Church Rock/Breadsprings Council Delegate Ernest D. Yazzie Jr. responds to President Shirley's veto of the Judicial Branch Appropriations Act

January 19, 2007

It is unfortunate that the desire of the people was not carried out by the president. Instead he chose to use his veto power to deny the People a right to an independent judiciary with stable annual funding.

I wish to pose two questions to the president: 1. Does he know what the proposed revenue projection is for FY 2008? If he knows, he should share that information with the Council and public. Otherwise, he should not be misleading the public by stating, "The Judicial Branch Appropriations Act would have required a massive layoff of approximately 200 Navajo Nation employees from all divisions and departments." For the President's information, there are currently 151 vacancies in the Executive Branch of the government as of today.

2. Does he know how much the budget planning allocations are for the Executive and Legislative Branches for FY 2008? If the president does not have the answers to these two questions, it might be considered poor management on our President's part for him to plan massive layoffs with no idea of what the revenue will be for next year. A true leader should make decisions to benefit all Navajo people instead of just those he chooses to serve.

The President also states that "enactment of the legislation would have caused the Executive and Legislative Branches to bear the burden for fixed costs to operate the entire government, including costs of the Judicial Branch." This statement is not true. Fixed costs will be resolved and funds will be set aside for these expenses before the 10 percent planning allocation is set for the Judicial Branch. Prior legislation on budget allocations was vetoed by the President even though it was specific by setting planning allocations for the Executive Branch at 77 percent, Legislative Branch at 13 percent and Judicial Branch at 10 percent.

In his Jan. 16 veto message to Navajo Nation Council Speaker Pro-tem Ervin Keeswood Sr., the President said the language of the Judicial Branch Appropriations Act is "extremely vague and provides no real guidance to properly allocate funds between the Executive and Legislative Branches." The President appears to be unsure of what he wants in the legislation.

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