Huntsman visits Navajo leaders

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. met with Navajo Nation leaders on their own soil Monday, marking what is believed to be a first for a Utah chief executive.

"This is a historic thing for you to come here," tribal council member Amos Johnson told the governor.

Huntsman addressed the Navajo Nation Council during its summer session in chambers at the base of a red sandstone formation known as Window Rock. He also visited the Navajo president, attorney general and Supreme Court.

"I've been in office 32 years. I have never seen a Utah governor here, so this is very significant in my opinion," said council delegate Mark Maryboy, a former San Juan County commissioner. "I think it's good for the governor and good for the people."

In his speech, Huntsman mentioned some of the tribe's historical adversaries but assured delegates "the state is not among your deadliest enemies." Rather, he said, Utah leaders are "friends and collaborators."

Huntsman also touted an American Indian summit he intends to host next month. Education, he said, will top the agenda.

Members of the Navajo Utah Commission spent a few minutes with Huntsman at the tiny Window Rock airport discussing issues affecting native people in the remote Four Corners area of Utah, many of whom lack schooling, jobs, electricity and running water.

"I'm here to make sure we have a relationship that works," Huntsman told them.

There are political differences between the tribe and the state, including an ongoing lawsuit over mismanagement of the Navajo Trust Fund. "But the human condition is something we have in common," he said.

Navajo President Joe Shirley, who met with the governor in Utah last week, agreed. "We're all on the same side," he said. "Why we go up against each other sometimes . . . It's baffling."

Roughly the size of West Virginia, the Navajo Nation spreads across northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and a jagged sliver of southeastern Utah. About 7,000 Navajos live in Utah.

Past state government leaders have overlooked tribal governments.

"It's an incomplete picture unless you factor in the role sovereign Indian nations play in our state," Huntsman said. He has toured five Utah tribal lands since taking office about 18 months ago.

"The state of Utah and the Navajo Nation should have a government-to-government relationship," he said.

Utah Navajos have recently made efforts to increase their presence at the state Capitol, including hiring as lobbyists West Jordan attorney Paul Tsosie and former Idaho attorney general Larry EchoHawk, a Brigham Young University law professor.