Shirley avoids warrant
Navajo president misses subpoenaed meeting because of family emergency

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — After more than an hour in executive session, the Human Services Committee emerged Monday to announce it had decided not to seek a bench warrant on Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr.

Instead, the committee ordered a fact-finding hearing tentatively scheduled for April 3 and will reissue subpoenas for Shirley and several other staff members. Michelle Dotson, the president's legal counsel, stressed that Shirley and Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval had arrived at the Training Center just before 10 a.m. and left shortly after 10 a.m., when only one committee member was present.

"When they issue subpoenas, we figure they mean business, so we were here on time," Sandoval said. "They should be, too. It's like a judge issuing a subpoena and then showing up late for court himself."

Sandoval returned to the Training Center shortly after the committee went into executive session to discuss whether it would seek to have the police locate Shirley and bring him to the meeting.

Prior to convening the executive session, committee Chairman Omer Begay Jr. expressed dismay that Shirley and Sandoval were not at the meeting as requested.

"Both the president and Mr. Sandoval are under legal obligation to be here on this date," said legislative counsel Frank Seanez.

Committee member Young Jeff Tom asked if the subpoena had specified a time, or was it in effect for the whole day?

"The subpoena does state 10 a.m.," Seanez said. "However, that doesn't mean you show up at 10 and you can leave at 10:01."

The committee had several "serious issues" to ask the president about, Begay said, though he did not elaborate.

A central issue is $175,000 that was to be matching money for the Shiprock Veterans Complex, but was reallocated to pay off a debt incurred by the Rock Springs Chapter in 2004, said delegate Larry Anderson Sr. An agreement was reached and approved by the Transportation and Community Development Committee that the chapter would repay the money earmarked for the veterans building, Dotson said.

To date, nothing has been repaid, said John Wilson Jr., of the Navajo Department of Veterans Affairs. The veterans center is needed, it would serve up to 2,000 vets from 19 chapters, he said. Now, with no permanent office, the department keeps moving and veterans can't always find them, Wilson said.

In February, the State of New Mexico told the tribe if it didn't spend the money it was allocated by June, the funding would be revoked, Wilson said. Since then more money was acquired from the state to finance the complex. Work on the new $499,000 veterans center began Monday, Wilson said.

"From what I see, the bottleneck was with the tribe," Wilson added. There were some issues evolving from the "loan," Wilson said. The agreement did not go through proper channels, and Shirley didn't tell the committee about it until after the fact, he said.

Money for the veterans center was sought during the winter session of the council, said Human Resources Division Director Lawrence Oliver. But, concerned with how much was available in the Undesignated, Unreserved Fund, delegates pulled all appropriations legislation off the agenda, Oliver said.

Since then money has come in from the Abandoned Mine Land reclamation and additional funds from New Mexico, Dotson said.

"As it stands, the veterans building is a fully funded project and there are no shortfalls," she said.

Although the committee set 10 a.m. on April 3 as the date for the fact-finding hearing, there could be some leeway given, Begay said.

Sandoval said he hasn't checked the president's schedule and doesn't know his availability. The president's schedule is often booked up to three months in advance, Sandoval said.

Every one subpoenaed, except Shirley, was at the meeting this afternoon and could have responded to any questions the committee had, Sandoval said.

"We had 12 staff members sitting there for six hours," Sandoval said. Nor was this the first attempt to give their reports, he added. The staff members had attended the four previous meetings of the committee in an effort to have the reports heard, Sandoval said.

But the committee wants to hear the report from the president himself, Begay said. He said this is about making sure "everyone is on the same page." "It's called teamwork," Begay said.

Sandoval said the president was not available Monday afternoon because he was attending to a personal family situation. Talk of issuing a bench warrant for Shirley was "ridiculous," the chief of staff said.

— John Christian Hopkins can be reached at 1-505-371-5443, or by email at Hopkins1960@hotmail.com.