For prez race, think Nakai vs. Begaye

The primary is over and now Navajo voters have to make a decision - will it be Lynda Lovejoy or Ben Shelly? Will it be the unknown or experience?

And will image or issues make the difference?

In other words, what will Navajo voters base their decision on come November?

Based on several decades of covering politics in this area, I'm willing to bet instinct will trump intellect. Voters will choose the candidate based on gut reaction, so let me give you a little insight into the characters of this campaign.

When you think Lynda Lovejoy, think Raymond Nakai, who served as chairman for eight years in the 1960s.

Both Nakai and Lovejoy had no role in the Navajo government before running for office. Nakai was a Flagstaff radio announcer known for his rants about the way tribal government was run.

Lovejoy, too, has been known to rant about inefficiencies within the government and how there needs to be some house cleaning.

Nakai sought and secured the support of the Native American Church and used this support not only to gain power but to challenge then Chairman Peter MacDonald Sr. in 1974, 1978 and 1982.

Lovejoy has been lifted to prominence 50 years later by people who are ready to see a woman leader - a group with less formal organization than a church but with as many, if not more, members.

Nakai, during his first campaign in 1962, said he would fight corruption in the Navajo Nation Council and bring the government back to the people. When he took office, he found out that the council's old guard was a lot stronger than he thought and he spent the next four years in constant battle with them.

It wasn't until 1968 and the decision by Navajo voters to throw out some of the old guard that Nakai was able to gain control of the government.

Lovejoy comes into this campaign as a former member of the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission and a current member of the state Senate.

She's been saying that when the new council takes charge in January, its members will have to realize the playing field has changed and the Navajo people want a greater role.

If she wins, chances are good she'll face battles with old guarders who survive to join the new 24-member council. It may take until 2014, and the removal of more old faces, before she's able to achieve meaningful changes - and that's assuming she'd be re-elected.

In the case of Ben Shelly, think of Kelsey Begaye, a former speaker of the council who was elected president in 1998.

As a former delegate, Begaye didn't want to shake up anything. His four years as president represented a relatively quiet time in Navajo politics, with no fireworks between him and the council.

Begaye was viewed as a leader who knew how to manage but didn't think outside the box. It was a time when providing services to the Navajo people took priority and decisions were based on this rather than what could be done about the larger problems dogging the people, such as unemployment and economic development.

Shelly, too, is a former council member who may not make waves with the new council. Navajos got a taste of life under Shelly when the current council put President Joe Shirley Jr. on leave last year and Shelly briefly assumed power. He issued press releases that played up the theme of cooperation between his office and the council.

So to understand the race this year, think Raymond Nakai versus Kelsey Begaye. There's no MacDonald or Peterson Zah, much less a Shirley clone, to rally around. For those who wish there were, there's always 2014.

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