Panel: Audits?
We don’t need no stinking audits!

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A bill seeking an audit of the Navajo Board of Education failed before the Budget & Finance Committee Tuesday.

Sponsor Willie Tracey wanted to have the Office of the Auditor General delve into the board’s activities and produce a report before the Council’s summer session.

However, that session is only about a month away, and it is unlikely such a detailed audit could be prepared by then, B & F’s Nelson Begaye said.

“Maybe there’s not enough time to do this audit,” Begaye said.

During its spring session, Council tabled legislation sponsored by Education Committee Chairman Andy Ayze to take away the board’s power to oversee the Department of Diné Education and to hire and fire the superintendent of education.

Those powers would fall to the Department of Diné Education , the tribal president and the Education Committee.

Ayze’s bill came after months of stalemate within the board after it fired Tommy Lewis, the tribe’s first superintendent, in August. Since then, the board has been at odds, neglecting its work to establish the Department of Diné Education.
In tabling the legislation in the spring, Council had directed all sides to work together to straighten out the situation.

Despite several meetings, no progress has been made, Tracey said.

“Everything is still where it’s at,” Tracey said.

He said having an audit would prevent a “power struggle” when Ayze’s bill comes back to the floor in the summer session.

B & F voted against the audit bill, 2-3.

In other business:

Despite slight misgivings, the committee approved legislation by Peterson Yazzie requesting $2.5 million for a new Navajo Election Administration office building.

The NEA currently meets on the second floor of the Quality Inn, Yazzie said. Its staff is confined to cramped office space, he added.

This same bill failed when it came before the Council last time because of a lack of money in the Undesignated, Unreserved Fund, Delegate Lorenzo Curley noted.

That situation hasn’t changed, he added.

“Legislation should not make it to the floor of the Council if there is no money in the UUFB,” Curley said. “It wastes time in Council, since there is no money available.”

“Since there’s not any money, why are we hearing this?” Begaye said.

He agreed that the NEA needed a new office, but wondered how it ranked in relation to other pressing needs across the Navajo Nation.

The speaker’s plans for a new legislative complex included space for the NEA, Delegate Hoskie Kee said.

Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan has since revised that proposal, because under Title 2 the NEA is to remain a separate entity, NEA Director Edison Wauneka explained.
The reason is that the NEA needs to maintain confidentiality, Wauneka added.

B & F approved the request, 3-1.

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at Hopkins1960@hotmail.com