Shirley, Zah endorse Kirkpatrick

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Democratic candidate for Arizona Congressional District 1 Ann Kirkpatrick received endorsements from Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and former President Peterson Zah, in her bid for Congress.

Kirkpatrick is running against Republican Sydney Hay for the House of Representatives seat held by Republican Rick Renzi who did not run for re-election.

Shirley said he has “every hope, belief and a prayer” that Kirkpatrick will be elected along with U.S. presidential Democratic candidate Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden to work together to improve the lives of Navajos.

With each of the three states the Navajo Nation is located in feeling the effects of the economic crisis, Shirley said that there is less money for their constituencies.

“How will we begin to move back to the positive? We need to be mindful of who we put into office on Nov. 4,” he said.
Zah said he became acquainted with Kirkpatrick several years ago when she was an Arizona state representative.

“She was very, very insistent to make sure that our children got a decent education, not only on reservation schools within the Nation, but even in higher education, she was much concerned about that,” Zah said. “And, as all of you know, that’s where my heart is.”

During the Navajo Nation Council’s fall session last month, Kirkpatrick addressed the delegates.

“Because I grew up on tribal land, I have a deep abiding respect for tribal sovereignty,” she said. “I will work with you to keep that, to preserve it, so that you can make the decisions that you need to make so that you can become self-sustaining.”

She said Navajos have suffered from disproportionate rates of cancer and illness as a result of uranium mining and processing, and that she will work to heal the damage left.

“I am opposed to any new uranium mining and I will fight to get the funding to clean up the uranium mines that have been left to us,” she said.

Kirkpatrick said she will seek money at the federal level to teach the Navajo language in schools and that she will fight to make sure the Native American Language Act of 1990 has funding to give teachers the resources to teach Navajos in schools.

She said she will continue advocating for funding for Diné College .

“I will continue that fight in Washington because our children deserve to have the best education possible from the time they are very young until they grow up to be leaders and contribute to our economy,” she said.

A former prosecutor, Kirkpatrick said that she has zero tolerance for crime. She said that as a state legislator, she worked to get funding for methamphetamine prevention and education, and will also take that to Washington.