Why limit voter initiative to 2 questions?

WINDOW ROCK, May 22, 2008

It's good to see you actually making some effort to carry out your campaign promise to bring about government reform.

Of course, it would have been better if this effort had been undertaken six years ago so that, if successful, your administration would have been able to accomplish a lot more.

But let's not quibble over six years.

What I will quibble over is your decision to limit the number of questions for the voters to just two - reducing the council from 88 to 24 seats and giving the president the line item veto.

Two good questions, but so many other good questions are out there just waiting to be put before the Navajo people.

For example: Should members of the council continue to be allowed to go to events like the Indian National Finals Rodeo and the Gathering of Nations Powwow on the people's dime?

This is an excellent question since every year, members of the council either find seminars they have to attend or schedule meetings in the exact same places where events like this are taking place so they get not only mileage but expenses are paid as well.

Council delegates contend it's just a coincidence that their committee meetings and seminars are scheduled at the same time. "I spend the whole time working for my people. I don't have time even to go to the (rodeo, powwow, casino)," they say.

While they may save a few dollars, it also hurts their image but it appears, since they continue to do it every year, that the image or reputation of the Navajo Nation Council is not worth much in their eyes.

Two suggestions.

Make it a law that if council delegates go to these events on the Navajo people's dime, they have to invite all their constituents to go along and bill it to the tribal treasury.

If the tribe is going to underwrite junkets for one segment of the tribal population, it should also pay for everyone else as well.

The second suggestion would cost a lot less. Council delegates can still go to these events - and don't have to invite their constituents - but they have to stop being hypocrites.

Instead of running for the council delegate position for Shiprock, for example, candidates will campaign "to be your representative at the INFR and the Gathering of Nations."

Another question is should the Navajo Nation continue to try and save a few bucks each year by paying its president and vice president as little as possible?

For those who don't know it, the president of the Navajo Nation - the biggest tribe in the country - receives $55,000 a year. The vice president gets $45,000.

Yes, that's probably more than most Navajos on the reservation make and yes, there are a lot of Navajos out there who are unemployed.

But what people don't realize is that your actual pay is somewhere around $38,000 a year, which is about what a teacher on the reservation makes.

The president's salary hasn't changed for 20 years now and while $55,000 could buy $55,000 worth of services and products back in 1988, today - factoring in inflation - you would be lucky to be able to buy $38,000 worth of the same stuff.

Yes, you are assigned a tribal vehicle and the tribe pays for your gas but your family is not allowed to use that vehicle. So you, like everyone else, have to have a personal car and pay the outrageous prices for gasoline being charged today.

I realize that council delegates are also locked into their 1988 salary of $25,000, but they have managed to find a loophole in the form of stipends and related fees so that their actual salary has practically doubled since 1988.

Navajos have a choice: They can continue to allow their president to make this ridiculously low salary and realize that this will cut down sharply on the number of good leaders who will run for the position, or they can raise the salary up to where it can buy a comparable amount of goods and services in today's market.

Another suggestion: Make the president a part-time job and require him to teach at Diné College so he can be paid as a college professor. That way the tribe can save the entire $55,000, the college will get another instructor, the president's family will have a decent income - as well as summers off - and the tribe will save the money spent on flying the president here and there.

In the future, he could just fax his testimony to Congress.

Another question is should Navajo voters who live off the reservation continue to be treated as second-class citizens?

While no one wants to admit it, reservation Navajos are quite proud of the fact that under the current system of government, they are in control.

Yes, I know that technically Navajos who live in Phoenix, for example, can still vote and participate in their chapter governments but how many do? Fifty percent? Ten percent? It's debatable.

There has been a lot of talk over the years about creating chapters in urban areas but that's all it has been - talk. Nothing has happened and the likelihood that something will happen in the next decade or two is still remote.

The ironic thing is that while this debate is going on, the number of Navajos who live off the reservation, because that's where the jobs are, continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

If the Navajo Tribe's population is around 300,000, it's quite likely that as many as 60 percent live off the reservation. And while Navajos living in border communities like Gallup and Flagstaff still can participate in chapter activities, those who live in Phoenix, Denver and Los Angeles cannot.

The problem, then, is that tens of thousands of tribal members have no representation in the tribal government and won't until they can elect their own representatives to the tribal council.

If you are successful in getting the council reduced to 24, at least half of those delegates should represent Navajos who live off the reservation, if they are to have proportional representation.

That means each of the five agencies on the reservation would have only two or three representatives and power in the new council would rest with off-reservation Navajos. But this will never happen, at least not in the foreseeable future.

So my suggestion is to start small. Allow Navajos in each of the four largest urban concentrations - possibly Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque - to elect one of their own to the council.

A fifth council delegate would represent all other Navajos who live off the reservation. That would give reservation residents 19 seats on the council and allowing them to continue to be in control for a while longer.

Another question: Should all Navajos have an equal opportunity to be tribal president?

This is a controversial concept but, to be fair, Navajo laws may need to be changed to reflect changes in Navajo society over the past half century.

A half-century ago, almost all Navajos spoke the language and lived on the reservation. Today, depending on whose figures you use, as many as half of all Navajos do not speak the language and 55 to 60 percent live off the reservation.

These people, under current tribal law, do not qualify to be president.

To be fair, there have been candidates for tribal president in the past who have been less than fluent in Navajo and the election board has allowed them to run.

And there have been cases where someone who lived off the reservation has been able to run based on their umbilical cord being buried on the reservation, so it's likely that any Navajo who wants to run will find a way to do so.

Still, the tribal code should be written to eliminate discrimination.

Another question: Should the tribe respect former presidents once they're out of office?

You're going to be facing this one soon yourself. Once you get out of office, good luck on being able to count on the tribal government for anything.

The man - or woman - who replaces you will give this great speech on Inauguration Day promising to look to you and other former presidents for advice and counsel. Don't believe it.

Once you have cleaned out your desk, that's the last they want to see of you, unless you accidentally took the key to the president's vehicle with you.

Of course, you can't whine because you did the same thing and promised to keep in touch with former leaders. But I can tell you that none of the former leaders actually believed you would do it, so don't feel bad.

The Navajo Nation Council had a good idea a couple of decades ago when it created the post of councilman emeritus for Howard Gorman, who retired as the delegate for Ganado Chapter after many years.

He received no money but this allowed him to come to council sessions and speak on issues. At least he knew he had the respect of his fellow delegates.

Some way needs to be found to honor former leaders of the tribe. Maybe a room can be set aside in the president's office as a sort of former president's office and one of your secretaries could be assigned part-time to help with paperwork, such as filling out unemployment applications or sending out resumes.

This last may seem flippant, but my final thought is serious: You've got everyone's attention with your voter initiative, so make the opportunity count.

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