VP: Lack of infrastructure is major obstacle

Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly talks with Gilbert Brown in his Window Rock office Thursday morning. Shelly said there has been enough talking, and it is time for the Navajo government to do some walking. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — With 24 years of political insight, Ben Shelly, the vice president of the Navajo Nation, has four years to carry out the campaign agenda that helped him and Joe Shirley Jr. get into office.

And he has a long way to go.

Sticking closely to the political agenda they campaigned on this past election, Shelly maintains that the solutions for improving people's lives and economic development on the Nation lie in three main things: gaming efforts, the Desert Rock power plant, and the reintroduction of a $500 million bond, all of which Shelly said will create jobs, stimulate small business and address the ongoing issue of minimal infrastructure.

But getting down to the basics is where Shelly sees things taking off.

"The thing here is working together," said Shelly, referring to the relationship between the legislative and executive branches.

"We did too much talking; we need to do the walk."

After traveling to Washington D.C. this past week to testify on behalf of a meth bill, Shelly observed that ill-prepared tribal officials speaking at congressional meetings caused confusion. Instead of having one person speak on behalf of the tribe on one specific issue, Shelly said there were several people speaking about different issues.

"Congressional people get confused," said Shelly. "We need to be like a choir, we need to have one voice."

In addition, having accurate data and numbers to justify their funding requests is something that Shelly says needs to be made available to lawmakers.

During the 1950's and 1960's, the Bureau of Indian Affairs kept accurate progress reports on the Nation, containing data and statistics of how money was being used to improve the Nation; however, from 1960 to 2006, there have been no progress reports on where the Nation stands.

Shelly wants to address that making it mandatory for each of the 12 divisions to create binders of information that would make lobbying for funding in Washington D.C. easier.

It's no different than bringing a plan to a bank and asking for money, he said.

"The Navajo Nation needs to self-evaluate itself," added Shelly, emphasizing that the data is needed especially for lawmakers who aren't familiar with tribal issues and end up voting against bills that could help improve tribes situation.

"The whole atmosphere in Washington D.C. is the war," he said, stressing that it's all the more reason to have accurate documentation.

Like other officials, Shelly acknowledged the poor infrastructure on the Nation, and is crossing his fingers, along with Shirley, that the Council will approve the upcoming $500 million bond.

Shelly recalled nearly 13 years ago, when Wal-Mart was contemplating about putting a store in Chinle. But in the end, it didn't happen, and has yet to happen.

"The Wal-Mart people said you don't have the infrastructure for us," said Shelly. "That's what's happening right now. We don't have that."

The $500 million bond, Shelly hopes, will be a step toward developing major growth areas on the Nation, like Window Rock, Chinle, and Shiprock.

"The big chapters is where we need to focus on," he said.

A fairly new initiative that the Office is also looking into is bringing windmills and solar power sources to the reservation. Shelly said the Nation could sell that power, though the idea is fairly new and is still being explored.

"We're looking at that more and more," he said. "We got a lot of people working on that."