Shirley mocks council
President: $50,000 on rings,
$300,000 on motorcycle ride?

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo people need to take their government back from unresponsive, overspending delegates, President Joe Shirley Jr. told about 40 people who attended a meeting on two proposed government reform initiatives at the Diné Education Center Tuesday night.

“People need to know how their money is being spent, they need to have a voice,” Shirley said.

The most-discussed initiative is one to lop the size of the Council from 88 delegates to 24. Shirley also is looking to give the next president the power of a line item veto.

Shirley is trying to get both initiatives on the November ballot. To do that he needs to gather up some 2,000 signatures on petitions to be verified by the Navajo Election Administration.

If they can’t meet the deadline for the November ballot, he would seek a special election, Shirley said.

“I don’t know if Council would appropriate the $280,000 (needed for a special election),” the president added.

Shirley refuted the claims by delegates that reducing the Council would hinder its ability to provide direct services to the people.

“How is getting a gold ring direct services?” Shirley wondered. “It doesn’t benefit grandma and grandpa because their delegate has a gold ring.”

Council weathered a public outcry last year when it was revealed that it voted to spend $50,000 on commemorative rings.

Council’s spending is one of the concerns that Breadsprings resident Timothy Julian has.

“I watch them spending all the money while my grandmother struggles for health care,” Julian said.

He signed the petition and is interested in helping to get more signers, Julian said.

The line-item veto will help the president curb the Council’s reckless spending, Shirley said.

The audience rocked with laughter when Shirley, rubbing his hands together, imitated a Council delegate when told there is more money in the Undesignated, Unreserved Fund: “Ah, we’ve got $20 million? What can we spend it on?”

And usually, Council finds a way to spend it on itself, Shirley suggested. He pointed to the $50,000 spent on rings and the approximate $300,000 Council sets aside for its annual motorcycle ride to Washington, as example of wasteful spending.

Those funds could be put to better use providing scholarships or housing assistance, the president added.

Eddie Arthur was one of the former delegates in attendance. He supports Shirley’s initiatives and has been visiting chapters to talk about it, Arthur said.

Though the president’s reform initiatives have created an uproar among the Council, some delegates do support the need for change and more accountability, Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval said.

About a dozen delegates support the initiatives, Sandoval said.

Delegates get stipends for attending meetings — and they have meetings galore, Shirley said.

“We have about 12 Standing Committees and they have sub-committees and those sub-committees have sub-committees,” Shirley said. Department heads and division directors are forced to waste valuable work hours when delegates force them to “answer to the sub-committees of sub-committees,” Shirley said.

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