playing field for the Nation. They did research on the Navajo Nation and found that the Navajo court system is very stable.”
He said the Nation is thankful to KeyBank for taking the time to familiarize itself with the laws of the Nation, and is excited to move forward.
“The Nation is particularly thankful to KeyBank for providing key capital for one of the Nation’s largest government facilities projects,” he said. “The funds from the term loan will allow the Nation to move forward expeditiously.”
The $60 million loan means the Navajo Nation can take advantage of tax-exempt financing and participate in the Build America Bond program, part of last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The program permits state, local and tribal governments to access funds at discounted interest rates for public buildings, transportation projects and other infrastructure needs.
KeyBank provides capital and financial services to more than 50 Native American tribes and tribal corporations, with total credit commitments of approximately $675 million.
The Portland, Ore.-based, law firm of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe LLP served as Bond Counsel to the Nation. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP served as Lender's Counsel, and Davis Wright Tremaine served as Lender's Special Tax Counsel.
Last modified on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., today signed Resolution CJN-25-10 into law while exercising presidential line item veto authority for the first time since the Navajo People approved it more than six months ago.
The new presidential authority saved the Navajo Nation $5,650,000 in spending. The spending would have tapped the Navajo Nation Department of Justice’s Contingency Management Fund.
In his first line item veto message to Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan and the Council, the President said the line item veto of four components of the large spending bill was necessary to preserve the fund at a level essential to protect the Nation’s interests.
“There really are no monies,” the President said after signing the law. “They’ve been encumbered. That money from the contingency fund is already obligated. The only resolution I didn’t line out is money for the kids in spite of the fact that there is no money.”
The Contingency Management Fund is reserved for liabilities and claims owed by the Navajo Nation as determined by the Office of the Attorney General.
The President said the Navajo Nation Department of Justice needs the contingency fund to pay all qualified contingencies, including disallowed costs related to grants, judgments and any other fees entered against the Navajo Nation.
An analysis of the spending legislation by the Navajo Nation Office of Management and Budget found that a purported “lack of funding” – as stated in the language of the legislation – “does not constitute an emergency and there is no threat to the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation.”
OMB Director Dominic Beyal said that over the past two years the Council has made so many supplemental appropriations from the tribe’s Undesignated Unreserved Fund and personnel savings that it has depleted these money sources, resulting in a tribal budget deficit of $22 million.
“The Attorney General did not give permission to reallocate or appropriate funds from this account, which therefore may not comply with requirements that such permission be obtained,” Mr. Beyal said.
In his line item veto message, the President said failure to maintain sufficient levels in the contingency fund would adversely affect the Nation’s unqualified audit regarding its financial statements.
Among the items the President lined out of the law are:
• Spending $3 million for chapter Public Employment Program.
According to OMB, as of April 30 chapters had a balance of $38 million in unspent money. This includes $3.1 for public employment, and $948,000 for summer youth employment.
The President signed into law $2 million for youth employment programs to Navajo Nation chapters from the Contingency Management Fund, even though the money is already obligated.
• Spending of $150,000 by the Nazlini Chapter for a post office.
According the OMB, this construction funding should be part of should be part of the Navajo Nation Capital Plan and Budget coordinated by the Division of Community Development and the Capital Improvement Office in accordance with the Appropriations Act.
• Spending of $2 million for the Navajo Nation Chapter Housing Program.
According to the OMB and Division of Community Development, chapters have $1.7 million in unspent funds for housing discretionary spending.
• Spending of $500,000 for the Speaker’s office discretionary funds.
According to the OMB, the Council gave itself $8.8 million in discretionary funds in FY 2009, and another $3 million in FY 2010.
In FY 2009, the Council made supplemental appropriations to chapters in the amount of $56.3 million for public employment, summer employment, scholarships, winter emergencies, stipends for officials and communities projects, according to OMB. Any unspent money is carried over to the next fiscal year.
In January, the Council appropriated $1 million from the Personnel Lapse Fund to chapters for emergencies.
“The practice of funding initiatives without budget priorities and planning is not advisable and does not comply with the Appropriations Act,” Mr. Beyal said.
Presidential line item veto authority was granted to the Navajo Nation President by an initiative special election on Dec. 15, 2009. President Shirley announced an initiative petition drive on April 29, 2008, that led to the special election.
However, because of the Council’s challenge to overturn the results of the election which reduced the Navajo Nation Council from 88 to 24 delegates, the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors chose not to certify the results of the election until ordered to by the Navajo Nation Supreme Court on May 28.
“There is no challenge to the Line Item Veto Initiative; therefore, this Court, noting that all time periods for
challenges have expired, presumes that the Line Item Veto Initiative is valid and the law enacted is effective,” the Court said.
In other action, the President signed into law legislation:
• To oppose Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and Arizona House Bill 2281, the state’s immigration and ethnic studies bills. The ethnic studies law restricts the teaching of ethnic studies in Arizona elementary and secondary schools.
• To allow the Navajo Housing Authority to lobby Congress for an increase in NAHASDA Indian Housing Block Grants funding from the current proposed $580 million to $875 million.
• Proclaiming Monday, the first day of the Navajo Nation Council summer session, as Diné Bi Lii Dilzin Day, or Navajo Nation Horse Day.
Last modified on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
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