Hurrah for New York and the entire US. land claims are dead!!!!! /thanks to CERA.
Supreme Court Order List from Long Conference: No Oneida or Navajo Grants
Here is today’s order list. Next week, the Court will issue the order list of denials.
Presumably, that means United States v. New York, Oneida Indian Nation v. Oneida County, EEOC v. Peabody Western Coal Co., Navajo Nation v. EEOC, and Peabody Western Coal Co. v. EEOC have all been denied, although that won’t be confirmed until later.
Showing posts with label Navajo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navajo. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Critics Fear Increase in Addiction
Critics Fear Increase in Addiction
By Charles D. Brunt
Journal Staff Writer
With two Navajo-owned casinos up and running and four more in the works, people concerned about compulsive gambling fear that a wave of addicted Navajo gamblers is fast approaching.
State Rep. Ray Begaye, a Democrat from Shiprock and longtime critic of Navajo gambling, said the reservation has "already been hit hard" by the social ills that invariably follow easy access to gambling.
While Navajo gaming officials say the revenues being generated at Fire Rock Casino have far exceeded their expectations, Begaye said the casino produces gambling addicts — and one more social ill Navajos must now face.
Daniel Blackwood, director of The Evolution Group, a private counseling service in Albuquerque that specializes in addictions and has developed a compulsive gambling treatment program for Native Americans, said he has not seen a marked increase in the number of Indians seeking help.
But because compulsive gamblers tend to avoid seeking treatment until their addiction has already damaged their finances, family and career, a spike could be down the road.
"If (compulsive gambling among Navajos) is increasing, we'll probably see that increase later as people get further into the development of their illness," Blackwood said.
Most gambling studies indicate that compulsive gamblers will gamble for years before seeking treatment.
Statistics compiled by the nonprofit New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling, which operates a toll-free help line for compulsive gamblers, show that the percentage of help line callers who identify themselves as Native American rose steadily from 6.6 percent in 2007 to 10.3 percent in 2010; the percentage of calls from Hispanic, Caucasian, African American and Asian gamblers were more stable.
Guy Clark, chairman of Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico, said it's not surprising more Native Americans are calling the help line.
"There are lots of studies that show proximity has a huge effect on the rate of gambling addiction in the community," Clark said. "The closer the slots are, the higher the rate of gambling addiction."
As more Navajo casinos come on line, the problem will get worse, he predicted.
"I'd expect a rather spectacular rise in the number of compulsive gamblers among Navajos," he said. "In the end I think it's going to be so conspicuous to the tribal leaders and members of the tribe that they'll eventually scrap it. It probably won't happen for 10 years or so, but I don't think we'll have to worry about (tribal gaming) living past the compact life."
The revenue-sharing agreements gaming tribes have with the state don't expire until the end of 2037.
By Charles D. Brunt
Journal Staff Writer
With two Navajo-owned casinos up and running and four more in the works, people concerned about compulsive gambling fear that a wave of addicted Navajo gamblers is fast approaching.
State Rep. Ray Begaye, a Democrat from Shiprock and longtime critic of Navajo gambling, said the reservation has "already been hit hard" by the social ills that invariably follow easy access to gambling.
While Navajo gaming officials say the revenues being generated at Fire Rock Casino have far exceeded their expectations, Begaye said the casino produces gambling addicts — and one more social ill Navajos must now face.
Daniel Blackwood, director of The Evolution Group, a private counseling service in Albuquerque that specializes in addictions and has developed a compulsive gambling treatment program for Native Americans, said he has not seen a marked increase in the number of Indians seeking help.
But because compulsive gamblers tend to avoid seeking treatment until their addiction has already damaged their finances, family and career, a spike could be down the road.
"If (compulsive gambling among Navajos) is increasing, we'll probably see that increase later as people get further into the development of their illness," Blackwood said.
Most gambling studies indicate that compulsive gamblers will gamble for years before seeking treatment.
Statistics compiled by the nonprofit New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling, which operates a toll-free help line for compulsive gamblers, show that the percentage of help line callers who identify themselves as Native American rose steadily from 6.6 percent in 2007 to 10.3 percent in 2010; the percentage of calls from Hispanic, Caucasian, African American and Asian gamblers were more stable.
Guy Clark, chairman of Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico, said it's not surprising more Native Americans are calling the help line.
"There are lots of studies that show proximity has a huge effect on the rate of gambling addiction in the community," Clark said. "The closer the slots are, the higher the rate of gambling addiction."
As more Navajo casinos come on line, the problem will get worse, he predicted.
"I'd expect a rather spectacular rise in the number of compulsive gamblers among Navajos," he said. "In the end I think it's going to be so conspicuous to the tribal leaders and members of the tribe that they'll eventually scrap it. It probably won't happen for 10 years or so, but I don't think we'll have to worry about (tribal gaming) living past the compact life."
The revenue-sharing agreements gaming tribes have with the state don't expire until the end of 2037.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Navajo and Gambling Addiction
Casino industry strives to balance social issues with economic benefits
By Alysa Landry
The Daily Times
This is the fourth of a four-part series analyzing the growing local casino industry and its influence on life in the Four Corners region.
FARMINGTON — The most casual look at the patrons who frequent the two Navajo casinos shows the majority are residents of the Nation.
Statistics back up this observation, said Raymond Etcitty, general counsel for the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise. Most patrons come from surrounding communities. Fewer are tourists or passersby on the local highways.
Some Navajo patrons cash government or Social Security checks at the casino, then feed the bills into slot machines. The practice is cause for alarm among opponents of the gaming industry.
"A social dilemma is being created, and the amount of money coming back to the Nation, from an economic standpoint, is not being reported," said state Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock.
Begaye has spoken out against gaming on the reservation since discussions about it began. He also has cautioned about the tribe's poor record of financial accountability and social conditions that could lead residents to seek the get-rich-quick appeal of casinos.
Gaming may be especially devastating on the Navajo Nation, Begaye said. Part of the problem is the schedule of government-issued checks, he said. The appeal and availability of casinos may be too strong to resist for people holding checks at the beginning of the month.
"Health representatives will see this," he said. "What they will see is
pretty bleak in terms of addiction, poverty, alcohol abuse ... especially the first of the month when they receive their federal benefits, social service checks."
Approximately 85 percent of adults have gambled at least once in their lifetimes, with 60 percent of adults gambling in any given year, according to data from the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Of those who gamble, 2 to 3 percent are considered problem gamblers, and 1 percent are pathological gamblers, or those who are clearly addicted.
In numbers, that's 2 million U.S. adults who meet criteria for pathological gambling, and 4 million to 6 million who are problem gamblers, or those who do not meet full diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling, but who are experiencing problems because of gambling behavior.
Legal gambling is available in 48 states; Hawaii and Utah are the only exceptions.
Entertainment vs. addiction
Marilyn Lancelot, 80, of Sun City, Ariz., was 60 when she was arrested for activities stemming from a gambling addiction.
Lancelot, author of a self-published memoir, "Gripped by Gambling," was 52 when she first went into a casino. What started as entertainment, however, quickly got out of hand.
"After two years, I had maxed out my credit cards, spent all the money I had," she said. "Then I started to embezzle money from my employer. I gambled compulsively. It was out of hand. I had to have it."
Lancelot, who took $300,000 from her boss, was charged with 77 felonies and sentenced to two years in the Arizona State Prison, in Perryville, Ariz. She was released after 10 months.
Lancelot, who has not entered a casino for 20 years next month, is an advocate for others gripped by the gambling disease.
"If you combine the lights, the sounds, the colors, no clocks, no windows, you're a captive audience once you're in there," she said. "It's pretty hard not to put a coin in the machine because all you hear is the screaming, the hollering when someone wins."
Yet gambling addiction can lead to many social ills, Lancelot said. Recovering gamblers often face obstacles like divorce, alienation, suicidal thoughts, physical health issues and an inability to get or keep a job, she said.
"Slot machines are very addictive, they're mesmerizing, they get their teeth into you," she said. "They let you play faster and faster. It's like going downhill on a roller coaster. You can't stop until you get to the bottom."
Lancelot hit bottom when she was arrested, an occurrence that forced her to change her life and encouraged her to help others plagued with the same problems.
"For some people, it's very difficult to stay clean," she said. "It depends on the kind of bottom you hit. My bottom was pretty powerful and damaging and painful. I was a grandmother. My grandkids watched the police take me away in handcuffs. I lost two homes, my job, all my life savings."
Lancelot does not speak against casinos because they can do a lot of good for communities, tribes and states.
But she estimates that for every person struggling with a gambling addiction, seven other people also are affected.
"It's not to be minimized," she said of gambling. "It is not only damaging to the person, but to society around them."
Social responsibility of gaming
Former Farmington Mayor Bill Standley also spoke out against Indian gaming.
"It will help the chapters, but not the individuals," he said. "When other casinos, including SunRay, started up, the pawn business around here skyrocketed. People were pawning trucks, horse trailers, all kinds of personal objects to pay for gambling."
Standley also cited an increase in domestic violence incidents and other drawbacks that come with gaming.
"It doesn't really improve the economy," he said. "It might offer a few jobs, but it becomes more of a liability."
Yet the gaming industry comes with regulations that require tribes or private enterprises to pay into programs that offer assistance to people who become problem gamblers.
Early studies on the two operating Navajo casinos reveal the average daily bet is less than $25, Etcitty said. Although casinos never have operated on the reservation, they are opening to clientele largely experienced with gaming, he said.
"People are playing penny slots," Etcitty said. "They're just there to kill time. They look at it as a form of entertainment."
A 2006 report by the state Task Force of Compulsive Gambling estimated New Mexico has anywhere from 36,000 to 108,000 problem gamblers.
The money spent to provide treatment to problem gamblers in New Mexico steadily is increasing, according to reports from the New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling. Treatment funding comes from gaming donations that go into an Indigent Care Treatment Fund, a fund based on the assumption that problem gamblers have exhausted their own means to seek help.
The council spent nearly $28,000 on treatment in 2002. Problem gambling kept pace with the booming gaming industry, however, with more than $222,000 spent on treatment in 2009, the council reported.
The council, established in 1998, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help compulsive gamblers and their families by providing crisis intervention. It operates a 24-hour gambling-specific helpline, at 1-800-gambler.
No official reports on Navajo gaming yet were generated, but informal surveys show most Navajo citizens who frequent the casinos already were going to gaming facilities, Etcitty said. The introduction of casinos on the Navajo Nation simply decreases drive time for patrons and keeps the money local, he said.
Exclusions
The Navajo gaming enterprise trains all employees to watch for the warning signs of problem gamblers.
"Employees are trained twice per year to be able to notice possible gaming problems with individuals," Winter said. "We also train employees to approach individuals and make suggestions to them."
The New Mexico Gaming Control Board officially has excluded 18 people from licensed gaming establishments because they pose a threat to the public interest or licensed gaming activities. Many of the people officially excluded from gaming facilities also face charges of embezzlement, forgery or larceny, according to the New Mexico Gaming Control website.
Gaming enterprises offer a policy for patrons to exclude themselves if they determine gaming is getting out of hand. Excluded people are not allowed into gaming facilities.
"We do have a self-exclusion policy," Etcitty said. "When gaming is no longer entertainment, you can choose to exclude yourself."
Gambling addiction is a mental health issue stemming from an impulse-control problem, according to a definition from Williamsville Wellness, a Virginia-based gambling recovery program. The types of gambling that snare people with this disorder include sports betting, lottery tickets, poker, slot machines and Internet-based gaming.
Casino staff are trained to provide direction to problem gamblers, such as giving them a phone number for a hotline.
Other social issues
The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise also is ahead of the curve in addressing some of the other social issues that go hand-in-hand with gaming, Etcitty said.
One such issue is smoking.
Other local casinos field complaints about the constant smoke hovering above the playing floor, but the Navajo casinos will have computer-controlled air circulation systems to reduce smoke and provide a cleaner environment inside, Etcitty said.
Recognizing that as many as 40 percent of patrons may want to smoke while playing, the enterprise footed the bill for a high-tech ventilation system that moves the smoke from the floor up, Etcitty said.
"A smoking ban could cause us to lose 40 percent of revenue, so smoking must be authorized," he said. "But we will be the only casinos in the Southwest to have this ventilation system."
Navajo casinos also offer some of the largest non-smoking areas, Etcitty said.
"We will have our main smoking area, then the rest, the majority, of the casino will be non-smoking," he said. "Fire Rock has the biggest non-smoking ratio that we know of."
Future of gaming
Gaming officials painted a pretty picture of casinos when convincing the Navajo people to approve gaming on the reservation, which includes portions of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
New Mexico and Arizona allow tribal gaming while Utah does not, so none of the tribe's six proposed gaming facilities will be located in the strip of reservation land in southern Utah.
"We have 350 employees at Fire Rock," he said. "That's 350 families who now have someone working."
Flowing Water contributes another 62 jobs, bringing the total job creation to more than 400. That will double when the Upper Fruitland casino opens, and increase exponentially once a hotel and other amenities are added.
By Alysa Landry
The Daily Times
This is the fourth of a four-part series analyzing the growing local casino industry and its influence on life in the Four Corners region.
FARMINGTON — The most casual look at the patrons who frequent the two Navajo casinos shows the majority are residents of the Nation.
Statistics back up this observation, said Raymond Etcitty, general counsel for the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise. Most patrons come from surrounding communities. Fewer are tourists or passersby on the local highways.
Some Navajo patrons cash government or Social Security checks at the casino, then feed the bills into slot machines. The practice is cause for alarm among opponents of the gaming industry.
"A social dilemma is being created, and the amount of money coming back to the Nation, from an economic standpoint, is not being reported," said state Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock.
Begaye has spoken out against gaming on the reservation since discussions about it began. He also has cautioned about the tribe's poor record of financial accountability and social conditions that could lead residents to seek the get-rich-quick appeal of casinos.
Gaming may be especially devastating on the Navajo Nation, Begaye said. Part of the problem is the schedule of government-issued checks, he said. The appeal and availability of casinos may be too strong to resist for people holding checks at the beginning of the month.
"Health representatives will see this," he said. "What they will see is
pretty bleak in terms of addiction, poverty, alcohol abuse ... especially the first of the month when they receive their federal benefits, social service checks."
Approximately 85 percent of adults have gambled at least once in their lifetimes, with 60 percent of adults gambling in any given year, according to data from the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Of those who gamble, 2 to 3 percent are considered problem gamblers, and 1 percent are pathological gamblers, or those who are clearly addicted.
In numbers, that's 2 million U.S. adults who meet criteria for pathological gambling, and 4 million to 6 million who are problem gamblers, or those who do not meet full diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling, but who are experiencing problems because of gambling behavior.
Legal gambling is available in 48 states; Hawaii and Utah are the only exceptions.
Entertainment vs. addiction
Marilyn Lancelot, 80, of Sun City, Ariz., was 60 when she was arrested for activities stemming from a gambling addiction.
Lancelot, author of a self-published memoir, "Gripped by Gambling," was 52 when she first went into a casino. What started as entertainment, however, quickly got out of hand.
"After two years, I had maxed out my credit cards, spent all the money I had," she said. "Then I started to embezzle money from my employer. I gambled compulsively. It was out of hand. I had to have it."
Lancelot, who took $300,000 from her boss, was charged with 77 felonies and sentenced to two years in the Arizona State Prison, in Perryville, Ariz. She was released after 10 months.
Lancelot, who has not entered a casino for 20 years next month, is an advocate for others gripped by the gambling disease.
"If you combine the lights, the sounds, the colors, no clocks, no windows, you're a captive audience once you're in there," she said. "It's pretty hard not to put a coin in the machine because all you hear is the screaming, the hollering when someone wins."
Yet gambling addiction can lead to many social ills, Lancelot said. Recovering gamblers often face obstacles like divorce, alienation, suicidal thoughts, physical health issues and an inability to get or keep a job, she said.
"Slot machines are very addictive, they're mesmerizing, they get their teeth into you," she said. "They let you play faster and faster. It's like going downhill on a roller coaster. You can't stop until you get to the bottom."
Lancelot hit bottom when she was arrested, an occurrence that forced her to change her life and encouraged her to help others plagued with the same problems.
"For some people, it's very difficult to stay clean," she said. "It depends on the kind of bottom you hit. My bottom was pretty powerful and damaging and painful. I was a grandmother. My grandkids watched the police take me away in handcuffs. I lost two homes, my job, all my life savings."
Lancelot does not speak against casinos because they can do a lot of good for communities, tribes and states.
But she estimates that for every person struggling with a gambling addiction, seven other people also are affected.
"It's not to be minimized," she said of gambling. "It is not only damaging to the person, but to society around them."
Social responsibility of gaming
Former Farmington Mayor Bill Standley also spoke out against Indian gaming.
"It will help the chapters, but not the individuals," he said. "When other casinos, including SunRay, started up, the pawn business around here skyrocketed. People were pawning trucks, horse trailers, all kinds of personal objects to pay for gambling."
Standley also cited an increase in domestic violence incidents and other drawbacks that come with gaming.
"It doesn't really improve the economy," he said. "It might offer a few jobs, but it becomes more of a liability."
Yet the gaming industry comes with regulations that require tribes or private enterprises to pay into programs that offer assistance to people who become problem gamblers.
Early studies on the two operating Navajo casinos reveal the average daily bet is less than $25, Etcitty said. Although casinos never have operated on the reservation, they are opening to clientele largely experienced with gaming, he said.
"People are playing penny slots," Etcitty said. "They're just there to kill time. They look at it as a form of entertainment."
A 2006 report by the state Task Force of Compulsive Gambling estimated New Mexico has anywhere from 36,000 to 108,000 problem gamblers.
The money spent to provide treatment to problem gamblers in New Mexico steadily is increasing, according to reports from the New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling. Treatment funding comes from gaming donations that go into an Indigent Care Treatment Fund, a fund based on the assumption that problem gamblers have exhausted their own means to seek help.
The council spent nearly $28,000 on treatment in 2002. Problem gambling kept pace with the booming gaming industry, however, with more than $222,000 spent on treatment in 2009, the council reported.
The council, established in 1998, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help compulsive gamblers and their families by providing crisis intervention. It operates a 24-hour gambling-specific helpline, at 1-800-gambler.
No official reports on Navajo gaming yet were generated, but informal surveys show most Navajo citizens who frequent the casinos already were going to gaming facilities, Etcitty said. The introduction of casinos on the Navajo Nation simply decreases drive time for patrons and keeps the money local, he said.
Exclusions
The Navajo gaming enterprise trains all employees to watch for the warning signs of problem gamblers.
"Employees are trained twice per year to be able to notice possible gaming problems with individuals," Winter said. "We also train employees to approach individuals and make suggestions to them."
The New Mexico Gaming Control Board officially has excluded 18 people from licensed gaming establishments because they pose a threat to the public interest or licensed gaming activities. Many of the people officially excluded from gaming facilities also face charges of embezzlement, forgery or larceny, according to the New Mexico Gaming Control website.
Gaming enterprises offer a policy for patrons to exclude themselves if they determine gaming is getting out of hand. Excluded people are not allowed into gaming facilities.
"We do have a self-exclusion policy," Etcitty said. "When gaming is no longer entertainment, you can choose to exclude yourself."
Gambling addiction is a mental health issue stemming from an impulse-control problem, according to a definition from Williamsville Wellness, a Virginia-based gambling recovery program. The types of gambling that snare people with this disorder include sports betting, lottery tickets, poker, slot machines and Internet-based gaming.
Casino staff are trained to provide direction to problem gamblers, such as giving them a phone number for a hotline.
Other social issues
The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise also is ahead of the curve in addressing some of the other social issues that go hand-in-hand with gaming, Etcitty said.
One such issue is smoking.
Other local casinos field complaints about the constant smoke hovering above the playing floor, but the Navajo casinos will have computer-controlled air circulation systems to reduce smoke and provide a cleaner environment inside, Etcitty said.
Recognizing that as many as 40 percent of patrons may want to smoke while playing, the enterprise footed the bill for a high-tech ventilation system that moves the smoke from the floor up, Etcitty said.
"A smoking ban could cause us to lose 40 percent of revenue, so smoking must be authorized," he said. "But we will be the only casinos in the Southwest to have this ventilation system."
Navajo casinos also offer some of the largest non-smoking areas, Etcitty said.
"We will have our main smoking area, then the rest, the majority, of the casino will be non-smoking," he said. "Fire Rock has the biggest non-smoking ratio that we know of."
Future of gaming
Gaming officials painted a pretty picture of casinos when convincing the Navajo people to approve gaming on the reservation, which includes portions of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
New Mexico and Arizona allow tribal gaming while Utah does not, so none of the tribe's six proposed gaming facilities will be located in the strip of reservation land in southern Utah.
"We have 350 employees at Fire Rock," he said. "That's 350 families who now have someone working."
Flowing Water contributes another 62 jobs, bringing the total job creation to more than 400. That will double when the Upper Fruitland casino opens, and increase exponentially once a hotel and other amenities are added.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Navajo Facing Criminal Charges
Navajo lawmakers turn to prayer amid investigation
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. -- At least 77 current delegates to the 88-member Navajo Nation Tribal Council are charged with offenses including theft and fraud in the use of tribal funds. So when the lawmakers convened the last day of their fall session with customary prayer, the ritual quickly deepened into a quest for protection and purification.
Delegate Willie Tracey dipped an eagle feather in water and sprinkled it on the other lawmakers, who patted the drops on themselves in a gesture of absolution. One by one, they lined up and sipped more ceremonial water from a small wooden cup in the council chambers where colorful murals depict the tribe's history.
"Some will say that behavior of leaders needs to be corrected. People will see things like this have gone too far on our people and it need not be," said council Delegate Thomas Walker of the broad allegations. But he also held out this caveat, "(Some) people will perceive this as political persecution."
The lawmakers have faced heavy scrutiny since it was revealed last week that the majority of them have been charged in tribal court with any of five offenses - conspiracy, theft, abuse of office, forgery and fraud - in an investigation of how they spent discretionary funds intended for Navajos in need. The allegations say the money was used by some lawmakers on the nation's largest and deeply-impoverished Indian reservation to benefit themselves and their families.
The Tribal Council debates and makes decisions inside its historic, hogan-shaped chambers. Here, the council voted to give itself $31 million in discretionary funding during fiscal years 2005-2009, according to the tribe's budget office. Another $2.1 million was already budgeted.
The more than 270 criminal complaints released Wednesday in Window Rock charge lawmakers and two others with illegally taking nearly $1.9 million, according to court officials and a list published by the Navajo Times newspaper.
In some years, each delegate received several thousand dollars to distribute. Tribal policy prohibits lawmakers from engaging in conflicts of interest, particularly nepotism, in doling out the money.
This money is at the root of the charges against the tribal legislators, and they unwittingly initiated the investigation themselves.
A year ago, the council asked the tribe's attorney general to hire a special prosecutor to look into allegations that the tribal president, Joe Shirley Jr., had acted illegally and unethically in dealing with a satellite Internet company and a separate manufacturing business operating on the reservation.
The attorney general obliged, but then shocked council members by expanding the probe to include their use of the discretionary funds.
While special prosecutors have investigated a tribal chairman and past presidents, this is the first time an inquiry has targeted the council.
The special prosecutor law was enacted in response to the political turmoil involving former president Peter MacDonald, who survived a presidential primary even after the council suspended him from office in the face of corruption charges in 1989.
The complaints contend that lawmakers make too much money, an estimated $65,000 a year, to qualify for discretionary funds for themselves or their families. Guidelines say the funding should properly go to elderly Navajos on fixed incomes, college students, organizations in need or Navajos in emergency situations.
Many homes on the vast 27,000 square-mile reservation that extends into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona are without electricity and running water. Mobile phone service is spotty, and the unemployment rate hovers around 50 percent.
Tribal leaders often impress upon Navajos that they have an obligation to help family and neighbors who are in need, whether it be driving them to the polls, gathering firewood for winter, hauling water or delivering food.
Outside the council chambers last week, Delegate Ernest Yazzie defended the use of discretionary funds, saying, "It's our own people doing for their own people. What's wrong? At least us, we help the people."
Some say the charges filed by special prosecutor Alan Balaran in the latest probe are nothing but a ploy to defeat lawmakers seeking re-election on Nov. 2. More than half of the 48 candidates hoping for a seat on a reduced 24-member Tribal Council - the result of an election last year aimed at reforming the government - are incumbents.
"Nobody has imposed a deadline on him (Balaran), he's not trying to beat some statute of limitations," said David Jordan, an attorney representing one of the defendants. "There's only one date coming up that can possibly be the reason for the rush, and that's the election."
Balaran, a Washington lawyer who formerly investigated the destruction of documents in a multibillion lawsuit on behalf of American Indians who claimed the government mismanaged trust funds, declined to comment.
In the complaints, Balaran alleges that lawmakers lied on official documents to assert a hardship or emergency and other lawmakers "mysteriously" overlooked that point in issuing sometimes dozens of checks to their council colleagues and immediate family.
Joe Sandoval, a tribal member who was observing last week's final council session, said he doesn't see much action from the council in trying to restore balance, harmony and respect - the goal of many traditional prayers.
"What the council has done in the past has caught up with them," said Sandoval, of Whitehorse Lake, N.M., "and now it's firing back with all the fun with the money."
Elouise Brown, a Navajo environmental activist, said any lawmaker who can justify the payments outlined in the complaints should do so. She said she still supports tribal presidential candidate Ben Shelly, who faces charges of conspiracy, fraud and theft, because the former lawmaker was forthcoming about the charges and has explained his use of the money.
"That's the whole reason I believe in him - that what he's telling is the truth," Brown said.
According to the Navajo Times, the lawmakers are accused of individually taking from $650 to $279,175. Other charges reach beyond the council to more than three dozen non-lawmakers, said Samson Cowboy, director of public safety for the tribe.
Duane "Chili" Yazzie, a former elected official who has benefited from discretionary funds, said tribal officials often face intense pressure to give money to constituents. There's a lot of good intent, he says, but few checks and balances mean "there's bound to be abuse."
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. -- At least 77 current delegates to the 88-member Navajo Nation Tribal Council are charged with offenses including theft and fraud in the use of tribal funds. So when the lawmakers convened the last day of their fall session with customary prayer, the ritual quickly deepened into a quest for protection and purification.
Delegate Willie Tracey dipped an eagle feather in water and sprinkled it on the other lawmakers, who patted the drops on themselves in a gesture of absolution. One by one, they lined up and sipped more ceremonial water from a small wooden cup in the council chambers where colorful murals depict the tribe's history.
"Some will say that behavior of leaders needs to be corrected. People will see things like this have gone too far on our people and it need not be," said council Delegate Thomas Walker of the broad allegations. But he also held out this caveat, "(Some) people will perceive this as political persecution."
The lawmakers have faced heavy scrutiny since it was revealed last week that the majority of them have been charged in tribal court with any of five offenses - conspiracy, theft, abuse of office, forgery and fraud - in an investigation of how they spent discretionary funds intended for Navajos in need. The allegations say the money was used by some lawmakers on the nation's largest and deeply-impoverished Indian reservation to benefit themselves and their families.
The Tribal Council debates and makes decisions inside its historic, hogan-shaped chambers. Here, the council voted to give itself $31 million in discretionary funding during fiscal years 2005-2009, according to the tribe's budget office. Another $2.1 million was already budgeted.
The more than 270 criminal complaints released Wednesday in Window Rock charge lawmakers and two others with illegally taking nearly $1.9 million, according to court officials and a list published by the Navajo Times newspaper.
In some years, each delegate received several thousand dollars to distribute. Tribal policy prohibits lawmakers from engaging in conflicts of interest, particularly nepotism, in doling out the money.
This money is at the root of the charges against the tribal legislators, and they unwittingly initiated the investigation themselves.
A year ago, the council asked the tribe's attorney general to hire a special prosecutor to look into allegations that the tribal president, Joe Shirley Jr., had acted illegally and unethically in dealing with a satellite Internet company and a separate manufacturing business operating on the reservation.
The attorney general obliged, but then shocked council members by expanding the probe to include their use of the discretionary funds.
While special prosecutors have investigated a tribal chairman and past presidents, this is the first time an inquiry has targeted the council.
The special prosecutor law was enacted in response to the political turmoil involving former president Peter MacDonald, who survived a presidential primary even after the council suspended him from office in the face of corruption charges in 1989.
The complaints contend that lawmakers make too much money, an estimated $65,000 a year, to qualify for discretionary funds for themselves or their families. Guidelines say the funding should properly go to elderly Navajos on fixed incomes, college students, organizations in need or Navajos in emergency situations.
Many homes on the vast 27,000 square-mile reservation that extends into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona are without electricity and running water. Mobile phone service is spotty, and the unemployment rate hovers around 50 percent.
Tribal leaders often impress upon Navajos that they have an obligation to help family and neighbors who are in need, whether it be driving them to the polls, gathering firewood for winter, hauling water or delivering food.
Outside the council chambers last week, Delegate Ernest Yazzie defended the use of discretionary funds, saying, "It's our own people doing for their own people. What's wrong? At least us, we help the people."
Some say the charges filed by special prosecutor Alan Balaran in the latest probe are nothing but a ploy to defeat lawmakers seeking re-election on Nov. 2. More than half of the 48 candidates hoping for a seat on a reduced 24-member Tribal Council - the result of an election last year aimed at reforming the government - are incumbents.
"Nobody has imposed a deadline on him (Balaran), he's not trying to beat some statute of limitations," said David Jordan, an attorney representing one of the defendants. "There's only one date coming up that can possibly be the reason for the rush, and that's the election."
Balaran, a Washington lawyer who formerly investigated the destruction of documents in a multibillion lawsuit on behalf of American Indians who claimed the government mismanaged trust funds, declined to comment.
In the complaints, Balaran alleges that lawmakers lied on official documents to assert a hardship or emergency and other lawmakers "mysteriously" overlooked that point in issuing sometimes dozens of checks to their council colleagues and immediate family.
Joe Sandoval, a tribal member who was observing last week's final council session, said he doesn't see much action from the council in trying to restore balance, harmony and respect - the goal of many traditional prayers.
"What the council has done in the past has caught up with them," said Sandoval, of Whitehorse Lake, N.M., "and now it's firing back with all the fun with the money."
Elouise Brown, a Navajo environmental activist, said any lawmaker who can justify the payments outlined in the complaints should do so. She said she still supports tribal presidential candidate Ben Shelly, who faces charges of conspiracy, fraud and theft, because the former lawmaker was forthcoming about the charges and has explained his use of the money.
"That's the whole reason I believe in him - that what he's telling is the truth," Brown said.
According to the Navajo Times, the lawmakers are accused of individually taking from $650 to $279,175. Other charges reach beyond the council to more than three dozen non-lawmakers, said Samson Cowboy, director of public safety for the tribe.
Duane "Chili" Yazzie, a former elected official who has benefited from discretionary funds, said tribal officials often face intense pressure to give money to constituents. There's a lot of good intent, he says, but few checks and balances mean "there's bound to be abuse."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
