Delegates squabble over size
of Council

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — With potential legal challenges looming, a delegation if eight InterGovernmental Relations Committee members met briefly with President Joe Shirley Jr. Wednesday in an effort to find a compromise on the president's initiative to reduce the number of delegates from 88 to 24.

In an executive session during Monday's InterGovernmental Relations Committee meeting delegates directed Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan to attempt to meet with Shirley and forge a compromise.

"I think we should make an attempt to meet with the president," Delegate George Arthur said. "It's obvious that there is a flaw in the way this initiative is being done."

IGR members passed the report, with the directive to the speaker, by a 9-0 vote.

IGR had gone into executive session after Acting Chief Legislative Counsel Frank Seanez cited 'potential litigation."

"I wasn't at the meeting," Office of the President Press Officer George Hardeen said when asked about the meeting.

Apparently, only elected official were allowed to remain in the meeting, others were asked to leave, according to one source.

"You're not getting nothing from me," another delegate laughed. "If someone from the president's office comments, then I will."

Shirley launched his initiative on the premise that the 88-member council was bloated and ineffective, and spent too much time micromanaging the affairs of other departments and programs.

Speaker Morgan fired back, warning that a reduction in delegates could mean a reduction in services and contact between the government and the Navajo communities.

While several delegates privately grumble about the president's plan, none has been more vocal than Judicial Committee Chairman Delegate Kee Allen Begay.

The pattern that developed is a statement being issued by Hardeen, and an immediate, fiery rebuttal from Begay.

The president's office shows no sign of weakening — and even ratcheted up the pressure this week. Needing signatures to get his initiatives on the Navajo ballot in November, representatives from the president's office ventured to Begay's back yard — Many Farms — to gather names on its petition.

But Begay questioned the president's tactics. He said some of the community members he spoke with did not know they were signing a petition to put the president's initiative on the ballot.

"I asked several people after the meeting, including some elderly, if they signed the petition outside (the chapter house). But they didn't know what they had signed." Begay said. "One even said she thought someone was running for office and so she signed it."

Nor did the president's office have interpreters to make sure those who spoke primarily Navajo understood what they were signing, he charged.

"I didn't go to Many Farms," Hardeen said. "But I think that's very unlikely."