Hopi candidates make final pitch

Stan Bindell
For The Independent

POLACCA, Ariz. — Mary Felter hopes her experience as tribal secretary leads her to the top job with the Hopi Tribe, but Mike Puhuyesva and Wayne Kuwanhyoima have different types of experiences that they believe will get them the most votes.

Felter has served 12 years as tribal secretary; so she is well aware of the tribe's policies and problems.

Puhuyesva has no background in tribal affairs, but has a background in management; so he believes he brings efficiency to the table. Kuwanhyoima was a state trooper; so he feels he brings honesty and integrity to a government that needs it.

These are three of the 14 candidates running in today's special election for Hopi chairman, caused when the Hopi Tribal Council ousted Ivan Sidney from the office. The two candidates that receive the most votes will move on to the general election.

Felter's priorities
Felter's top three priorities would be improving tribal administration, improving education and addressing domestic issues on the Hopi Reservation.

Felter said the tribal government needs to be changed to help the tribe be streamlined so it would be more functional and accountable. She said the current policies and procedures need to be updated.

For example, Felter said the tribe proposed a reduction in force last year, and the policies need to be in place to address if that's appropriate and how it would be carried out. She said the tribe recently approved a reorganization, but continues to lack a chief administrative officer.

"It's critical that we hire a chief administrative officer to overlook operations. We don't have that right now," she said.

Felter said the CAO would work closely with each department.

Felter said the education ordinance, Ordinance 36, was approved in the 1980s and amended in the 1990s, but needs to be revised to fit the needs of today. She said the elementary schools need to have a unified curriculum. She said the guidelines for obtaining scholarships for Hopis to go to college needs to be clarified.

Regarding domestic issues, Felter said the tribe needs to address violence, child abuse, meth and alcoholism on the reservation. She said the criminal code needs to be revised to address these issues.

Kuwanhyoima's priorities
Kuwanhyoima's top three priorities are getting the budget straightened out, stopping the Hopi Tribal Council from giving itself raises and working with the departments.

Kuwanhyoima said the budget can be improved by cutting back on income for council representatives' offices. He said the council has been overspending on office equipment, minor budget items and use of tribal vehicles for unneeded trips.

Kuwanhyoima, who has served as governor of Moenkopi Village for the past four months, said when the tribal council proposes a raise for itself, it should go to a vote of the people.

"Why should they get a pay raise when they're supposed to report to the villages and they're not doing that?" he asked.

Kuwanhyoima also criticized the council's task teams for not reporting to the villages.

Kuwanhyoima said community service administrators in the villages need to be better qualified. He said before he took office, the village hired a CSA who lacked the qualifications.

As chairman, Kuwanhyoima said he would work with the departments to make sure that workers were properly trained and received the technical assistance they needed.

Puhuyesva's priorities
Puhuyesva's top three priorities would be operating tribal programs more effectively, improving education on the reservation and being careful about what projects the council gets the tribe into.

Puhuyesva, who has worked as a tribal liaison for the EPA, said the tribe has many programs that are ineffective. For example, he said the tribe's solid waste landfill is out of compliance and should be closed down.

"The tribe has its own EPA, but they're not enforcing it. It's beginning to look like a dump instead of a landfill," he said.

Puhuyesva said education can be improved at the elementary school level by mandating that all Hopi elementary schools have the same curriculum and by having one school board for all the elementary schools rather than one for each school. He said the tribe's scholarship program needs to be improved.

"We have to look at the process. Some families or their relatives appear to be getting the scholarships. A lot more are deserving," he said.

Puhuyesva said the tribe tends to get into projects without knowing what they're getting into. For example, a waste water system has been budgeted for Moenkopi and ground has been broken, but he said the village hasn't budgeted enough funding to operate the system properly.