Delegates schmooze with Navajo Nation voters on election day

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation Council delegates from St. Michaels, Oak Springs and Fort Defiance were "putting on the dog" Tuesday at their designated chapters, socializing and serving up snacks and drinks in their best electioneering fashion in hopes of returning to office.

At St. Michaels, Delegate Curran Hannon put the finishing touches on a chili dog as he spoke of his term on the 20th council. "All I can say is, if you've been elected the first time, you don't get anything done in four years. It takes four to eight years before things start moving."

Hannon said that if the current delegates are defeated, the issues they are working on "are going to be half done. If they continue, then everything is going to continue going, and in four years it's going to be done."

Delegate Roy Dempsey said the selection of elected officials is a sacred process. As an official, "You wonder whether you're doing the right thing or not, or if there's somebody else that could do better.

"But sometimes you just have to step up to the plate and express your ideas and also show your concern for mankind. There's really no other thing behind it except having some compassion and caring enough to do something about it."

Dempsey said it takes "gumption to just stand up one day and say, 'Maybe it's time to make a difference. Maybe I can make a difference.' You try your best to make sure that you make the best decision you can on behalf of your constituents as well as all of the people involved."

Dempsey and other delegates from St. Michaels/Oak Springs would have liked to have obtained certification for their chapters over the last four years so they could promote new programs and be more productive.

"Hopefully in this term we will be able to implement a lot of programs and a lot of different post-certification ventures that are available," he said.

Delegate Ray Berchman had a tent set up at Oak Springs Chapter where he was lobbying on behalf of himself, Hannon and Dempsey.

Priority projects
Berchman spoke of a mutual accomplishment they had been working on this term: to complete the road between I-40 and Pine Springs. "That was our priority. To this date, I believe we have accomplished a lot of things to get funding for that project."

The road is the No. 1 priority of Fort Defiance Agency, and construction is expected to begin by March 2007, he said.

"That was one of our primary goals, to do that for the community of Pine Springs. The cost of construction would be about $12 million to $15 million. We have a fraction of that about $4.5 million on the table right now," largely thanks to U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-1st District.

"We're getting ready to have the Historic Preservation office complete their studies and they should have the machines going by March," Berchman said. Delegates want to see the Pine Springs project completed, as well as continue work on roads in higher elevations which give community members problems during winter weather.

Berchman, who is vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the committee regrouped four years ago to set its priorities. "One was the Supreme Court building, which was started several years back."

The studies and land withdrawal were accomplished by members of previous councils, he said. Now, he and fellow Judiciary members Kee Allen Begay Jr. and Leroy Thomas have been busily advocating for funding, consulting with congressmen in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

"We were unable to get funding for that purpose," he said, "but we were able to put two court buildings in Dilkon and also in Utah" through $2.9 million in funds from the Undesignated Reserve.

Economics, accountability
Fort Defiance Delegate Larry Anderson said that if re-elected, he plans to continue working on economic development, re-establishing a strong economic base, and bringing jobs to the reservation.

"There is a scarcity of jobs here. We're really going to have to jump on the economic bandwagon. I think almost every candidate has been saying that they need jobs. So that will be one of our major goals in the next four years.

"Right now, we're trying to facilitate some of these areas, such as the P&M Mine. They're going to be leaving in 2008; so, we're going to have to plan that community over there, what we're going to do with that land and how we are going to develop it," Anderson said.

Fort Defiance Delegate Harold Wauneka, who is a member of Economic Development Committee, said there are several pressing issues surrounding the Navajo Nation. "One is accountability. One is the fact that we need to work together as a nation between the three branches instead of the branches going off on their own and doing their own thing.

"I think we need to have at least a process of unification and I believe a big part of that would come from the ability of the newly elected individuals to have a better form of communication amongst the three branches."

In order to move ahead, Wauneka said, the Navajo Nation needs a plan that will take the government into the next four years.

"There needs to be a solidified plan written and everyone needs to make use of that plan and follow the plan from year to year so at least we begin to see things that are tangible," such as detention and recreation facilities.

"Right now, what we do is a Band-Aid job, and the Band-Aid job speaks to immediate needs. ... I believe it's about time that we make that change. I hope all these individuals who are running for office at this point in time, at least for this election, make a difference and come to the government with new ideas.

"We need to look at things that would work, not only for individual chapters, but for the government as a whole," Wauneka said.