Reform brouhaha quiet as branch chiefs confer

WINDOW ROCK , June 19, 2008

After weeks of trading press releases that allege misinformation coming from the other side, the offices of the president and speaker have begun meeting in an effort to find a compromise on government reform.

Ever since President Joe Shirley Jr. announced his reform initiative in early May, the executive and legislative branches have hurled barbs and accusations, mainly through a barrage of press releases.

Shirley is circulating two ballot initiatives, one to reduce the tribal council from 88 to 24 members, and one to grant the tribal president line-item veto power over council spending measures. They are intended to counter misspending among the legislative ranks, as Shirley sees it.

Last Thursday, Shirley and Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan held a marathon meeting behind closed doors, but dodged reporters' questions afterwards.

They are scheduled to meet again Monday, June 23 - the same day a special council session is scheduled dealing with the reform effort.

In the meantime, the parties joined in requesting a delay in the legal challenge Morgan has filed to keep the council-size question off the November ballot. The complaint was filed with the tribe's Office of Hearings and Appeals, and a special hearing officer was appointed to conduct an expedited hearing.

The hearing officer, Window Rock attorney John Chapela, said the parties asked that he hold off ruling until the end of the month. Chapela had originally said he would rule by June 13 on Shirley's motion to dismiss Morgan's complaint.

"Hopefully they'll both be able to work something out and walk away feeling they have prevailed in some fashion," Chapela said.

If the parties do not reach a settlement, Chapela said he is prepared to resume the case and release his decision June 30.

Both sides are so far keeping quiet about the discussions. Shirley has scheduled five public forums at venues around the reservation at which he makes his case for the reform measures and takes comments from the public.

The first event, in Shiprock, drew a large crowd of people unhappy with the tribal government. He said he would continue the forums, including the next one scheduled tomorrow, June 20, in Tuba City.

"We're continuing everything we've committed to," said Patrick Sandoval, Shirley's chief of staff. "We're moving on good faith."

Although both sides are seemingly open to a compromise, the bottom line remains the same when it comes to government reform, Sandoval said. This is the point of the public forums.

"Some things need to change," Sandoval said. "We want to make sure the attention has been brought to the type of change that needs to be made."

The president's task force on reform also is still gathering signatures, Sandoval said. Shirley needs 16,000 valid signatures from Navajo voters by the end of July in order to put the two initiative questions on the Nov. 4 ballot. Sandoval estimates that the task force has collected about 7,000 signatures.

Other reform proposals also are on hold while the two branch chiefs meet.

Sponsors of a bill to reduce the council's size by nearly half have decided to sit on their proposal for the time being. The bill, sponsored by Raymond Maxx (Coalmine Canyon/T— Nanees' Diz’) and Leonard Tsosie (Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake) would reduce the council to 48 members.

"We decided to defer that because of the settlement talk that is going on," Tsosie said. "There is no sense in pushing something if a different result is reached."

Tsosie said he and Maxx would likely agree with any settlement that comes out of the Shirley-Morgan meetings "if one is reached."

Maxx has been shopping the bill around since 2007 but delegates have proven almost universally opposed to any loss of seats.

"Since we're all discussing this issue, it seemed like a prime time to put it back in the hopper," Tsosie said.

Citing a 2002 referendum in which a majority of voters elected to reduce the council to 24 seats, Tsosie theorized that the number 48 was determined by doubling that of the previous effort.

The referendum failed because it did not get a majority vote in each chapter, as stipulated in the Navajo Nation Code.

Tsosie said he was preparing his own bill to reduce the council to 40, making it easier to divide delegates among the five agencies.

For the time being, Tsosie said all he and his colleagues can do is wait. Though he appears to have high hopes.

"The talks, I'm pretty sure are going fine," he said. "We haven't seen any press releases so I think the settlement talk is going very respectfully."

SIDEBAR: Prez, speaker hunt for compromise »

SIDEBAR: Views mixed on proposal to downsize tribal council »

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