Ex-chapter official fined
Walker guilty of misuse of funds

By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Ethics-Rules Committee sanctioned former Leupp Chapter Coordinator Louise Walker on Tuesday night, ending hearings begun last year, giving the Navajo Nation Ethics-Rules Office only a little of what it wanted in penalties.

Following a two-hour closed-door deliberation, the decision ended four days of testimony in two hearings which began around Thanksgiving.

The decision will become official when Committee Vice Chair Francis Redhouse (Teec Nos Pos Chapter) signs the order. He conducted this year's hearing.

It will require that Walker repay $1,829 within a year, that she be forbidden to hold a tribal elected office for five years effectively two terms and that she be terminated from her job as the community services coordinator.

A long motion by Chair LoRenzo Bates (Upper Fruitland) dismissed the major amounts charged in the $10,339 of requested restitution. This included $6,339 for which there were cash receipts not deposited into Wells Fargo Bank and $2,500 in college assistance to four or five relatives from a list of about 30 people who received part of the more than $13,000 in extra funds from the Navajo Nation Council.

Nepotism not forbidden
Testimony brought out that the chapter does not forbid nepotism and that Walker was given the assignment to meet the strict end of the fiscal year deadline to distribute the money. She formed a three-member panel to decide the amount given to each student if the student had a 2.5 grade point average and had written confirmation of being in a college.

In the decision, Bates said Ethics Director Virgil Brown Jr. failed to meet the burden of proof in three of the nine points in the complaint signed by Marissa Greeson of the Community Development Division's Western Agency Local Governance Support Center (LGSC). This included the major two amounts.

The decision also said Brown did meet the burden of proof a lesser level than in a criminal case in five instances. They were:

$546 of double-dipping by being paid while she was the coordinator and at the same time receiving a stipend from the school board.

Not repaying $216 of mileage claimed while riding with the chapter clerk-typist to the July 2002 Navajo Nation Insurance Expo and Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

Not repaying $222 for being paid twice, by the chapter and central government, to attend an LGSC conference on finances held in Flagstaff. She received a chapter advance and reimbursement from the central government for meals and lodging.

Not attending the Navajo Nation Information Technology Summit in Albuquerque last June while receiving a $695 advance and $150 for registration.

The motion by Bates specified the above figures would be reduced by whatever amounts the tribe already recovered from payroll deductions.

Faces second case
Walker was represented by Window Rock attorney John Chapela who is also her lawyer in a separate case now before the Navajo Nation Hearings-Appeals Office from her grieving her termination by the Community Development Division's Western Agency LGSC.

Testimony brought out that chapter officials did not want to handle disciplining Walker at the local level and turned the duty over to the LGSC. Having elected chapter officials, usually the presidents, handle local discipline has been a continuing problem since the chapter staff is part of the Executive Branch.

Greeson's staff discovered the discrepancy between the receipts and deposits, then began digging deeper, resulting in the complaint charging violations of incompatible interest, abstaining from official acts, unauthorized personal use of tribal funds, unauthorized compensation for official acts, nepotism, and conduct of employees specified in the personnel manual.

In the first hearing, held at the Leupp Chapter House on Nov. 29, the committee tossed out the complaint for technical reasons, but did so without prejudice. This allowed Brown to fix and refile the complaint, which he did.

On Jan. 19, the committee began hearing the second case and Chapela's strategy quickly became apparent shift the blame to others. Monday and Tuesday he continued the strategy, expanding it to plant the seeds of doubt that other staff members, as well as prisoners assigned by judges to do community service work who remained unsupervised might have been able to steal money from the cash box in a filing cabinet next to Walker's office. The money was put in the box after the receipts were written but before the deposits.

Receipts, deposits differ
Brown was able to bring out through several witnesses that Walker prepared the deposits and almost always made them herself. Chapela countered that at least seven different people took in cash and issued receipts.

Chapela tried to show that Walker asked for help from the Tuba City LGSC and didn't get it; however, because Brown had already formally ended his part of the case, the committee refused to let him present a rebuttal witness to show Walker received one-on-one help.

Those who testified were Pat Bowman Whitehorse, Betty Tso, Rosita Kelly, Roberta Franklin, Walter Phelps, Greeson, Clara Tsosie, Ben C. Johnson Sr., all called by Brown, and Walker, the only witness called by Chapela.

Other committee members present were Joe M. Lee (Chichiltah), Roscoe Smith (Crystal, Red Lake, Sawmill), Arthur Yazzie (Tachee-Blue Gap, Whippoorwill), Curran Hannon (Oak Springs, St. Michaels) and Harry Williams (Coal Mine Mesa, Toh Nanees Dizi-Tuba City). Ron Haven of the Legislative Counsel's Office advised the committee.

During the first day of the hearing, Walker's attorney also made it clear he was establishing a record which could be appealed to the Navajo Nation Supreme Court. He would have 10 days after Redhouse signs the order to file his notice of appeal with the tribe's highest court.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci, telephone (505) 371-5443.