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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Ben Shelly | |
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7th President of the Navajo Nation | |
In office January 11, 2011 –May 12, 2015 | |
Vice President | Rex Lee Jim |
Preceded by | Joe Shirley Jr. |
Succeeded by | Russell Begaye |
5th Vice President of the Navajo Nation | |
In office January 9,2007 –January 11,2011 | |
President | Joe Shirley Jr. |
Preceded by | Frank Dayish |
Succeeded by | Rex Lee Jim |
Member of the Navajo Nation Council | |
In office January 15,1991 –January 9,2007 | |
Succeeded by | Edmund Yazzie |
Personal details | |
Born | Thoreau,New Mexico,U.S. | July 6,1947
Died | March 22,2023 75) Gallup,New Mexico,U.S. | (aged
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Martha Shelly |
Ben Shelly (July 6,1947 –March 22,2023) was the 7th president of the Navajo Nation. He was the first president to have been elected both president and vice president of the Navajo Nation, [1] as well as the first New Mexican Navajo to hold the Navajo presidency. [1]
On November 2,2010,Shelly was voted in as the Navajo Nation's president-elect during the 2010 Navajo Nation Presidential Elections,defeating opponent New Mexico State Senator Lynda Lovejoy [2] of the Navajo Nation. On August 16,2014,Shelly lost in the Navajo Nation primaries to former Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley Jr and newcomer Christopher Deschene.
Shelly was born in Thoreau,New Mexico,on July 6,1947. [3] He was Tó’aheedlíinii clan born for Tsʼah Yiskʼidnii.[ clarification needed ] His maternal grandfather is Áshįįhí and his paternal grandfather is Táchiiʼnii.
Shelly's wife of 45 years,Martha Shelly,is originally from Coyote Canyon. She is Tábąąhá and born for Tódích’íiʼnii.[ clarification needed ] They have five children and 10 grandchildren.
Shelly lived in Chicago for 16 years,training in heavy equipment maintenance and working as a supervisor for a heavy equipment company. He moved back to the Navajo Nation in 1976,and owned a fleet maintenance and mechanic shop. [4]
In 1990,Shelly was chairman of the Dineh Rights Association. [5]
Shelly became the Thoreau Navajo Nation councilman in 1991,and in 1993 he campaigned for legalized gambling in Navajo areas. [6]
He became a member of the Transportation and Intergovernmental Relations Committees,and chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee as well as serving 12 years as a McKinley County Commissioner. [7]
He was in the leadership of the National Associations of Counties Organization,where he helped form a Native American coalition of county officials from Apache,Coconino,San Juan of Utah,San Juan of New Mexico,Navajo,Sandoval,and McKinley counties.
In 2006,Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley,Jr. selected Shelly as his running mate in the 2006 presidential election. At the time of his selection,President Shirley said of Shelly,"He has the necessary knowledge of our government,and the government outside,He is down to earth and knows the heart of the people. He was raised with culture,as I was,on a sheepskin rug." [8] Shirley and Shelly won the 2006 Navajo Nation presidential election. Shelly was sworn in as vice president of the Navajo Nation on 9 January 2007. [9]
Shelly served on the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Tribal Technical Advisory Group,leading efforts to amend existing Medicaid laws to ensure that a Certificate of Indian Blood could be used to verify U.S. citizenship. Shelly represented the Navajo Nation in budget discussions and formulations for federally-funded programs. In 2007,he led a Navajo delegation in consultative budget deliberations with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
Although Navajo Nation elections are officially non-partisan,Shelly was a registered Democrat active in state politics in New Mexico,Arizona,and Utah. He worked with the New Mexico state legislature and the governor's office to fund capital improvement projects on the Navajo Nation. [10] New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson appointed Shelly to his Tribal Economic Development Task Force.
Shelly was also an opponent of Senate Bill 1690 which would allow San Juan County,Utah Navajos to be their own trustee,managing their own resources by way of a nonprofit organization structure,without interference from the Navajo Nation. The tribe has long argued it should be the trustee,sans any federal or state interference. [11]
In October 2010,Ben Shelly,among other Navajo tribal officials,were charged in an investigation of slush funds just weeks before the November election. Shelly pleaded not guilty to those tribal charges of fraud,conspiracy and theft. Each misdemeanor count carried a penalty of up to a year in jail and $5,000 if convicted.
Shelly had stated that he was confident that the conspiracy,fraud,and theft charges against him would be dismissed,and that he is not a crook. Criminal complaints allege that Shelly unlawfully took $8,850 in tribal discretionary funds to benefit himself and his family while he served on the Tribal Council. He pleaded not guilty and said the money was for "Legitimate Hardships." [12]
Court documents allege that Shelly conspired to benefit himself and his immediate family,including his wife,grandchildren and a sister,in 2005 and 2006. On four occasions,Shelly filed applications for discretionary funds on behalf of his family and personally approved the requests,a complaint alleged. Tribal ethics and rules laws have limits on the value of gifts lawmakers can receive and prohibit engaging in conflicts of interest.
Police served some delegates with the complaints just before they convened for the fourth day of their fall session in the tribal capital of Window Rock.
The Tribal Council called for a special prosecutor in 2009 to look into the Navajo tribal president Joe Shirley Jr.'s relationship with two companies that had operated on the reservation. The Navajo attorney general accepted that request but also expanded the probe to include the council's use of discretionary funds,to the surprise of the council. [13]
The council,and the Office of the President and Vice President receive millions of dollars a year through supplemental budget appropriations to dole out to elderly Navajos on fixed income,college students,organizations in need or Navajos looking for emergency funding.
Alan Balaran was hired as the special prosecutor in 2010. His duties later were expanded to include a tribal ranch program,and discretionary funds given to the tribal president's and vice president's office. [13]
"If Shelly is found guilty,however,he will be removed from office and the people will need to launch a new election process," NM State Rep. Ray Begaye,D-Shiprock said. "If removed,Shelly likely will be joined by many of the delegates. Of the 24 elected tuesday to the reduced council,16 were incumbents." [14]
In the Navajo Nation Tribal presidential election,held on November 2,2010,Shelly defeated New Mexico Sen. Lynda Lovejoy,becoming the first vice president to be elected to the Navajo Nation presidency,dashing Lovejoy's hopes of becoming the tribe's first female president. [15] Shelly was sworn in as president on January 11,2011. [16]
Despite Vice President Shelly facing criminal charges in the probe of the council's controversial use of discretionary funds,he would go on to win the 2010 election. Later,Shelly would be cleared of any wrongdoing. Shelly would serve as president during the 88-member Tribal Council reduction following the special election of December 2009 that was aimed at reforming the Navajo government.
Shelly received 52 percent of the vote in the 2010 presidential race. His opponent,New Mexico state senator Lynda Lovejoy,garnered 47 percent of the vote - 33,692 votes to Lovejoy's 30,357. Voter turnout hit nearly 58 percent in the 2010 tribal elections.
In his last days as Navajo President,he would veto various controversial bills affecting the still as-yet-decided 2014 Navajo presidential Race.
Shelly's presidential term was extended five months after the uncertainty of The Navajo Nation presidential election affected his term in office,The Shelly-Jim administration term officially ended on May 12,2015,during which a flag retiring ceremony for the Navajo and U.S. flags that flew for the Shelly-Jim administration were retired and new ones flown.
During the Navajo Nation primary election on August 26,2014,President Ben Shelly lost his bid for a second term with only 2,446 votes from 110 chapters. Former Arizona representative Chris Deschene and former two-term Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley Jr. were to move on to the general election,but the Navajo Supreme Court suspended the 2014 general election,and the Council subsequently delayed the election further. Ben Shelly's term ended January 13,2015. As determined by the Navajo Nation Code §1006,the speaker of the Navajo Council shall assume the duties of the office in the event a vacancy of both the president and vice president.
In a controversial appointment,Ben Shelly was designated interim president;contradicting Navajo Nation Code §1006 in resolutions referenced as CD-80-14 and CD-81-14. [17] on May 12,2015,Ben Shelly and Rex Lee Jim finished their one term which was unprecedentedly extended another five months,after problems with the disqualification of presidential hopeful Chris Deschenee and the ongoing special election between Joe Shirley Jr. and Russell Begaye. On that day the Shelly-Jim Administration passed the Navajo Nation executive office to newly-elected Navajo president-elect Russell Begaye and vice president-elect Johnathon Nez.
Shelly died on March 22,2023,at a hospital in Gallup,New Mexico at the age of 75. [18] His spokesman stated he died from a “long illness”. Navajo nation president Buu Nygren ordered the flags on the Navajo reservation to be lowered. [19]
The Navajo Nation,also known as Navajoland,is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona,northwestern New Mexico,and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in Window Rock,Arizona.
Annie Dodge Wauneka was an influential member of the Navajo Nation as member of the Navajo Nation Council. As a member and three term head of the council's Health and Welfare Committee,she worked to improve the health and education of the Navajo. Wauneka is widely known for her countless efforts to improve health on the Navajo Nation,focusing mostly on the eradication of tuberculosis within her nation. She also authored a dictionary,in which translated English medical terms into the Navajo language. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 by Lyndon B. Johnson as well as the Indian Council Fire Achievement Award and the Navajo Medal of Honor. She also received an honorary doctorate in Humanities from the University of New Mexico. In 2000,Wauneka was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
The Navajo Nation Council is the Legislative Branch of the Navajo Nation government. The council meets four times per year,with additional special sessions,at the Navajo Nation Council Chamber,which is in Window Rock,Arizona.
Joe Shirley Jr. is a Navajo politician who is the only two-term President of the Navajo Nation. He served as president from 2003 to 2011. He lives in Chinle,Arizona,and is Tódíchʼíiʼnii,born for Tábąąhá.
Kenneth Maryboy is an American politician for San Juan County,Utah,and was Navajo Nation Council Delegate. Kenneth is a former San Juan County Commissioner. Maryboy was the third Democrat in a row to have been elected to the Commissioner District 3 position since its inception in 1984 that divided the county into three districts. Kenneth was replaced on the commission in 2015 by Rebecca M. Benally
Kelsey A. Begaye was elected the fifth president of the Navajo Nation in November 1998,defeating fellow Democrat Joe Shirley,Jr. in the general election. In 2002,he lost to Shirley in his bid for reelection.
Davis Filfred is an American politician for the Navajo Nation Council Delegate in the Utah Navajo Section.
Peter MacDonald is a Native American politician and the only four term Chairman of the Navajo Nation. MacDonald was born in Arizona,U.S. and served the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II as a Navajo Code Talker. He was first elected Navajo Tribal Chairman in 1970.
The Navajo Nation Presidential elections took place on November 7,2006. Primary elections took place on August 8,2006. Incumbent President Joe Shirley Jr. was re-elected,defeating 11 candidates,including former New Mexico State senator Lynda Lovejoy.
Lynda Morgan Lovejoy is an American politician. She is a former Democratic member of the New Mexico Senate.
The Navajo Nation presidential election of 2010 was held on Tuesday,November 2,2010. Ben Shelly won the election.
Frank Chee Willeto was an American politician and Navajo code talker during World War II. Willeto served as the vice president of the Navajo Nation under President Milton Bluehouse,Sr. from his appointment in August 1998 until January 1999,when the Begaye administration took office.
The office of vice president of the Navajo Nation was created in 1991 following restructuring of the Navajo Nation government. The president and vice president are elected every four years. The Navajo Nation Vice-president shall serve no more than two terms.
Evelyne E. Bradley was an American Navajo judge. She served as a district judge for the Navajo Nation from 1984 until her retirement in 1995. Bradley was one of the first women to become a judge within the Navajo Nation.
Russell Begaye is a Navajo politician who served as the 8th president of Navajo Nation from May 2015 to January 2019. He was the second New Mexican Navajo to hold the Navajo Presidency.
The Navajo Nation presidential election of 2018 was held on Tuesday,November 6,2018. The candidates for President of the Navajo Nation in the general election were Jonathan Nez and Joe Shirley,Jr. Jonathan Nez and running mate Myron Lizer won the election. Although neither Nez nor Shirley were incumbents,they possessed the high name recognition associated with incumbents.
Jonathan Nez is a Navajo politician who served as the 9th President of the Navajo Nation from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as Vice President and as a Navajo Nation Council delegate.
The 2022 Navajo Nation presidential election took place on Tuesday,November 8,2022,to elect the president and vice president of the Navajo Nation. The primary election was held on August 2. Incumbent president Jonathan Nez ran for reelection with attorney Chad Abeyta as his running mate. Incumbent Vice President Myron Lizer did not seek re-election,instead running for U.S. House in Arizona. Nez and Abeyta advanced to the general election,as did the challenging ticket of construction manager Buu Nygren and Torreon/Star Lake Chapter President Richelle Montoya. Nygren and Montoya won the general election by a 6-point margin,and Montoya became the Navajo Nation's first female vice president.
Buu Van Nygren is a Navajo politician currently serving as the 10th President of the Navajo Nation. Nygren and running mate Richelle Montoya received 34,890 votes,defeating the Nez-Abeyta campaign who received 31,339 votes in the 2022 election. He was sworn in on January 10,2023.
The 2015 Navajo Nation Presidential Election was held on April 21,2015,with the primary on August 26,2014. Joe Shirley Jr. and Chris Deschene advanced to the general.