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Navajo president not worried about investigation
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Filed Under: Politics

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. is confident he will "sail through" an investigation about the tribe's involvement with two companies.

Shirley believes the Navajo Nation Council placed him on administrative leave because he is pushing two government reform initiatives. One would reduce the size of the council, from 88 delegates to 24, and the other allows the president to execute line-item vetoes of council budget legislation.

"I really believe that the driving force behind what they did was the two initiatives," Shirley told The Farmington Daily Times. "They know the president is behind the two initiatives, so they needed to get him out of the way to quash the election."

Vice President Ben Shelly has been named acting president pending the investigation into Shirley and other officials. Shelly apparently will move forward with the initiatives.

The investigation will look into the tribe's contracts with OnSat Network Communications and Biochemical Decontamination Systems, or BCDS. An audit showed OnSat may have over-billed the tribe for Internet service that was later terminated while BCDS came under fire because its top executive is a convicted felon.

Get the Story:
Shirley says he will 'sail through' investigation (The Farmington Daily Times 10/28)

Related Stories:
Navajo Nation Council places president on leave (10/27)
Navajo council fails in vote to remove top officials (10/21)

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