Here is “APNewsBreak: Navajo legislative leader resigns.”
Navajo Nation Council
Special Prosecutor Files Criminal Complaints against Multiple Navajo Council Members
Here:
A special prosecutor has filed criminal complaints in an investigation of the Navajo Nation Council’s discretionary funds.
The tribe’s Department of Justice said Wednesday that criminal complaints allege conspiracy, fraud, theft, forgery and abuse of office related to management of the funds.
Tribal justice officials didn’t immediately say how many complaints had been issued. Navajo lawmakers were told to call the prosecutor’s office to determine if they are the subject of a criminal complaint.
But lawmakers curious to find out were told they would have to wait until Thursday to see if they’re on the list. Defendants have until the close of business Friday to pick up the complaints and summons or they will be served by police, justice officials said.
“This is probably one list you really don’t want to be on,” said council Delegate LoRenzo Bates.
Tribal Council spokesman Alastair Bitsoi said the position of lawmakers has been that the funds are available to give out to those in need and as they see fit. He said the 88-member council bases its decisions on respect and upholding the public interest.
“They’re innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “They still have to go through the process, and if this is the process, we’ll continue.”
The complaints were announced during the Tribal Council’s weeklong fall session in Window Rock and just ahead of the Nov. 2 election in which nearly three dozen lawmakers are on the ballot.
The council receives millions of dollars a year though supplemental budget appropriations to dole out to elderly Navajos on fixed income, college students, organizations in need or Navajos looking for emergency funding.
Any Navajo can seek financial assistance from a single lawmaker every six months, according to the policy, which has been amended over the years to exclude a limit on how much an individual could receive.
Navajo Times: Navajo SCT in Navajo Council’s “Crosshairs”
Additional documents:
NN Pres Press Release onElection of NN Judges
From the Navajo Times:
The Navajo Nation Supreme Court is under attack.
Legislation to amend the rules for the Council’s Judiciary Committee governing removal of Supreme Court justices and district court judges is targeting Chief Justice Herb Yazzie, according to a “confidential” memo on the bill.
On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee voted against the permanent appointment of Associate Justice Louise Grant, although she had resigned Oct. 8 and did not attend the hearing.
A day earlier, the committee voted against permanent appointment of Associate Justice Eleanor Shirley, despite a hearing in which no negative comments or information about her were presented.
According to Navajo law, the president cannot reappoint people to the bench once the Judiciary Committee has voted not to confirm them in a permanent appointment.
Leonard Tsosie (Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake), the only lawyer on the Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that the committee’s 4-3 vote against Justice Shirley was “revenge” for the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of President Joe Shirley Jr. (no relation) and against the Council’s position in recent cases.
“The evidence before us didn’t support voting against Justice Shirley,” said Tsosie, one of three committee members who voted to confirm her. “In fact, it was unanimously satisfactory.”
On Wednesday, committee Chairman Kee Allen Begay (May Farms/Round Rock) denied Tsosie’s claim.
“The actions of the committee are not to retaliate against the Supreme Court like honorable Leonard Tsosie claims. The committee acted in the best interest of the Navajo people by upholding trust and being an accountable government,” Begay said. “Honorable Tsosie has a history of instigating arguments if a decision does not benefit his values, belief systems or himself.”
In May, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s dismissal of voter Tim Nelson’s complaint seeking to overturn a Dec. 15 election that reduced the 88-member Council to 24.
The high court also ordered the Navajo Election Administration to immediately conduct an election for 24 delegates and not 88, derailing efforts by current Council leaders to postpone the downsizing for four years.
The justices also upheld the lower court decision that the Council illegally placed President Joe Shirley Jr. on leave pending a special prosecutor’s investigation of two business deals that cost the tribe millions.
The high court’s ruling is now being recognized as a landmark decision that addresses the role of Diné Fundamental Law, the encroachment of the Council into the judicial branch, the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, and the primary role of the Navajo people in shaping their government.
According to Sept. 13, 2010, memo labeled “confidential” and addressed to Chief Legislative Counsel Frank Seanez from Delegate Lorenzo Curley (Houck/Lupton/Nahata Dziil), proposed legislation to amend the Judiciary Committee’s hearing rules is intended “to remove the Navajo Nation Chief Justice.”
Navajo Nation Council Attacks on Navajo Judiciary?
Here are three competing press releases from various branches of Navajo government (two of three, as Paul notes below):
Navajo Judiciary Committee on Court Reform
Turtle Talk 