Navajo politics turn sour over move to cut council

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — An ongoing political battle pitting the president of the vast Navajo Nation against the majority of the tribal council has left ordinary Navajos concerned that the politicians have become too engrossed in petty fights to do the work they were elected to do.

The Navajo Nation Council stripped President Joe Shirley Jr. of all his administrative powers in late October over so-far unsubstantiated allegations of ethical and criminal wrongdoing. The elected president's supporters say the action came in retaliation for his push to reduce the tribe's council from 88 to 24 members and secure a line-item veto on appropriations legislation.

Critics on the council say Shirley is carrying out a personal vendetta and unfairly targeting them.

More than a year after Shirley first raised the smaller-council issue, voters on the 27,000 square mile reservation that covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah will decide the issue later this month in a special election.

The back-and-forth between the legislative and executive branches has created a sense of instability in what is still a relatively new form of government on the country's largest American Indian reservation.

"We don't have leadership," said Wally Brown, a Navajo silversmith from Coppermine, N.M. "We have a bunch of people who seem to be focused on their individual agendas, and their individual agendas get in the way of things we really need to have Navajo Nation-wide."

Brown said he's worried the council is pushing the tribe toward bankruptcy because of the money they are spending on their pet projects. The tribal auditing office announced this week that it was initiating a comprehensive review of all discretionary spending by the council and the president's office.

In the 19 months since Shirley announced a petition drive for his two initiatives, he and council Speaker Lawrence Morgan embarked on separate campaigns to persuade Navajo voters in the election and to discredit each other.

Some Navajos say the political squabble is out of keeping with the basic tribal cultural beliefs of mutual respect, harmony and compromise.

The waters calmed briefly when Morgan and Shirley announced an agreement in August 2008 to reduce the council. But lawmakers never followed through, and the rift reignited.