Election saga fails to make Bates’ report
New Speaker of the 23rd Navajo Nation Council LoRenzo Bates is congratulated by fellow colleague Raymond Smith Jr. on Monday evening in Window Rock. (Times photo- Donovan Quintero)
WINDOW ROCK
One prominent issue affecting the Navajo people was conspicuous for its absence in Speaker LoRenzo Bates’ report to the Navajo Nation Council Monday: the election saga.
Council Delegate Leonard Tsosie had issue with this, asking Bates why the election was not part of his 18-page report.
“It’s way more important than the Title 2 Reform Subcommittee,” Tsosie said.
Tsosie went on to say in Navajo he also didn’t understand why the spring session was happening Monday — the same day the Navajo Supreme Court had overturned a lower court’s decision that allowed for Tuesday’s election to occur.
The vocal lawmaker said the council should have supported Window Rock District Court Judge Carol Perry’s decision to postpone the presidential election. Perry had ruled in favor of a bill that council passed last month that requires a referendum among the Navajo people to determine language fluency.
The language fluency referendum is slated to occur this summer.
“We don’t have any more wool,” Tsosie said in Navajo, using wool as a cultural analogy for the council lacking any foresight on the election.
“We can’t do anything because we don’t have the courage.”
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