Navajo casinos near reality

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council approved legislation opening the door to a $100 million line of credit from JP Morgan Chase bank during its special session Monday.

And President Joe Shirley Jr. signed it into law a couple of hours later.

The line of credit — which would allow the Nation to borrow up to $100 million — still needs to be finalized, with President Joe Shirley Jr., Attorney General Louis Denetsosie and Controller Mark Grant all needing to sign off on the final agreement.

What the Council approved is basically the wording and terms that will go into the final loan agreement, said Derrick Watchman, a vice president for the Native American Banking Group, with JP Morgan Chase. The line of credit would be used to establish gaming on the reservation.

“I’m happy and glad that we passed this historic legislation, now we can start groundwork on the casino, and not just keep talking about it,” the bill’s sponsor, Delegate Ernest Yazzie Jr., said.

The Navajo Nation needs to get into the casino business to compete with other gaming tribes.

“Let the casino start making money for us,” Yazzie said. “It’s good all the way around; it’s a money-making machine.”

Though the line of credit issue was not on the special session’s agenda, it ended up taking up most of the discussion as delegates debated passionately from both sides of the issue.

The struggle of wills began almost immediately after the special session began, when Delegate Amos F. Johnson moved to amend the agenda to add discussion of the line of credit legislation.

“This would be a precedent,” Delegate Omer Begay Jr. said. He said the bill did not meet the Council’s definition of an emergency.

Most legislation must go through the entire process, including hearings before at least two of the 12 standing committees; however, emergency legislation can be brought straight to the Council floor.

This is not a precedent, because Council often lets such amendments be made and then determine by a vote of its members if it will be heard, Chief Legislative Counsel Ray Etcitty explained.

“I don’t believe Delegate Johnson has address if it meets any of the criteria that constitutes an emergency,” Delegate Hope MacDonald-Lonetree said.

Emergencies include issues that would affect the Navajo people, such as losing police protection, or defending issues of tribal sovereignty.

The bill meets all the criteria, Johnson said. The revenue generated from gaming will be used to help the entire Nation and maintain services, Johnson explained.

“It doesn’t constitute an emergency,” said Budget & Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo C. Bates. He said this was an attempt to abuse the Council’s rules. “Letting this debate continue is clearly out of order.”

The legislation was brought before the Council on two other occasions. It was tabled the first time and, in a special session on Oct. 12, Council decided to set up a group to study the agreement along with the B & F committee.

Council voted 43-32 to add the line of credit bill to the agenda.

Getting the bill on the agenda was only the first hurdle. It still needed to be passed — but by how many votes?

Because the agreement would contain a limited waiver of sovereign immunity it would need a “super majority” — 59 votes — for passage, Delegate Ervin M. Keeswood Sr. said.

He felt the wording on the legislation was changed slightly so it could circumvent the need for the two-thirds vote.

The tribe’s sovereign immunity law contains seven instances in which immunity can be partially waived, Etcitty said. One of them is if both parties agree to resolve conflicts through arbitration — which this document would do, he explained.

“This legislation is far overdue, we’re one of the last tribes to get into the casino business,” Johnson said.

Delegate Lorenzo Curley questioned if the Nation might negotiate a better interest rate — if the Federal Reserve lowers the prime rate, as it has indicated it would.

Yazzie’s bill is the same one that Council has already dealt with, and decided it needed to go back to B & F, Delegate Katherine Benally said.

“I still would like to support gaming and would like to vote in favor of this, but there are still a few questions outstanding,” Benally said. “I was hoping they would be answered so I could stand unequivocally without qualms behind it.”

There are questions left unanswered, Bates agreed. If the Council rushes to pass this legislation, it will never know if it could get a better interest rate, he added.

“You had a lot of questions,” Bates said. “What happened to your questions? Did they go away?”

The tribe keeps “starting and stalling” and doesn’t make any progress, Delegate Harold Wauneka said.

“In this chamber of ours, we don’t know how to cooperate, we don’t work together,” Wauneka said. Delegates too often look inward at their own chapters and not what is good for the whole Navajo nation, Wauneka said.

“We have a self interest, we don’t have a Navajo interest,” he said.

Instead of people squabbling over where to locate five or six casinos, the tribe should just move forward with one and “go from there,” Wauneka said.

Since the Council already called two special sessions to discuss this matter, there are obviously questions, MacDonald-Lonetree said.

“We don’t need to be hurried into voting on this today,” she cautioned.

When money is involved everything must be clear, Delegate Larry Anderson Sr. said. He said he still had questions — such as how JP Morgan Chase came to be selected as the tribe’s partner.

“I don’t see the Morgan Chase bank here, around the corner,” Anderson said. “But, I see Wells Fargo. What happened to Wells Fargo?”

It is an important decision — and Council needs to make it, Delegate Orlanda Smith-Hodge said.

“We are always our own biggest enemy in hindering progress,” Smith-Hodge said.

After Council voted to cease debate, Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan gave the sponsors time to respond to the questions raised by delegates.

This set off another firestorm of debate as delegates argued whether or not the sponsors could have more time after the debate had ceased.

Morgan pointed to Rule 14, which allows the speaker to grant the sponsor time to respond to questions.

The vote was 54-25.

“The item will pass for now — unless the president vetoes it,” Morgan quipped.

The sole item on the original agenda for the special session passed without comment.

The legislation, sponsored by Delegate Young Jeff Tom, gave $5.9 million from the Unreserved, Undesignated Fund to the Department of Justice to use for current litigation.

The UUF held approximately $18 million at the start of the day.