Speaker Johnny Naize speaks with Delegate Katherine Benally before Council meets on his removal as speaker at the Council chamber in Window Rock, Ariz., on Jan. 28, 2014. Photo by Marley Shebala
The last time that Speaker Naize called an information meeting of delegates, Naize called it a Council caucus and it was between delegates and the attorneys and representatives of BHP Billiton, Arizona Public Service, and Navajo Transitional Energy Company, and Navajo Nation Attorney General Harrison Tsosie, Navajo Nation Deputy Attorney General Dana Bobroff, and Acting Chief Legislative Counsel Mariana Kahn. The caucus was at the Quality Inn in Window Rock at 7 a.m. on Dec. 27, 2013, AND it was before a scheduled work session and special Council session on LEGISLATION 0367-13, which was for the Council to make the Navajo people and all future Navajo people co-signers for a half billion dollar Bond/Loan for insurance for NTEC because NTEC is a brand new corporation and so it has no assets. And because NTEC is a spanking new corporation, BHP Billiton and Arizona Public Service wanted assurance that NTEC would be able to provide coal to APS’s Four Corners Power Plant and would be able to operate the coal mine that BHP sold to NTEC for $85 million. And yes, I did say that NTEC has no assets and so where did NTEC get the $85 m.? BHP loaned NTEC the $85 m. The BHP loan has 6 percent interest. And since I’ve never seen the operating agreement between NTEC and BHP, I don’t know how much NTEC is paying BHP to operate its former coal mine until 2016.
Anyway, I went to the Dec. 27, 2013, which I called “illegal” because there is no Navajo law that allows the Council of 24 to meet as a caucus and to go into executive session. On Nov. 11, 2013, I walked in on another Council caucus while they were in executive session or behind closed doors on Delegate Katherine Benally’s proposed $220 million Bond/Loan and asked Speaker Naize and the delegates that were present to provide me with Navajo law that allows the Council to meet as a caucus, to meet away from the Council chamber, to meet and discuss legislation as a caucus away from the Council chamber, and to discuss legislation that impacts the People without giving the People the opportunity to be present and hear the Council’s full debate on legislation impacting the People.
I was never given a copy of the Navajo law. And the Council on Dec. 27, 2013, never convened itself as a Caucus because the Council and Speaker knew that it would be illegal.
Speaker Naize, some delegates, Attorney General Tsosie, Deputy Attorney General Bobroff, Acting Chief Legislative Counsel Kahn and the attorneys and representatives for BHP, APS and NTEC were there at 7 a.m. on Dec. 27. And when 9 a.m. arrived, which was the scheduled time for the Council work session on Legislation 0367-13 at the chamber, Speaker Naize announced that they all needed to go to the work session.
I have never received a copy of the Navajo laws that permit Speaker Naize and the Council to meet in a caucus or in an informal meeting away from the Council chamber to discuss the People’s legislation. All I received on Dec. 27, 2013, when I arrived at the Council chamber was Chief of Staff Jarvis Williams telling me that Speaker Naize banned me from the Council floor because of what I was writing on my website and because I didn’t work for a newspaper. Obviously Naize and his crew of political appointees are ignorant when it comes to Independent and Alternative Media. I am an Independent Journalist.
And so I’ll be attending the ILLEGAL informal meeting tomorrow, Jan. 29, 2013, called by Speaker Naize to discuss the People’s legislation away from the Council chamber, which the People designated as the Place where they listen to their Public Servants discuss Legislation that impacts them, their homeland, their children, their unborn, their livestock, their prayers and ceremonies.
Perhaps the People need to take over the Council chamber to use it themselves…since Speaker Naize and the Council feel more comfortable meeting at the Quality Inn where they also have breakfast served to them as they discuss the People’s legislation. And we, the People, are paying for their breakfast and the fees charged by the Quality Inn for Speaker Naize and his political appointees and the Council to meet at the Quality Inn.
I believe that since its the People’s money that Speaker Naize, his political appointees and Council are spending to meet and eat breakfast at the Quality Inn that we, the People, should also have breakfast with Speaker Naize, his political appointees, and the Council. And I really wish that Speaker Naize would publicly announce these ILLEGAL informal meetings…
