Council approves $10.3M spending package

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Young Jeff Tom (Mariano Lake/Smith Lake) once again displayed his noted skill for tacking spending riders onto legislation and stretching his allotted five minutes of council floor time into half a day during the second day of the spring session, Tuesday.

Under his guidance, legislation asking for $748,000 for the Public Safety Department grew into a final motion requesting $10.3 million from the Unreserved, Undesignated Fund.

Delegate Raymond Joe sponsored the original legislation seeking funds to "restore law and order" in Chinle, where the police dispatchers have been forced to work out of a storage closet at the chapter house and suspects are booked at the fire station.

Built in 1957, the Chinle jail was meant to hold 13 prisoners, said Joe, a retired police sergeant. Now, 50 years later, the Chinle police make about 11,000 arrests a year, he added.

Last week the electrical system burned out, the radios didn't work and police, after booking suspects, have to transport them to Gallup or Crownpoint to be jailed.

"Our public safety is at stake right now," Joe said.

That's when Tom took charge. One by one, he took spending bills further down on the agenda and added them, as amendments, onto Joe's legislation.

Not that his strategy garnered universal support.

His bid to include $2 million for Diné Power Authority raised the most hackles.

The council has given DPA about $18 million so far, with nothing to show for it, argued Delegate Jerry Bodie.

"They have yet to put up one power line," Bodie added. He said he wanted to see an accounting of what DPA did with the $18 million it was already given.

Delegate Leonard Chee asked if DPA really needed more money. He noted that part of the $2 million includes raises and stipends for DPA officials.

Acknowledging that DPA's Desert Rock project has been controversial, Delegate Ervin Keeswood Sr. said that some non-Navajos are trying to dictate to the Nation what it can do on its own land.

He disagreed with Bodie's assertion that the Desert Rock project would take land away from homeowners. On Navajo, there are no individual landowners. The land is owned by all, Keeswood said. At most, people in that targeted area would lose grazing rights, he added. Those rights could be tendered to them somewhere else, Keeswood said.

"We've already put millions into this project," said Delegate Larry Anderson Sr. "If we oppose this project, it will be pushing millions of dollars under the rug."

Delegate Katherine Benally objected to the way Tom was piling items on the main piece of legislation.

"This is very questionable," Benally said.

Though what Tom was doing was allowable under council floor rules, it is generally not done, to avoid confusion, explained Chief Legislative Counsel Ray Etsitty.

But Tom continued adding riders to provide $2.2 million to the offices of the speaker, president and council delegates for "constituency needs," $915,000 for Native Broadcast Enterprise, $750,000 for veterans' services, $467,000 for the annual audit, $200,000 to complete renovation on the council chambers, $50,000 for the education department and $20,000 for Public Safety's highway safety program.

In the end, Tom almost won Benally's support, when he moved to include $3 million for the Nation's Public Employment Program.

"As much as I object to the way this is being done today, I do support this amendment," Benally said. "It is needed. I ask that the amount be doubled to $6 million; then I won't mind running off the cliff with you."

Tom kept his amendment at $3 million for PEP.

In the end, the $10.3 million spending spree passed by a 72-7 margin, gathering enough support to indicate that it could override a presidential veto if it came to that.

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at hopkins1960@hotmail.com or by calling 505-371-5443.