The U.S. Justice Department won a battle in 1984 to change the election process for county commissioner from an at-large, countywide vote to having the county's three districts each elect a commissioner. This allowed the 3rd District, made up mostly of Navajos, the ability to elect a Navajo commissioner.

Maryboy, the county's third Navajo commissioner, said he is developing a good relationship with Bruce Adams, the chairman of the commission.

"He's very blunt with me," Maryboy said about Adams. "I'm the same way ... I'm open with him, and that's how we work."

Maryboy wears several hats besides commissioner, one as a Navajo Nation delegate. He must balance meeting the interests of the entire county and his own people.

"We've been very close on a lot of issues," he said about commission decisions, "and there are times that I just have to pucker up and either vote against or vote for it and just hang on for the ride," he said.

Adams said he and Maryboy have stayed together on almost all of the issues they have dealt with. He praised the county's change to single-district elections, saying it ensured a seat on the commission for a Navajo.

"More than 55 percent of registered voters in San Juan County are Native Americans, and they need to be represented, which is something that maybe Anglo commissioners had not had that perspective before."

Commissioner Lynn Stevens said the commission was unified with the previous Navajo commissioner, Manuel Morgan.

The county still faces a host of challenges.

Adams said a stark difference in available resources between the county and reservation limits how much information candidates can get out before an election.

"It's very difficult because of the limited amount of communication access that they have," he said. "(The Indians) just don't have as much opportunity as the Anglos do to have those kinds of influences in their lives, and it creates a disparity."

Cultural differences between the Anglo and Navajo communities can translate into differences in policy priorities, Adams said.

Stevens and McCool speculated that the county could have two Navajo commissioners in the not-so-distant future.

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E-mail: bcaballero@desnews.com