Shirley Jr. campaign expresses confidence

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

GALLUP — While Lovejoy trailed closely behind Shirley in the primary election, Shirley's campaign mangers are not sweating the numbers and are moving forward in their campaign efforts.

"We're not concerned," said Patrick Sandoval, co-campaign manager. "What we found out in the research is there was a lot of people who assumed that President Shirley had a shoo-in and they didn't vote (during the primaries)."

The committee estimates that because Shirley supporters did not come out and vote for Shirley during the primary election, they were shy about 3,000 to 4,000 votes. Those missing votes, they believe, will help to push Shirley in for the win when November rolls around.

"Those people said 'don't worry, we'll be there'," said Sandoval.

And while it might have appeared that the Shirley campaign was going stagnant for a bit, Sandoval said that the campaign logistics are being worked out and finalized, especially now that Ben Shelley has been selected as Shirley's running mate.

"We'll come busting out of the bag here quick," said Sandoval.

Though Sandoval was the campaign manger for Shirley during his first election, he admits that the re-election campaign is a whole new ball game.

"The challenge for running this campaign is obviously re-election," said Sandoval. "You're defending your accomplishments."

Since 1982, when the Title 2 amendment was passed, a Navajo Nation president has yet to be re-elected into office.

Edison Wauneka, Navajo Elections Office executive director, believes that the reason for this is that voters feel that previous presidents failed to carry out their platforms during the term of their leadership.

But Sandoval believes that previous leaders were not given the opportunity to carry out their platform, and as part of the campaign, is telling this to voters.

"What we're explaining to the people is that the past presidents did not have the opportunity to finish what they started," said Sandoval. "What the Navajo Nation government is victim of is that changed leadership every four years."

Sandoval said when new direction and new leadership is brought in, the work and projects by former presidents is put on the shelf, and millions of dollars and man-hours spent to move the Nation forward becomes wasted.

With this in mind, emphasizing such points, as well as highlighting what campaign organizers believe to be Shirley's accomplishments, will be a focus during various rallies.

According to the campaign committee, some of Shirley's accomplishments include, the completion of the San Juan River water settlement, the Bennett Freeze agreement, the completion of the Desert Rock Energy Project, the completion of the gaming initiative, the ban on Navajo Nation uranium mining, and information technology and community development.

And while mudslinging becomes a popular tactic as general elections get closer, the Shirley campaign doesn't plan to take that route, although some of their supporters feel strongly that Lovejoy running for the top seat is a direct violation of Navajo tradition.

Though this has become a topic of controversy for some voters, the campaign committee doesn't plan to make it a point of debate.

"That will not be something that will be highlighted," said Sandoval. "We're going to run a good, clean campaign."

As far as endorsements are concerned, Sandoval said that the campaign has been contacted by a couple of former presidential candidates, but did not want to release their names.

"We have neither accepted or denied any endorsements, at this moment, but there are fruitful discussions taking place," said Sandoval.

There has also been talk that Arizona Governor Janet Napalitano will possibly be endorsing President Shirley, but Sandoval stated "that will come out in the time's manner."

As far as money raised for the general election, Sandoval said the committee is developing budgets and crunching numbers, and is hoping to raise the allowable amount by law for the campaign.

During the primary election, the campaign spent about $54,520, which Wauneka said is a considerable amount for Shirley, who spent about $60,000 for the entire election.

However, Wauneka said that incumbents usually spend more during the re-election campaign since they have more resources and financial support than they did going into the first election.

"When first running, they depend on their own finances," said Wauneka. "When they run for re-election, they have more resources available to them."

The campaign committee has not received Lovejoy's expense report.

"We don't think she's turned it in," said Sandoval.

Because of this, the campaign committee is questioning Lovejoy's ability to meet deadlines for the largest tribal nation that has a six-hundred million dollar budget.