Econ development popular platform on Navajo

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – Every four years, Navajo presidential candidates crisscross the reservation to tell tribal members that they have a plan to create much-needed jobs, to build roads on the vast lands and to make it easier for businesses to set up shop.

And every four years, the generations-long quest to bring sustained economic development to the reservation seems no closer to reality.

“We beat it to death every four years,” said tribal Vice President Ben Shelly, who is running against his boss, Joe Shirley Jr., and 10 other candidates for the presidency. “It's gotten so bad people don't believe it.”

The candidates still are offering plans, however, hoping to convince voters in the Aug. 3 primary that they can help the tribe overcome major barriers – lack of infrastructure, a business site leasing process that can take years, dual and triple taxation and complex land issues.

The top two finishers will face off in the Nov. 2 general election to lead the nation, which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Shirley had pinned hopes for a major economic boost on a coal-fired power plant and casinos that would bring thousands of jobs to Navajos and millions of dollars a year in revenue to the tribe.

Nearing the end of his second term, the tribe has a burgeoning casino in northwestern New Mexico and more are in the works. But the power plant once projected to be operating this year is now an uncertainty.

Shirley has focused his bid for a third consecutive term on reforming the tribal government, which has included reducing the Tribal Council. Future efforts could include creating positions for a tribal treasurer and secretary, and making the attorney general's position elected, he said.

The government is the largest employer of Navajos, followed by the state of Arizona with around 10,000 jobs total for both entities in 2004, according to the tribe's Division of Economic Development.

To lower the unemployment rate that consistently hovers around 50 percent, the tribe would need to create more than 3,500 jobs a year. Only about 200 jobs are created annually.

“We are so far below the norm of the American dream that we have become used to that,” said candidate Dale Tsosie of LeChee, a 32-year employee of the Salt River Project.

Among the ideas the candidates have raised to develop the economy are creating an industrial zone, promoting tourism and amending tribal laws to make the reservation more business-friendly.

Anthony Begay, president of the tribe's Mariano Lake Chapter, said he wants to see more small businesses on the reservation. More than 800 employers provide jobs on the Navajo Nation. Of those, 675 are non-governmental and more are owned by non-Navajos than Navajos.

“Whether it be a restaurant, an arts and crafts store, it's going to be individual businesses that provide a boost,” Begay said.

Tribal Council Delegate Rex Lee Jim of Rock Point and Donald Benally, vice president of the tribe's Shiprock Chapter, argue that pushing Navajos to get an education and become entrepreneurs on the reservation would go a long way toward fixing the troubled economy.

More local businesses would mean more money going into the tribe's coffers. Currently, about 70 percent of the revenue generated on the reservation is spent in towns that border it.

“We need to reverse that and have 85 percent stay here,” Jim said. “And we can do that, we just need to work hard.”

Arbin Mitchell and former Arizona state Rep. Daniel Peaches said they would push for more of the tribe's 110 chapters, or precincts, to control their local economies through what's known as the Local Governance Act.

All chapters have that opportunity, but Mitchell said only 10 have been certified to do so.

“If you just leave it in the hands of the central government, of course it will get done, but it's going to be at a slow pace,” said Mitchell, director of the tribe's Division of Community Development that oversees the act.

Harrison Tsosie, another contender who serves as the tribe's deputy attorney general, said he would work to give Navajos the same rights as other U.S. citizens to own land, and to manage and profit from it.

But before whomever is elected addresses industry, jobs, education, health care or anything else, most candidates agree that mending the turmoil between the executive and legislative branches is a top priority.

“We first have to get our house in order,” said Lynda Lovejoy of Crownpoint, who is making her second run at the presidency. “We first have to take care of some basic things, and then we will move on.”

Political newcomer Jerry Todacheene of Shiprock, N.M., said he would take another look at whether casinos and the power plant that Shirley has pushed are viable projects.

Sharon Clahchischilliage, who most recently ran the tribe's Washington, D.C., office, said she would work to improve infrastructure across the reservation where most roads are unpaved and many people live without electricity or water and go after federal stimulus money.

Instead of just talking economic development, she said it needs to be accomplished.

“My ears would perk up when I would hear a candidate say 'I'm going to take care of economic development, and I'm going to bring jobs,”' she said. “That was very crucial. I thought, 'if a candidate can do that, they've got my vote.”'