LETTER: Government spending must be controlled

To the editor:

Few of our leaders are willing to admit - much less discuss - the looming financial difficulties facing our tribal government, especially on controlling spending and generating new revenues. The longer we put off fixing the problem, the worse the situation and more Navajo people hurt,

Recently, I sat through a talk titled "Repairing a Broken Government." The speaker emphasized that when things are not running smoothly it is crucial to put competence ahead of ideology. In addition, some of the key reasons governments fail are due in part because of ineffective leadership, poor policy implementation, and the lack of competent people running things,

The current structure giving more control to the Speaker and the Council while sidestepping the President, may have been a quick?fix solution to an existing problem years back; it is not working for addressing our current tribal government problems including the fiscal uncertainty. Like others, the idea of a constitution makes sense, but only if it allows Navajo people and chapters to have a voice throughout the proceedings. Otherwise, I hardly believe things will change for the better as long as the same people remain in office.

The same is true concerning the decision to rescind the powers granted the Navajo Board of Education, Navajo parents and educators are better informed and have a bigger stake in these decisions and need to have a say in what is at stake. I agree we need different members on the board, but we should not rush to throw the baby out with the bath water.

In a struggling government, you cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. Yet, that is precisely what our leaders have been doing?avoiding our responsibility to future generations of Navajo youth by passing on a broken system in the form of fiscal irresponsibility and treating it as if there is no sense of urgency­

We are spending more on running a government with little to show and the only sure thing going on is the Council's reckless spending. With all of the special sessions, exorbitant travels, stipends, favors and the reactionary and shortsighted thinking, anything that occurs in the Council Chambers is reduced to a battle between factions trying to gain or keep control of tribal government resources, and Navajo people get less for their money.

I care about social issues and the eroding conditions our people have to live in, but I also care just as deeply about having a competent government. A government that can't keep track of its spending during hard times does not inspire confidence.­

Wallace Hanley

Window Rock