Hopi Tribal dysfunction due to the Council's dereliction of duties

July 30, 2007

Editor:

The Hopi Tribal Council is currently inactive and the Hopi government is nonfunctional because some council members are angered at the current chairman personally and showed some hatred against him as well.

I am writing this because I am very frustrated. I am not alone. These disgruntled council members do not want to solve their problems with the chairman, [and] I'm sure this is a solvable problem, but they do not want to work on it. I don't know why, and that's my big question.

I could not understand why they cannot work out their problem with the chairman. They are not kids, but [are] behaving like them. They flex themselves like they know everything and claim to have power over everything and they are trying to impress the public and those junior council members that they know the laws of the land.

It is very obvious and sad to see that their anger and hatred is controlling them and that's not professionalism. They have not demonstrated any diplomacy and that they are clearly biased. Maybe [it's] because the council hearings and the court decisions are not [being decided in their favor], but it really showed-and you can feel it-that they hate Ben Nuvamsa so much and the council began to show communism and dictatorship and it's sad to see this in our government.

The fact is that the council keeps boycotting the council meetings, and again, that is not the diplomatic or professional approach to the problem. These disgruntled council members have fought against everything the chairman does except to stop their own payroll. The government still pays them, but they are not attending their meetings. They eagerly go down to the tribe to pick up their fat checks. I don't know how many of you could understand why our government pays these people more than $2,000 for not doing anything and [yet] they always talk about the low budget. Some of the tribal employees [have] already lost their job because of it. These questionable actions of the Council go on and on.

As I see it, from the beginning, this was a policy issue and dispute with the election committee decision, but then the council hearings and the Hopi Tribal Court decisions have clarified the questions the council had and allowed Ben Nuvamsa to hold the position of chairman. I think this has really disturbed the disgruntled council members because they didn't accept the court decision and begin to challenge it. They even disregarded the court's temporary restraining order (TRO) made against them saying that they have the power over the tribal courts.

There was a court case in 1993 [involving] Caleb Johnson vs. The Hopi Tribe in very much the same situation-the council has annulled the primaries, and residency was the issue. The court had overturned the council's action and Caleb won the case. That set the precedence and no one was calling Caleb Johnson a liar. The definition of "residency" was explained and interpreted then and as I understand it, this is the same thing that was interpreted again at the council hearings.

Even the tribal secretary implies that she has power and authority. I don't think she is a member of the council, only the council or the chairman gives her authority from time to time, unless there is a resolution giving her authority. The council, on the other hand, does not have authority over the tribal courts nor does it have the authority over the election committee and their decisions as clarified in [previous] court cases.

I do think that our Hopi Tribal Council members need to read their Hopi Tribal Constitution over and over again and make sure they understand it well and tell us where in the constitution does it say that they can nullify the primary and general elections and boycott [the results] as well. Point [this] out to us and perhaps we will understand their actions. But according to the constitution, our Hopi government has the authority and duties to protect our constitutional rights.

We the people didn't like it when the council threw away our votes just because they dislike the person the Hopi people [themselves] had elected, but the people had spoken and chosen [this] person to be their leader. Why turn against it? Remember, listen to the voices!

Maybe the people have a better sense and a better understanding of what "respect" really means in Hopi. These are my personal opinions and I wanted to express them because I am frustrated and feel that it is [nothing] but embarrassing. I hope this information causes you to question your council's responsibilities to find out what is really the problem and why are they abandoning their council duties? There are some very important matters that need to [be] taken care of. I think the disgruntled council members want to see a test of strength, but this is not good. Look back and recall the Peter McDonald situation in the past, where a number of people got seriously injured, some lost their lives and some went to prison.

Instead of guessing and squirming, these council members need to resolve their problems without being biased. Sometimes it hurts when things don't go your way, but compromised decisions can iron things out and can develop into some acceptable resolve.

I would not like to see the federal government stepping in and taking over our [Hopi] government, because this could happen, and it would not be a good thing either. This is one of the dangers that our Tribal Council should be cautious of.

Ao'uma wu wa ya ni, dou waut

Quok' ha, pi pu lol ma sani

Milland Lomakema Sr.

Hopi tribal member

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